Central Regional Named To Top School District List in New Jersey

The Central Regional school district has been named to Niche.com's list of top school districts in New Jersey.

Central Regional came in at number 130 out of 146 districts named to the top list.

And Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides couldn't be happier. He has spent the better part of a decade transforming Central into a quality school district.

"I think the best kept secret in Ocean County is out," he said.

Central now has three academies within the high school - The Humanities Academy, which partners with Georgian Court University, the Leadership Academy and the Digital Media Academy.

Students who qualify for the Humanities Academy are taught by Georgian Court professors, not adjuncts, on the Central campus in Bayville.

"Students can graduate with 30 college credits for free," Parlapanides said. "So they start college as sophomores, saving some money."
Students can also earn some college credits with the Leadership Academy and the Digital Media Academy, he said.

"The facilities are constantly improving," he said. "We have a tremendous teaching staff, administration and offer more clubs, sports and activities than most schooslscfacilities are constantly improving, we have a tremendous teaching staff, administration and offer more club, sports and activities that most schools."

He also credited the "progressive" "Board of Education with playing a part in the ranking.

"Some ideas they like, others not so much, but they are great people to work for and with," Parlapanides said.

Central includes the high school, middle school and the Seaside Heights Elementary School.

According to Niche, the best school district in New Jersey is Princeton, which also ranked 14th in the entire country.

To arrive at these rankings, Niche looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as test scores, college data and ratings collected from Niche users. The methodology for each category of ranking varied. (Click here for more information on how Niche calculates its rankings.)

Niche assigns a standardized score for each factor, which is then weighted before an overall score is calculated for each school district. The overall scores are again standardized and some districts are disqualified from receiving a final letter grade if there isn’t enough data. School districts are then ranked numerically and assigned grades.
Photo: Patricia A. Miller