School Officials Angered By Lacey "D" Grade In Newspaper Story

A recent article on nj.com that graded high schools around the state was "irresponsible," Board of Education President Eric Schubiger said.

The assessment of High School Proficiency Assessment data gave the Lacey school district a "D" grade, which both Schubiger and Acting Superintendent Vanessa Clark criticized at the Sept. 16 school board meeting.

The grading of school districts was done by a "proprietary formula," Clark said.

"The paper or reporter will not disclose the method to the public," she said.

Clark said she had reviewed the Lacey schools data on Data Universe and found that Lacey scores in many cases over the 2008-2012 period were equal to or exceeded other districts.

"I ask the public to look at the same data and draw your own conclusions," Clark said.

Schubiger was more blunt. He called the story "extremely irresponsible."

"I hate bad grades," Schubiger said. "I don't like to see a D next to our school. We have no idea how they arrived at it. There are a lot of measurements out there. There are a lot of ways to look at a school district.

For the first time this year, Inside Jersey based its scores on four years worth of High School Proficiency Assessment data released by the New Jersey Department of Education, which was then weighted with SAT scores as well

Lacey High School did not improve its scores over a period of four years, according to the report on NJ.com.

The report noted that schools with "D" grades showed "below average scores, below average growth."

Scores for Ocean County high schools as a whole were mixed. Both Brick Township high schools, as well as Manchester High School, New Egypt High School, Pinelands Regional High School and Lakewood High School also received Ds.

Southern Regional High School and Point Pleasant Beach High School were the only two high schools in the county to receive 'A' grades.