HACKENSACK — The city’s middle school, the second largest middle school in the state with more than 1,400 students, is hiring a second principal and splitting the school in half, to create two separate “academies,” one for fifth and sixth graders and another for seventh and eighth graders.
The change is aimed at addressing concerns about overcrowding, lateness and absences, poor academic performance and incidents between students, said Thomas McBryde, the superintendent of schools.
“We want to make it more manageable so that we can ensure student success,” he said. “This model will provide those leaders the opportunity to dive deep in the level of support they give to the teachers and individual students.”
The school’s current principal, Dr. Joy Dorsey-Whiting, will lead the school’s fifth and sixth graders because of her career history working with elementary students, with the second principal in charge of the seventh and eighth grades.
When McBryde took the helm as superintendent in January, he began collecting data from the district’s schools and meeting with administrators, teachers, students and parents to hear their concerns.
Middle schoolers told him they had a hard time getting to class on time because the halls were so crowded. Parents wanted to know how he was going to improve the situation at the middle school. And Whiting said she was initially reluctant to take the principal role at the middle school because of its size and the challenges there, McBryde said.
“When we looked at the data, it was the middle school we needed to prioritize the most. I saw the challenges of the students,” he said. “I know looking at the data we need to do something to turn the school around because there is an urgency there.”
Hackensack has about 5,350 students in six schools. The most recent school performance report compiled by the state Department of Education showed that 41% of students met expectations for English language arts and 19% met math assessment expectations.
Middle school students’ scores were lower overall than the district’s, McBryde said. In the 2022/23 school year, there were about 2,600 disciplinary infractions at the school and an average of 154 students who were tardy each day — about three times the number of students late each day than at the high school.
The middle school used to have two principals, but a change was made in 2011, McBryde said. In the 13 years since, the school has had seven principals.
“That amount of turnover in that amount of time lets you know something is a problem. Something is not working,” McBryde said.
Having two school leaders will allow each principal to focus on the needs of the students and teachers. Fifth graders need support transitioning from elementary school and eighth graders need a transition plan to high school. The two sides of the school will now be kept largely separate with minimal interactions between the older and younger students.
The changes at Hackensack Middle School come after a school year that began with a chaotic September in which the school’s 1,400 students went weeks without a schedule.
The school had planned to introduce new schedules in September, but when students arrived on the first day, their schedules were wrong, some with nothing listed for one period and several classes for another. Students didn’t know what class to report to or who their teachers were. Before officials scrambled to put together temporary schedules, many students sat in the auditorium or classrooms with little instruction.
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School officials have blamed the problem on a glitch. An assistant principal, Najran Cowins, resigned shortly after the scheduling issue. McBryde came in mid-year, replacing former superintendent Robert Sanchez, who retired. He said he didn’t know what caused the problem, but it has been resolved. An outside firm was hired to plan a schedule for the next school year and teachers will have their schedules before they leave for the summer.
“I’m not really clear still what happened. There are various iterations of the story,” McBryde said. “I just know there were challenges with the schedule not being done and having to kind of do a mad dash to create one that was at least functional for this year. Thankfully we are in a better position right now to not have that replicated next year.”
Eventually, McBryde said he hopes to map out a facilities plan so the middle school isn’t so large. One option is going to a more traditional grade six through eight middle school model and moving the fifth graders back to the elementary level.
“We’ll be working to see if that’s possible,” he said.
