plan, Putting Students First. History The Board of Education of the City of Camden was established by Isaac W. Mickle, who was entrusted by The Camden Board of School Trustees to borrow money to build a schoolhouse and apply to become a board of education. Mickle would go on to become the first secretary of The Board of Education. The first meeting of the Board of Education of the City of Camden was in City Hall on April 3, 1854. The first three members elected into the board were from each political ward: Joseph Kimble (North Ward), Ebenezer Nichols (Middle Ward), and Isaac Lloyd (South Ward). The district previously followed de jure educational segregation in the United States, where it officially segregated elementary schools on the basis of race. This ended in September 1946. In 1948 it had two elementary schools entirely with black students and teachers. John Greenleaf Whittier Elementary School - In 1948 the school designated black children to transfer to the school even if it wasn't in their attendance zone. In June 2004 the school district enacted a mandatory school uniform policy for all students. 10 schools had already started their own uniform policies. Uniform policies were enforced effective September 2004. In 2011, during a review of the proposed budget for the 2011–2012 school year, it was announced that Creative Arts High School would be merging with Morgan Village Middle School. A new building was built to accommodate both high school and middle school students. The new building also housed the facilities necessary to sustain and expand the creative arts programs. Other schools merging that year were Washington Elementary School with Veterans Middle School and Parkside Elementary School with Hatch Middle School. These changes were intended to address schools with low enrollment, specifically schools with less than 300 students. In 2013 the district had 15,161 students. In March 2015, the district announced that it was closing the John Greenleaf Whittier Family School at the end of the 2014–15 school year. As part of the changes, Henry L. Bonsall Family School, East Camden Middle School, Francis X. McGraw Elementary School and Rafael Cordero Molina Elementary School were all to be transferred to renaissance school operators, who were responsible for making significant renovations to the District-owned buildings. An important transition to education in Camden occurred March 25, 2013, at Woodrow Wilson High School, when Governor Chris Christie announced that