Member News
Beyond Status Quo: A Chronicle of Risk-Taking, Transformation, and Growth of Becton Regional High School
What started as a simple letter of interest from the Maywood School District back in 2018 has developed into a unique lesson built on taking risks and embracing transformation. The past four years at Becton Regional have been anything but “status-quo,” and the ever-changing, positive evolution that we embrace daily continues to fuel our mission of providing the absolute best for our regional school community. In 2020, Becton was faced with the unique and inconceivable challenge of integrating over 340 Maywood students in the midst of the pandemic. With not a single school closure, we defied the odds and not only returned to in-person learning, but also celebrated an undefeated football championship as we simultaneously embarked on a new journey with Maywood Public Schools. Tackling the difficulties of the pandemic provided us with the foundation, resilience, and discipline to handle this integration. Fast forwarding to the 2023-24 school year and to what some have categorized as the “perfect partnership,” we now have four years of sufficient data, and the numbers speak for themselves. The Becton-Maywood merger has served as a blueprint for districts looking to partner as we did and has transformed the high school experience for students in all three communities and will continue to do so well into the future. The exponential growth would never have been possible without the additional revenue, added resources, and, most importantly, the students and staff. Due to the 2% tax levy cap, in addition to rising and inflation costs between 4-12%, many academic, athletic, and extracurricular programs were in jeopardy of being cut. Instead, Becton Regional has grown by double and triple digit figures in nearly every aspect of our organization from student life, academic offerings, community involvement, athletics, extracurriculars, staffing, and school pride and spirit.
Dario Sforza, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools, Carlstadt-East Rutherford (Becton) Regional HS District
10 NJAEL Leader’s Edge Magazine
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