District Overview

Welcome to the Mountainside School District Website. We are pleased to share that our student population totals over 1,000 with grades preK-2 attending Beechwood School, grades 3-8 attending Deerfield School, and grades 9-12 attending Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights as part of our send-receive relationship. In preparing students for these experiences, our vision is to ensure that Mountainside remains a premier suburban school district in which all students acquire the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to live rich and full lives as productive and enlightened members of society, empowering them to shape, build, and achieve their dreams. With this in mind, we have researched, implemented, monitored, and evaluated primary, elementary, and middle school programs with an eye toward nurturing both academic excellence and social-emotional growth in our students. Our mission is to develop self-confident, independent, and responsible citizens by providing the highest quality education that reflects alignment with and achievement of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards at all grade levels through a school, family, and community partnership.

More specifically, the Mountainside School District goals are:

1. To improve student achievement and growth for all students through high expectations as well as frequent monitoring of student progress and staff development activities, with a focus on state standardized tests and district benchmark assessments.
2. To provide a vigorous, comprehensive, fully articulated, and seamless pre K-8 curriculum designed to nurture high achieving students, who are both responsible citizens and lifelong learners, which challenges and engages all students to reach academic excellence.
3. To hire, retain, and support a superior staff who utilizes best practices and values creativity, innovation, and professional growth in a learning environment of mutual respect and collaboration.
4. To partner with other public school districts to expand the sharing of services and to explore alternative placements and programs for special education students in compliance with state and federal law while improving and maintaining clear and consistent communication with parents.
5. To ensure quality management, financial integrity, meaningful accountability, efficient facilities, and an effective operating infrastructure to successfully implement our instructional programs while expanding our use of shared services with other public school districts and organizations to increase fiscal efficiencies.

In an effort to continually provide a seamless curriculum, high quality instruction, and appropriate assessment measures, and to be in compliance with federal requirements, we have recently collected data on teacher and principal evaluation systems. As part of the conditions for New Jersey's acceptance of funding under Phase 2 of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) Program, the federal government is requiring that all districts and charter schools make available information on their current systems for evaluating teachers and principals. To comply with this new federal data collection requirement, each district has been sent two surveys, one each for teachers and principals, to be completed and submitted to the New Jersey Department of Education. In addition, the federal government requires that districts and charter schools make evaluation system information and data available to the public on the district website. To access this information, please click here .

Please be sure to access the district website links to develop an even greater understanding of our commitment to our exceptional students. Further, we value feedback from fellow educators and community members. As such, please contact Beechwood School, Deerfield School, or the Board of Education Office to share your thoughts regarding our programs. Thank you for your interest in the Mountainside School District.