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• History of the Hackensack Board of Education

• Photo Gallery

The Development of the Hackensack School System

      Prior to 1894 the public schools of New Jersey were operated by the state, which contributed to their financing and had a large voice in establishing local school policy.  From 1867 to 1894, in fact, every school in the state was identified by a state school district number.  With the passage of the Township School Act in 1894, however, a major step was taken in the direction of local control.  Each village, borough, town or city was delegated responsibility for its own public schools even though it was still somewhat accountable for them to the state through the office of the county superintendent.  One result of the 1894 Act was that the Village of Hackensack in the Township of New Barbadoes was directed by County Superintendent John Terhune to hold a public meeting of all landowners to elect a board of education.  The meeting was held on July 20, 1894 at the Washington School (Union Street School), then located on the corner of Union and Myers Streets.  Nine men were elected to form the first Board of Education of the Township of New Barbadoes.  This board met for the first time on July 25, 1894, also at the Washington school and their first act was to determine who would serve one, two, or three year terms, which was decided by pulling names from a hat.  The names of the members and their terms were as follows:

      George Wheeler became president by virtue of having received the greatest number of the 110 votes cast in the election.  Reverend Voorhes was elected vice-president by his fellow members, and a third member, Mr. Fank, was appointed to the post of clerk for the district at a salary of $300.00 per year.  Mr. Fank was immediately directed by the board to procure stationary for the new School district of New Barbadoes and to inform all school clerks within the district to turn over all books, documents and records of their respective schools to him.  It was further decided at this first meeting to hold a public board of education meeting on the first Monday evening of each month at Education Hall in the Union Street building.

•   On August 6, the board met again with the first item of business being the renumbering of the schools as follows:
• District School #33 on Hudson Street opposite Vreeland became School #1 or Hudson Street School.
• District School #32 on Union and Myers became School #2 or Union Street School.
• District School # 31 on State and Berry became School #3 or State Street School.
• District School # 51 on Johnson and Jefferson became School #4 or Fairmount School.

Further business conducted at this meeting was as follows:

• All expenditures of more than $10.00 were to be approved by the board.
• All school bells were to ring at the same time each day for three minutes
• Tuition for any students from outside the district would be $6.00 per quarter for 3^rd and 4^th grades; $7.00 for 5^th and 6^th grades; and $8.00 for the 7^th and 8^th grades.
• All schools would be open five days a week, rain or shine.
• A janitor, Mr. Jacob Pascheck was appointed to School #1 at $300.00 per year; a janitress, Mrs. Beers, was appointed to School #4 at $100.00 per year; and a teacher was appointed to School #1 at $400.00 per year.

      The board met a third time on September 3, 1894.  At this session it set boundaries for each student and ruled that any student wishing to attend a school other than that assigned would have to pay the same tuition as an out-of-town student.  Bogota and Riverside (River Edge) students were accepted for the Schools # 2 and  #4.  It was also decided at this meeting that high school courses would be given at School #3 (State Street) with a course of study to be published as soon as it was completed.  Tuition for high school students was set at $12.00 per quarter.  Further items of business concerned a special tax levy of $1000 for repairs to School # 2 and the establishment of a policy to dispatch a janitor to the home of a substitute teacher when one was needed.  The board also ruled at this meeting that not more than two grades should be held in any single room.  Thus by the fall of 1894, the school system of New Barbadoes, was launched as a community school system.  

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Dr. Nelson Haas, was one of the most distinguished educators in the history of the Hackensack schools.  Dr. Haas was principal of the Washington Institutes and Union Street School, the first principal of Hackensack High School and the first supervising principal of the school system.

The origins of the Union Street School are founded in and outstanding private academy called The Washington Institute which operated from 1769 to 1865 as a private academy and for thirteen years more as a free school.  In 1865, the trustees of the Institute, decided that is should become a free school operated by the Village of Hackensack for the students within the district. Unfortunately, during the morning of Saturday, November 25, 1950 a hundred mile and hour wind tore off sections of the building.  This misfortune marked the end of Union Street School. In 1952 the building was demolished.

The first Hackensack High School on First and High Streets was built in 1897.  This site is now occupied by a public housing project (Central and First Streets).

In 1915 the groundbreaking for a new high school took place.  The Cornerstone Ceremony was on December 2, 1916 and in November of 1918 the new Hackensack High School was completed.

A proposal for a new school was issued in 1920, due to the overcrowding of other surrounding schools. In 1923 Jackson Avenue School was completed and an addition with an auditorium was added in 1927.

In February of 1926 the board of education voted to add a new school in the section of the city known to local residents as "the hill" or "Red Hill".  The cornerstone ceremony took place on May 21, 1927.  During the ceremony a telegram was received from the Bergen Evening Record that Charles Lindbergh would land in Paris within the hour on the completion o his historic trans-Atlantic flight.  A suggestion was made by a townsperson that the new school be named "The Lindbergh School".  Although many people thought it was a good idea, however the motion was denied.  The school was known as Longview Avenue School or School #7 until 1950 when the name was officially changed to Fanny Meyer Hillers School after an educator who devoted forty-one years of service to the Hackensack Schools.