Schools in Morristown, NJ

Public school in Morristown means the Morris School District, a regional K-12 system that serves both the Town of Morristown and Morris Township as a single district. The longer story of how that district came to exist (and why it’s the only judicially mandated district consolidation in New Jersey history that has been sustained) is in the Morris School District deep dive. The merger between the town and township school systems happened in 1973 and is one of the few cases in New Jersey of two municipalities sharing a single fully-merged district. The private-school landscape, especially the secondary level, is unusually deep for a town this size: Peck, Delbarton, Villa Walsh, and the Academy of Saint Elizabeth are all within a few miles.

Morris School District

The district runs nine schools across the town and township, all under one Superintendent and Board of Education. Roughly 5,000 students total. District info, calendars, and the Board of Education page are at morrisschooldistrict.org.

The structure:

• Five elementary schools, K-5. Alexander Hamilton, Alfred Vail, Hillcrest, Normandy Park, and Sussex Avenue. Each draws from a defined attendance zone; the district’s site has the zone map.
• Two middle schools, 6-8. Frelinghuysen Middle School (in Morristown) and Hannah Bigelow Lakes Middle Building feeds; in practice, all sixth-graders consolidate at Frelinghuysen.
• One high school, 9-12. Morristown High School, on Early Street near the train station. The Morristown High Colonials are the district’s athletics program. The school is also a regional magnet for Morris County’s Academy for Aerospace and Engineering and several other Academies for Science & Engineering programs.
• An early-childhood center at the Lafayette campus serves pre-K.

The district draws a wide socio-economic and racial mix because it pulls from both the town’s denser, more diverse downtown and the township’s wealthier suburban tracts. That mix shapes a high school much closer in profile to a small urban high school than a typical Morris County suburban one, with the academic strengths and the budgetary stresses that come with it.

Private schools

The private-school cluster is part of the local economy:

• The Peck School. K-8 independent day school on South Street, in business since 1893. Roughly 270 students. peckschool.org.
• Delbarton School. All-boys Catholic Benedictine 7-12 day school on the grounds of St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown, about 600 students. One of the strongest private high schools in the state. delbarton.org.
• Villa Walsh Academy. All-girls Catholic 7-12 day school on Western Avenue in Morristown, run by the Religious Teachers Filippini. About 200 students. villawalsh.org.
• Academy of Saint Elizabeth. All-girls Catholic 9-12 day school in Convent Station, the oldest girls’ secondary school in New Jersey (founded 1860). About 200 students. aosenj.org.
• Morristown-Beard School. Coed independent 6-12 day school on Whippany Road, about 580 students. mbs.net.
• St. Christopher School. K-8 Catholic parish school on Madison Avenue.

There are also several smaller Montessori, Waldorf, and faith-based programs in the immediate area, plus the usual selection of preschools.

College and beyond

• Saint Elizabeth University (formerly the College of Saint Elizabeth) has its main campus in Convent Station. Founded 1899, originally a women’s college, now coeducational. steu.edu.
• Drew University, the closest mid-sized liberal arts college, is in Madison, three train stops east. drew.edu.
• Fairleigh Dickinson University has its Florham Campus a few miles south, also in Madison. fdu.edu.
• County College of Morris is in Randolph, about 15 minutes north. ccm.edu.

Quick links

• Morris School District (calendars, Board of Ed, zone maps)
• NJ State Performance Reports (public-school score data)
• Morris County Vocational School District (the Academies)

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