Redistricting May Shift Where Elementary Students Attend School In Hillsborough

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Rising student enrollment in Hillsborough Township has prompted the Board of Education(BOE) to move forward with its redistricting process.

During the Monday night BOE meeting, Assistant Superintendent Joel Handler, who is spearheading the process, provided an update to the public.

Superintendent Michael Volpe said redistricting will begin at the elementary level in the 2026-27 school year.

"For elementary students and parents, that does mean that in 2026-27, there are going to be some students who are attending a school this coming year that in 2026-27 may be going to a different school. That’s literally what redistricting means," said Volpe.

The Board will be providing updates at each BOE meeting to let the public know where they stand in the redistricting process.

Handler said the district is currently engaged in a comprehensive evaluation of all the rooms throughout the K to Grade 4 schools.

"We are doing a comprehensive walkthrough, determining how many rooms specifically can hold a homeroom-sized classroom. We're looking at all rooms to see whether it can hold a full-size or smaller size class," said Handler.

Additionally, Handler said the district is looking ahead to implementing full-day kindergarten.

The district is also looking at bathrooms since NJ state law requires that kindergarten classes have a bathroom in the room. The district does have the option to do a waiver if there isn't a bathroom in the classroom where there would have to be a bathroom in the vicinity or within sight.

Special education classrooms will also be required to have a bathroom in the room.

"We are close to finishing that up now. We will next be meeting with both special ed and transportation to really look at the special ed locations if they are optimal or not and then from there looking at what our school boundaries are to help equalize, equate," said Handler. "We want to build it so we are not overcrowded in one building and undercrowded in another, which is currently the situation we are in right now."

The redistricting process began in August 2024 when the BOE voted to award a contract for a redistricting study to ARCBridge Consulting, which was set to begin on Sept. 1 at the contractual price of $42,995.

This will be the first time the district has undergone a full redistricting since 2002.

See the video about the update below:

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