Mr. Hershey returned to the Northvale Schools in the summer of 2005 as Chief School Administrator after having served the district as Principal of both the Thomas Jefferson and Nathan Hale Schools during the 2002-2003 school year. After twenty-three years as a principal at the elementary, middle school and high school levels in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, he is quite excited to be fulfilling his life-long educational goal of serving as superintendent of a quality district such as Northvale. Being part of the Northern Valley Regional School district is both an honor and a challenge, one that Mr. Hershey hopes he can live up to.

As a kindergarten through eighth grade district, Northvale is one of four schools that send their eighth grade graduates to Old Tappan High School. Enrollment at the present time is just under 600. We have four Kindergarten classes, three classes at grades one through four, two fifth grades and the three homerooms at each of the middle school grades. This grade organization should be similar next school year as our enrollment looks to hold steady. Our kindergarten through grade five classes are all self-contained. We also have a number of special education classes to meet the educational, physical, and emotional needs of our students.

Our middle school is comprised of grades six through eight. Students are receiving instruction from certificated academic teachers in all areas. At the sixth grade level students have the same teacher for language arts and literature, are taught math and science by one teacher, and all other subjects are taught by individual specialists. As the students move to grades seven and eight they have a separate teacher for each subject area. Special education certified staff provides the programs to meet the individual needs of our earning support children. Several of our classes are taught collaboratively to ensure that all of our students, regardless of ability level or learning style, are experiencing optimum learning environments.

We are quite proud of our students’ accomplishments and our well-qualified staff. There definitely exists a feeling of pride in our school community where staff, students, and parents each play a vital role in the success of our schools.

You can contact Mr. Hershey via e-mail at hershey@nvnet.org