We are proud of our Gloucester Public Schools' many successful accomplishments during the 2022-2023 school year.  Our district was recently named one of the “Best School Districts in America” by Niche.com.  This achievement is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking factors include state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, and more.  We achieved placement in the top 5 school districts in Camden County, top 15 in South Jersey, and top 25% in the United States & Canada.  

We are excited about the completion of our strategic planning process that we completed throughout the past year and thankful for all of the contributions made by many students, staff members, parents, and community members.  We will begin to pursue our new vision this year:  The Gloucester City School District Family empowers our students to be confident, well-rounded, happy individuals who positively impact society.  This worthy pursuit will require daily commitment and contributions from nearly all of us.  Programs such as AVID, Responsive Classroom, and the New Jersey Tiered Reading will continue to be critical to our future progress.  We will continue to update the community on our advancements and opportunities to participate.

As we experienced the challenge of our middle school being closed for two months this past school year, we are proud of everyone’s collective efforts to work together to continue to  provide the best education possible to our students.  We are thrilled to be able to expand bussing to include Cold Springs School students living on Broadway and west of it.  This will improve the lives of many students & families in addition to attendance and punctuality and the traffic flow and safety in town.  We were recently informed that all district students will now receive free breakfast and lunch at school daily as our application for the federal Community Eligibility Program has been approved.  The return of Industrial Arts instruction to the school district has gone really well in the first year.  We’ve also been able to maintain expanded academic support and remediation at all three district schools during both the school year and this summer.  We’ve continued to offer more mental health supports and clubs and activities for students than ever before.  Girls Wrestling is now an officially State-sanctioned sport by the NJSIAA; our girls and coaches performed valiantly in their first year of team competition.  All 8th through 12th grade students continue to take the PSAT and SAT at no cost during our school day; we are one of very few school districts who provide this opportunity to families. This year, we also partnered with Green Light Driving School to ensure that we continue to lead our students through the pursuit of their driver’s license at no cost to families. Our partnerships with both Camden County College and Rowan College of South Jersey are growing and remain invaluable in providing our students with the opportunity to achieve college credits & experience and/or career certifications while in high school, again at no cost to families.  Graduates from the Class of 2023 achieved industry credentials in electric, barbering and cosmetology, culinary arts, and more.  Multiple Seniors enlisted in various military branches.  Our students continue to be accepted by some of the best colleges and universities in the nation; this year’s acceptances included the University of Miami, the University of Alabama, Xavier University, St. John’s University, The College of New Jersey, Rowan University, Rutgers University, the University of Delaware, Villanova University, Muhlenberg University, Drexel University, Penn State University, Clemson University, Seton Hall University, Temple University, University of Maine, University of Rhode Island, University of Maryland, and more.

2022-2023 featured the start of new principals and assistant principals at both Cold Springs School and Gloucester Middle School.  Admirable progress has been made by this new leadership in their first year.  We also hired outstanding candidates as our new Business Administrator, Assistant Business Administrator, and Director of Special Services.  

We have many facilities projects and developments ongoing.  We were thrilled to receive news this summer from New Jersey’s School Development Authority notifying us that they will fully fund the replacement of the Gloucester High School roof.  This project would have minimally cost our school district $5 million to complete.  We continue to complete the required analysis of our grass fields behind the high school as the start of the process to achieve necessary improvements to our playing fields.  Cold Springs School’s HVAC system upgrades are complete, classroom & hallway floors have been replaced, and work on both the parking lot and outdoor learning spaces and playgrounds is scheduled to begin in the year ahead.  Work continues daily in our state-of-the-art Industrial Arts shop classroom; instruction should begin to utilize this space in the months ahead.  Work will begin this year on updating the Life Skills classroom at GHS.  Discussions also continue to advance regarding including Mary Ethel Costello School in the plans for City development.  Nearly all of this has been achieved utilizing funds from federal grant monies.  All of these projects were accomplished while only raising the average Gloucester City family household’s taxes by just $2.36 per month.  

Maximizing the safety of all three of our campuses daily will forever be a priority.  This past year was the first in which a full-time police officer was assigned to each of our district schools.  We are fortunate and grateful to have such a high quality partnership with the Gloucester City Police Department.  We established a partnership this school year with ChanceLight alternative school; this program will continue to serve students in grades 6 through 12 who consistently exhibit concerning behaviors.  We remain committed to providing our community with schools that are safe, caring, and fun, leading students to look forward to coming to them each day.

Sincerely,
Mr. Sean Gorman & Dr. Kimberley Chiodi
Superintendent & Assistant Superintendent of Schools
GHS Graduates (Class of 1998)