Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School

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Official name	Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School
Principal	Edward Slattery
School type	Public
Operated by	Jersey City Public Schools
Location	123 Coles Street Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	610
Information current as of	2006-2007

Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School (often dubbed Academic previous to its dedication, or as McNair) is a public high school located at 123 Coles Street in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey. The school is named in memory of Dr. Ronald E. McNair, the astronaut who died on the Space Shuttle Challenger. McNair is operated by the Jersey City Public Schools district. The current principal is Mr. Edward Slattery, and the current vice principal is Ms. Alice Barone.

The school is particularly noted for its wide selection of Advanced Placement Program (AP) Courses, in addition to a standard curriculum that contains courses of the Honor level. Most electives are regular, unweighted classes. Over 99 percent of the student body goes onto college, with many going to the top institutions of the country. Many students from the Class of 2006 were accepted to Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, and Dartmouth. Collectively, the Class of 2006 earned more than $200,000 in scholarships.

1 History
2 Achievements
3 Standards
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

The school originally opened as Academic High School in 1976 on 70 Sip Avenue in Jersey City. However, in 1998 the school moved to its new location on 123 Coles Street due to safety and spacing reasons. Its name was also changed to honor the late astronaut.

The JROTC program at McNair Academic High School, which has grown tremendously since its inception, began on July 1, 1995. There were 30 cadets at first in the program, and the number has more than tripled.

In 2004, McNair Academic lost one its most beloved teachers, Mr. Russo. Mr. Russo was the heart and spirit of McNair Academic, and the school's library was named in his honor.

In September of 2006, the McNair's long time principal, Robert Roggenstein, retired. For a brief time McNair was without a principal. However, in November of 2006, the school's vice principal, Edward Slattery, was named the new principal, and the vice principal position is now held by Ms. Alice Barone as of December 2006.

[edit] Achievements

The school has been highly praised in recent history. Notable achievements include:

82nd place Newsweek's May 8, 2006, issue listing the Top 1,200 High Schools in the United States^[1], making it the highest ranked out of any other schools in New Jersey.
15th place in Newsweek's national 2005 survey.^[2]
The title of "Star School" during the 2004-05 school year by the New Jersey Department of Education—the highest honor that a New Jersey school can achieve^[3].
For the 2005-06 school year, the school was one of 22 schools statewide selected as Governor’s School of Excellence Winners, an award given to schools that have demonstrated significant improvement over the previous two academic years^[4].
McNair Academic High School was the top ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2006 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools^[5].

[edit] Standards

General admittance is based on a consensus of PSAT scores, academic performance from the 6th through 8th grades, extracurricular activities, and teacher recommendations. With the primary goal of diversity through affirmative action, the school's enrollment is based on a quota of 25% White, 25% Black, 25% Hispanic, and 25% Other (mostly Asian).

The school enforces a business-type dress code (though not a school uniform) for both students and teachers^[6] The basics protocols administer the following:

Sneakers and shorts are permitted only in physical education classes.
Boys are required to wear slacks, button-down shirt and tie for the entire school year, complemented by a suit jacket or sweater during the autumn and winter seasons.
Females—less restricted—are advised to wear appropriate, unrevealing business attire. Pants or skirts above the knee are not allowed. Denim skirts are permitted, though the specifications have been worked around on numerous occasions.

Students are also required, in order to graduate, to perform 50 community service hours. They must also maintain a final grade of D or higher, with the exception of a F only for one course, on all of the courses they take. If students get a final grade of F in one course, they must go to summer school in order to pass the course. If a student receives a final grade of F in two or more courses, he or she cannot re-enroll the school the following school year, and must instead atttend his or her local public or private high school.

Even though it is not required, students are expected to take at least 1 or 2 AP courses during the high school career at McNair Academic. They are also expected to participate in at least 1 extracurricular activity.

[edit] Trivia

McNair works closely with New Jersey City University, where students may choose to apply for Visual & Performing Arts courses, and Rutgers University, where students take ITV courses.

Every year McNair's Science Research students face stiff competition at the various levels of competition, such as Hudson County Science Fair, Junior Science and Humanities Competition, Siemens Westinghouse, and the International Science and Engineering Fair. In the past few years, McNair has come out on top sweeping most of the Gold Medals in the Hudson County Science Fair.

Beginning in the 2004-2005 school year, 200 students have been accepted each year, which is a significantly drastic increase when compared to the approximately 140 students accepted in previous years.

The school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (Junior ROTC) program (referred to as the Cougar Battalion) is the school's largest student-ran program, and has had numerous honors throughout its existence. They qualified for drill competitions of the local, regional, and, in 2005, the national level. In 2005 the Cougar Battalion renewed its Honor Unit with Distinction star, earning a score of 99.97%. In 2006 the Cougar Battalion Drill team won Second Place overall in the Unarmed Division, and Fifth Place in the Armed Division in the U.S. Army Cadet Command Eastern Region Championship. Cadets participate actively in community service projects, fundraisers, and host a plethora of battalion events throughout the school year.