The West Orange Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in West Orange in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2015-16 school year, the district's 12 schools had an enrollment of 6,867 students and 626.5 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 10.9:1. The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "GH", the third-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J. The district currently consists of seven elementary schools, three middle schools and one high school. In the 1990s, the district was ranked among the top 1% of schools in the nation by The Washington Post.
Kelly Elementary School. The school was renamed in May 2016 in honor of Mark and Scott Kelly, identical twins who attended what was then Pleasantdale School starting in second grade before becoming NASA astronauts.
Three schools have occupied the same location on Gaston Street. The first was the original West Orange High School, built in 1898. It burned down in 1913, was rebuilt, and linked by a shared auditorium to Fairmount Avenue Elementary School. In 1912, the elementary school had been built behind the high school with its entrance on Fairmount Avenue. In 1922, when a new high school was constructed on Northfield Avenue, the old high school was transformed into Gaston Street Junior High School. Fairmount Avenue Elementary School remained the same. In the 1950s, Gaston Street Junior High School closed, and the building was transformed once again and became part of Fairmount Elementary School, and then later into the Board of Education offices. In 1972, Fairmount Elementary School dropped the "Avenue" from its name and it was moved to a new building on the corner of Northfield and Gregory Avenues. The Board of Education offices remained on Gaston Street and took over both old school buildings. In the late 1970s, both buildings were demolished and the Board of Education offices were relocated to Eagle Rock Avenue School. The Gaston Street/Fairmount Avenue land parcel became the site of the Fairmount House Senior Citizens Housing Complex. A small portion of the land became an extension of the parking lot for the adjacent Town Hall.
Eagle Rock Avenue Elementary School - Converted into new Board of Education offices.
West Orange Mountain High School - Built in 1960 as a second high school, located behind Abraham Lincoln Junior High School with its entrance on Conforti Avenue. It became the "new" West Orange High School when the two high schools merged in 1984.
Abraham Lincoln Junior High School - On Pleasant Valley Way, it was adjacent and connected to West Orange Mountain High School through a pair of corridor/bridges. The two schools shared an auditorium. Later, when West Orange Mountain High School became the "new" West Orange High, Lincoln was closed and the building absorbed by the "new" high school in order to enlarge it.
Administration
Core members of the district's administration are:
J. Scott Cascone, Superintendent
John Calavano, Business Administrator / Board Secretary
