Ramapo, Indian Hills enrollment disparity study completed. Here's what was found

OAKLAND — The Ramapo Indian Hills School District will struggle for the next five years to recover from a slump in student enrollment.

The information, which also shows more students are choosing to attend Ramapo High School over Indian Hills High School, comes from a Statistical Forecasting LLC demographic study that also found there is no foreseeable change in the uneven distribution of students between the district's two high schools — Indian Hills and Ramapo.

The results of the 59-page, $11,300 study were presented to the district's school board at the end of May by Richard Grip, owner of the Boston-based firm.

A study was called for in a five-year strategic plan proposed by former School Superintendent Rui Dionisio in June 2023. The goal was to address an ongoing imbalance of attendance between the two schools that affects the district's ability to deliver curriculum equally and how it affects its extracurricular activities, particularly sports.

Grip conceded that "we don't have an answer" for why students prefer one school over the other, or how to correct the imbalance. Instead, his report offers a detailed statistical profile of the three municipalities.

The choice issue

The Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School district's two schools serve ninth- through 12th-grade students from Franklin Lakes, Oakland and Wyckoff. Ramapo High School is located in Franklin Lakes and Indian Hills in Oakland.

Ramapo opened in January 1957 with 655 students. Indian Hills opened in September 1965 with 575 students. From 1971 to 1999, Franklin Lakes students were split geographically between the two high schools. Those east of the Franklin Lakes attended Ramapo High School and those west of the Franklin Lakes attended Indian Hills.

The Board of Education voted to end the Franklin Lakes "split" in January 1998 allowing students to choose either Ramapo or Indian Hills without geographic restriction starting in September 1999. The choice was extended to Oakland students in 2005. There is some debate when Wyckoff students were granted school choice, but all three districts now allow students to choose which school they attend.

The removal of choice restrictions was predicted to have an immediate negative impact on Indian Hills enrollment, but the shift happened more gradually.

In 2020, the question was raised whether the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association should reclassify the two schools given their enrollment and performance. Indian Hills was eyed for movement from Group 3 to Group 2 but no change has been made. Indian Hills fielded the dominant teams in the 1960s to the 1990s, but access to Ramapo's larger student base has allowed its teams to bypass Indian Hills on sports performance in recent years.

The size of each school's population also affects what classes and how many sections of those classes are offered, even the size of their marching bands. Most recently, the school board debated whether a dance team organized at Ramapo should include Indian Hills students, or require them to wait until they had sufficient numbers to justify a separate group.

Report highlights

The report provides statistical data on the three municipalities but does not attempt to analyze how this data plays into school choice.

• Location: One of the simplest factors students may consider when choosing schools is the distance from their home. Franklin Lakes sits in the middle between Indian Hills in Oakland on its western border and Ramapo near its eastern border with Wyckoff. The 3.6 miles between the two schools may be a deciding factor, particularly for Oakland and Wyckoff students.

• Capacity: According to the study, Ramapo High School can hold 1,663 students and is now operating at 72% capacity with 1,192 students, expected to drop slightly to 1,158 students (70% capacity) by the 2028-29 school year. Indian Hills can hold 1,469 students and is now operating at 48% capacity with 699 students, expected to increase slightly to 726 students (49% capacity) by the 2028-29 school year. There was no statistical breakdown by town which students attend which school.

• Two schools: Neither school is large enough to hold all students from both schools.

• Housing: The study says that from 2008 to 2011, housing sales declined in the area "due to the housing market crash and banking crisis." As a result, potential homeowners sought less pricey places to move. Students born during that slump living in one of the three towns are now ages 13 to 16. Student populations are expected to bottom out in 2024-2025 before a gradual upturn.

• More homes: New home construction would be the most likely way to add new students. The study cites the Cigna 495-unit affordable housing development in Franklin Lakes as the most likely to produce a substantial number of new students. A 191-unit townhouse/apartment complex is also under construction next to Indian Hills on McCoy Road in Oakland. However, the study says since the units are not yet built and occupied, the impact of any children in these developments on the two schools is "outside the five-year enrollment projection timeframe."

• Wealth culture: One of the ongoing arguments to explain the imbalance in student populations between the two schools has been that Franklin Lakes and Wyckoff share more socio-economic similarities than Oakland, and favor Ramapo High School as a result. The study provides facts about the area's economy, but draws no conclusions about the impact on school choice.

• Median household income: Franklin Lakes $204,917, Wyckoff $184,858, Oakland $162,848, New Jersey overall $96,346.

• Owner-occupied units: Franklin Lakes 3,258 (87.5%), Wyckoff 5,138 (92.3%), Oakland 3,974 (91.2%), New Jersey overall 61.3%.

• Median value of owner-occupied unit (housing): Franklin Lakes $1,135,700, Wyckoff $885,400, Oakland $535,900, New Jersey overall $428,900.

• Race (top two categories): Franklin Lakes: white 8,755 (79%), Asian 1,051 (9.5%); Wyckoff: white 13,767 (83%), Hispanic 1,315 (7.9%); Oakland: white 10,370 (81.3%), 1,210 Hispanic (9.5%).

• Education: Percent of residents with bachelor degrees: Franklin Lakes 77.3%, Wyckoff 64.1%, Oakland 54.2%. Percent of residents with graduate or professional degrees: Franklin Lakes 35.8%, Wyckoff 28.1%, Oakland 20.9%.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: See results of Ramapo, Indian Hills enrollment disparity study