John F. Kennedy High School (Paterson, New Jersey)

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John F. Kennedy High School (or Kennedy High School) is a four-year public high school in Paterson, New Jersey, United States, that serves the western section of Paterson. Kennedy High School, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Paterson Public Schools.

Kennedy High School is 54% Hispanic of various Latin American nationalities, 34% Black, 7% White American, and 5% Asian. 35% of the school speaks Spanish in their homes, 3% speak Bengali, 2% speak Arabic, 2% speak Turkish, 0.2% speak Italian and 0.1% speak Albanian. There are also limited English proficient students or LEPs who compose 11% of the school. Limited English Proficient students cannot speak, read, or write in English. 50% of the students participate in the free or reduced price lunch program^[1].

The average class size is 22 students, excluding special education. The school's ratio of computers to students is 7 to 1 meanwhile the state average is 4 to 1.

On the Language Arts section of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), 48% scored proficient and 51% scored partial. On the Math section of the test, 43% scored proficient and 50% scored partial. The average SAT score is 852 out of 1600. The Advanced Placement Program (AP) participation rate is 5%. The average attendance rate is 87%. As of the 2004-05 school year, Kennedy High School had a suspension rate of 27%. 59% of John F. Kennedy High School seniors graduated. 53% of the school graduated via the SRA process and 8% graduated through the LEP SRA process. Roughly 25% of the graduating seniors go on to four-year colleges and another 46% of the graduating seniors go on to two year colleges^[2].

The student to faculty ratio is 9 to 1. The faculty gets paid $46,500 a year while the state average is $52,563. The administrators get paid $105,000 as the state average is $102,755.

Since the school is in a “special needs” or one of the Abbott Districts, it receives 85% of its budget from the state. The total cost per pupil in the school district is $14,280.

[edit] Athletics

The John F. Kennedy High School Knights compete in Division C of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL), an athletic conference consisting of public and private high schools located in Bergen County and Passaic County. The school has been classified as North I, Group IV by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA)^[3].