The school district is looking at three possible plans for the 2026-2027 school year to alleviate overcrowding at some elementary schools.
HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Plans for redistricting and to make room for full-day kindergarten in Hillsborough continue to move forward.
An update on the redistricting process and full-day kindergarten was presented by Assistant Superintendent Joel Handler at the Sept. 29 Board of Education meeting. The redistricting was prompted by rising student enrollment and is set to go into effect for the 2026-2027 school year.
Handler, who is spearheading the process, said that currently several Hillsborough K-4 schools are overcrowded, while several are undercrowded.
To help alleviate this problem, accommodate incoming students, and make room for full-day kindergarten, Handler said he took a look at the population density layout in Hillsborough.
“This was very eye-opening for me and everyone I’ve been showing it to; they were like, ‘Wow!’ It highlights the core issue we really have in Hillsborough in terms of population density,” said Handler.
Currently, Handler said the population density across the six elementary schools is “unbalanced.”
Handler shared a map that showed the current K-4 students enrolled, represented by blue dots, and the elementary schools, represented by red dots.
A look at the map shows that Woodfern Elementary School “covers about a third to almost half of Hillsborough’s land but is about a tenth, possibly even less, of our Hillsborough elementary school population,” said Handler.
Handler then looked at construction projects in the Township, including those that were completed, those in progress, and those slated to begin.
Data is projecting 309 total new students to enter the district over the course of the construction projects coming forward.
“A lot of the construction is happening in what’s currently considered Amsterdam school, currently considered Sunnymead, and a little bit in Triangle and a little bit in Hillsborough Elementary School,” said Handler.
These projects could bring a rise in enrollment to the following schools:
Amsterdam – 68 more students
Hillsborough – 9 more students
Sunnymead – 106 more students
Triangle – 34 more students
Woods Road – 26 more students
“Sunnymead School, right now, is actually at capacity. Slightly even over capacity in some sense. That is a problem for us. We need to address that very quickly,” said Handler.
Additionally, Handler said the district looked at the student enrollment trends, which have shown a steady decline since the 2019-2020 school year.
However, Handler pointed out that while student enrollment has declined, the special education population has increased.
For general education classrooms, Handler said the district can have up to 25 kids in a classroom, but with special education, the district can only have seven to eight students in a classroom. And in some autism programs, there can be no more than six students in a classroom.
“When you look at populations in terms of room utilization, as special ed students come into the district, their use of classrooms significantly increases compared to the amount of rooms we are ‘losing’ from a population decrease,” said Handler.
To address this, the district is looking at three plans, including redistricting students to allocate more students to Woodfern; looking to develop a childhood learning center at Triangle for Pre-K and Kindergarten only; or developing a fourth-grade transition school at Hillsborough Elementary School.
If redistricting were to move forward, the district shared a map of where the redistricting would possibly take place.
Nothing has been decided upon yet, and the district will continue to share updates at upcoming Board of Education meetings. Additionally, the district will hold upcoming feedback meetings for the community to learn more and share their comments on the plans.
Upcoming Feedback meetings:
Oct. 16 from 9 to 11 a.m.
Nov. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Nov. 13 from 7 to 9 p.m.
A location for the meeting has not been determined yet.
“Our goal for all students and parents is right around spring break time, either right before or right after, we want to let everyone know where they’re going to school for next year,” said Superintendent Michael Volpe. “And to make that clear for anyone registering for full-day K. Registration starts at the end of January.”
To see the full presentation, click here or see below (beginning at around 1:03:40):