Hampton Township Schools VS. Newton, NJ Schools? (Sussex County Schools in General) (Andover: home)

[devlin_morgan]

Good day, does anyone have thoughts, experiences and stories on the schools in HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, NJ and NEWTON, NJ?

Hampton Township has McKeown (K-6) & Kittatiny Highschool

Newton has Merriam (K-4) Halsted (5-8) & Newton Highschool

I saw from Wikipedia that Hampton Township seems to have a higher rating than Newton, but then Newton seems to have more funding and resources in regards to programs, extra curricular activities, aftercare. Upon research I saw that both schools are included in the Interdistrict Public School choice aside from other Sussex County schools. If you have experiences of other school system in Sussex County/other townships like Byram, Andover, etc. I would welcome all your thoughts.

I would really appreciate it to hear from someone firsthand their experiences or their children's experiences. I have a son who will be entering kindergarten next year and another son in a couple of years.

Thanks to all for your time.

[Mattie]

We left Sussex Cty 11 yrs ago, but my kids attended Green Hills School in Green Twp. We LOVED the fact that it was k-8, which is so unusual nowadays. I would definitely give it a look.

When our eldest was ready to move to high school, he already had heard not such positive things about Newton HS, and requested to attend Pope John in Sparta. I do know plenty of his classmates attended Newton, and did well, but since the time we have left, I also know far too many kids who have spiraled down into drug abuse. Drugs are an issue in Sussex Cty. I cannot say if it is worse there than in the rest of the country, but keep your eyes and ears open. Some of the kids I know came from strong, supportive families, and you would never expect that kind of outcome.

[devlin_morgan]

Hi Mattie, thank you so much for your informational post. I have read some bad things about Newton and drugs in general. But not really enough information to go. so thanks so much for your observations. I looked at the distance from my home to green Township school and is about 18 minutes. But I think I will email the school and get some information about enrollment. I checked out Pope John in in Sparta and I saw some reviews that seemed great but a couple mentioned the "cliques". I'd feel so bad if my poor son didn't make any friends lol. yeah, he is only 4 but I'm already thinking and worrying that far ahead. At this moment financially I'm not in the upper class echelon so I'd feel really bad if he was surrounded by so many wealthy classmates with fancy gadgets and he might feel out of place. Unless my husband finally makes massive commissions in his job then no problem.

Does anyone out there have thoughts specifically the Hampton Township school system? McKeown school and Kittatiny? Anyone?

[Hereinsparta]

Hampton Twp is just fine & Kittatiny has a good reputation. I would not even consider Newton for public school. Pope John is expensive, so that may be a concern.

[devlin_morgan]

Thanks hereinsparta. I feel much better now to hear at least one opinion about the schools

[Sabot1965]

I know SAT scores aren't everything, but Newton's grads actually did better than Kittatinny's grad's this year. This site has all NJ's SAT scores: Interactive Map: High School SAT scores - NJ Spotlight

[Hereinsparta]

Sabot, I would be interested in the % of students who took the SAT & went on to a four year college, too; that would tell much more about the academic climate (college expected for most or not). The scores are fairly close otherwise. Interesting graph, but not a full picture.