The Highlands School District was a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Highlands, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The district was dissolved effective July 2024 with the merger of the Atlantic Highlands and Highlands districts into Henry Hudson Regional School District.
As of the 2022âÂÂ23 school year, the district, comprised of one school, had an enrollment of 169 students and 22.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a studentâÂÂteacher ratio of 7.6:1. In the 2016âÂÂ17 school year, Highlands was tied for the 40th-smallest enrollment of any school district in the state, with 190 students.
The district is 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.
For seventh through twelfth grades, public school students attended Henry Hudson Regional High School, a comprehensive six-year high school and regional public school district that serves students from both Atlantic Highlands and Highlands. As of the 2022âÂÂ23 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 296 students and 39.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a studentâÂÂteacher ratio of 7.6:1.
In September 2023, voters in both Atlantic Highlands and Highlands approved a ballot measure that would consolidate the two KâÂÂ6 districts with the Henry Hudson regional district to form a single KâÂÂ12 district starting in the 2024âÂÂ25 school year.
Highlands Elementary School had an enrollment of 170 students in the 2022âÂÂ23 school year.
Core members of the district's administration were:
The district had a shared Tri-District Superintendent of Schools for the Atlantic Highlands School District, the Highlands School District and the Henry Hudson Regional High School.
The district's board of education, comprised of seven members, set policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees were elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either two or three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election. The board appointed a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district.