Hillside Public Schools
school district in Union County, New Jersey, United States
The Hillside Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Hillside, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the district, comprised of seven schools, had an enrollment of 3,046 students and 257.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.8:1.
History
Hillside High School on Liberty Avenue was originally constructed in 1940, replacing the Coe Avenue (A.P. Morris) School which became a grammar school. Additions were later added to accommodate the baby-boomers of the 1950s and 1960s. In the mid-1960s the high school held some 1,500 students.
The district had been classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "CD", the sixth-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.
Schools
Schools in the district (with 2023–24 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are:
Elementary schools
Abram P. Morris Early Childhood Center with 664 students in grades PreK–1
Victoria Palmer-Gilliard, Principal
Ola Edwards Community School with 394 students in grades 2–6
Kimley Davis, principal
Hurden Looker School with 393 students in grades 2–6
Daniella Alvarez, principal
Deanna G. Taylor Academy with 191 students in grades 2–6
Rahim Graham, principal
Middle schools
Hillside Innovation Academy with 101 students in grades 7–8
Nicole Silva, principal
Walter O. Krumbiegel Middle School with 309 students in grades 7–8
Roy T. Wilson, principal
High school
Hillside High School with 927 students in grades 9–12
Terry Woolard, principal
Administration
Core members of the district's administration are:
Erskine R. Glover, superintendent
Dwayne McNeil, business administrator and board secretary
Board of education
The district's board of education, comprised of nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Hillside Public Schools” as school district in Union County, New Jersey, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as school district in Union County, New Jersey, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5763970. Authority coordinates are 40.689, -74.222. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2023, 1940 and 2012.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hillside Public Schools”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hillside Public Schools primary sources, Hillside Public Schools archive and Hillside research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hillside Public Schools”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Hillside Public Schools” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.