Wayne Township was originally established as a farming community in 1874. The Township, which served as General Washington's headquarters, is rich in early colonial history with a significant number of historic buildings. We are located in the heart of Passaic County, New Jersey, less than 20 miles from New York City.

Wayne is a 26 square mile, suburban community of approximately 54,000 residents. William Paterson University, located within the Township, educates over 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Wayne has a strong and diverse tax base and is home to many corporations. A major portion of the town's land consists of residential homes and parks. The recently built Wayne Public Library serves the area as a regional reference center for Passaic County.

Located with access to major interstate roadways, Wayne is within reach of the cultural and entertainment offerings of New York City, the splendid shopping malls of Northern Jersey and the famous resorts of the Jersey Shore. Wayne Township provides all of the activities available in a large city while maintaining the aesthetics and tranquility of a typical suburban community.

The Wayne Township Public School District is a premier PreK-12 district located in Passaic County. According to New Jersey Magazine, our high schools are consistently ranked among the top 75 in the State.

The school district works to provide the community with safe, diverse schools, with reasonable class sizes, where each student can reach his or her academic potential. The integration of Technology into the District's 15 schools, on a wide area network, with high speed internet access in both classroom and laboratory settings, is evidence of an on-going commitment to provide an enriched environment for teachers and students.

The Wayne Board of Education continues to implement policies that make it possible for our nearly 9,000 students to flourish in a well-rounded educational program that recognizes the individual needs of each student.

The Preakness Early Childhood Center opened its doors in September of 2020 to the district’s youngest learners. The emphasis in preschool is on academic readiness which focuses on social-emotional learning and development, physical, language, and cognitive development, and prepares our students for kindergarten at the elementary schools. 

The curriculum used is the Creative Curriculum with Teaching Strategies Gold as the assessment component as well as Fundations and Handwriting Without Tears. The preschool also adopted the Pyramid Model which is a preschool tiered framework to promote positive interactions in young children in early childhood settings.

The staff is comprised of highly-qualified and dedicated professionals with expertise in their specific teaching domain (early childhood, special needs, ESL, speech and language, behavioral, occupational, and physical development) in addition to also having a Child Study Team in-house to monitor the needs of our students and further support our families.

Wayne's nine elementary schools provide students with a standards-based, academically challenging program. Emphasis is placed on building self-esteem, while learning to cooperate with others. Typically, Wayne's elementary students surpass regional, state and national averages on standardized assessments.

The Reading Program in grades one through five is literature based, integrated with skills development in writing and language arts. The Social Studies and Science Programs provide students with activities that encourage the exploration of the world around them. The Math Program encourages hands-on exploration of math while developing problem-solving skills. The integrated use of computers in grades two through five, augment and enhance student learning.

Wayne's middle schools provide students with a comprehensive educational program, which addresses the intellectual, social and emotional needs of our young adults. Academic course offerings are provided through an interdisciplinary team approach in grades six and seven and a traditional high school approach in grade eight where qualified students may take high school courses in Math, Science or Foreign Language. A strong home-to-school connection provides additional support for students at this critical age.

Wayne's two high schools provide students with an extremely broad spectrum of academic course offerings. Students are encouraged to participate in a challenging, rigorous academic program including specialized programs such as fine arts, vocal and instrumental music, drama, video production, desktop publishing, and computer aided design. Within each high school are academies such as Cisco, Oracle and Auto-Technology, that offer post high school career certification programs.

The high school athletic program offers over 30 sports, with over 70 teams at the freshman, junior-varsity and varsity level. Each high school also offers over 20 extra-curricular clubs and activities. An experienced and dedicated staff, supported by active parent organizations, allows both schools to enjoy consistently high positions in county, state and national rankings.

A typical year produces 3-5 National Merit Scholars, 10-15 National Merit Commended students and 25 Bloustein Scholars at each school. Combined SAT scores of over 1500 exceed both State and National mean scores.

Over the years, the Department of Special Services has expanded and evolved into a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary system of quality programs and services. The Wayne School District is committed to providing a full continuum of services for students, ages three to twenty-one, with special needs within the least restrictive environment. The staff is comprised of highly qualified, dedicated professionals who work with parents to make decisions that are best for children.

Child Study Teams continuously monitor and adapt to the needs of classified students through curricular revisions and in-service training. Transition planning for post-graduation placement continues to be an area of considerable innovation.