Piscataway Township High School
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Piscataway Township High School is a four-year public high school in Piscataway Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in grades 9-12 as part of the Piscataway Township Schools.
Piscataway High School has been recognized as a Governor’s School of Excellence and is the only secondary school in New Jersey to be admitted as a full member in the Coalition of Essential Schools.
For the 2004-2005 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,265 students (including 517 seniors), and a faculty of 170.
The school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and by the New Jersey Department of Education.
Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses are offered in AP English Language and Composition, AP French Language, AP Statistics, AP Spanish Language, AP Calculus, AP Computer Science, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP United States History and AP Studio Art.
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[edit] Notable Legal Cases
Two notable legal cases have originated at Piscataway High School.
[edit] New Jersey v. T. L. O.
In 1984, the school was involved in a case that made it to the Supreme Court of the United States.
A fourteen-year-old freshman, known by the initials T. L. O., was caught by a teacher smoking in a bathroom with another girl at the high school. The teacher took both students to the Principal's Office where they met with Assistant Vice Principal Theodore Choplick. In a search of T. L. O.'s purse, Choplick observed a pack of cigarettes, and while removing the cigarettes he noticed a package of rolling papers, often closely tied to the use of marijuana. Choplick then began a more thorough search for the evidence of drugs, which revealed a small amount of marijuana, a pipe, empty plastic bags, a large quantity of money in $1 bills, an index card that appeared to list students who owed T. L. O. money, and two letters that implicated T. L. O. in being a drug dealer.
Choplick then notified T. L. O.'s mother and the police, to whom he turned over the evidence of drug dealing. The police requested the mother to take her daughter to police headquarters, where T. L. O. confessed to selling marijuana at the high school. Using the confession and the evidence obtained by Choplick's search, the State brought delinquency charges against T. L. O. in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Middlesex County.
T. L. O. claimed the assistant principal's search violated the Fourth Amendment. She moved to suppress the evidence found in her purse as well as her confession, arguing, the evidence was "fruit of the poisonous tree." The Juvenile Court denied the motion to suppress. Although the court concluded that the Fourth Amendment did apply to searches carried out by school officials, it held:
- "a school official may properly conduct a search of a student's person if the official has a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been or is in the process of being committed, or reasonable cause to believe that the search is necessary to maintain school discipline or enforce school policies." Id., at 341, 428 A. 2d, at 1333 (emphasis in original).
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the search and seizure by school officials without a warrant was constitutional, as long as the search is deemed reasonable. This overturned the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling.
[edit] Piscataway Board of Education v. Sharon Taxman
Piscataway Board of Education v. Taxman, 91 F.3d 1547 (3d Cir. 1996) was a racial discrimination case begun in 1989. The school board of Piscataway, New Jersey needed to eliminate a teaching position from the high school Business Education department. Under New Jersey state law, tenured teachers have to be laid off in reverse order of seniority. The newest tenured teachers, Sharon Taxman and Debra Williams, white and African-American respectively, had started working at the school on the same day. In the interest of maintaining racial diversity (Williams was the only black teacher in the department, and 50% of the students were minorities), the school board voted to lay off Taxman, even though she had a master's degree and Williams only had a bachelor's degree. Taxman complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying that the board had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Taxman. The school board appealed to the United States Supreme Court and a hearing was scheduled for January 1998, but civil rights groups, fearing that the case could lead to the prohibition of affirmative action, provided money for the board to settle the case out of court, so the case was never heard.
Taxman was subsequently rehired. Both teachers are currently teaching in Piscataway. Williams remains at the high school, while Taxman has been reassigned to Conackamack Middle School.
[edit] Athletics
The Piscataway High School Chiefs compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, comprised of 33 public and private high schools located in the greater Middlesex County area. The league operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Piscataway High School has produced many high-achieving athletes in various sports including:
- Football
- Mike Alexander, former wide receiver, Los Angeles Raiders, Buffalo Bills
- Baseball
- Corey Smith, a member of the San Diego Padres baseball program of Major League Baseball; he was the Cleveland Indians first round draft pick in 2000
- Eric Young, Jr., a member of the Colorado Rockies baseball program of Major League Baseball
[edit] The Superchief Marching Band
PHS is home to the Piscataway Superchiefs, a marching band with a very rich history. The band has achieved much through its years, including numerous USSBA Championships. Although the band began as a small group in the 1950's, it quickly grew, and consistently represents nearly 10% of the entire school's student body, year after year. They have recorded music for CBS, The Walt Disney Company, and were in the 2002 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Famed percussion instructor Dennis DeLucia previously wrote and arranged the percussion music for the drumline, but has since parted ways with the band.
Over the years the Superchiefs have been featured in several TV shows, including American Oompah and The Superchiefs Go To Ireland for PBS, Mario And The Magic Movie Machine for CBS, and Today in New York for NBC. The band has performed at numerous halftimes for the New York Giants, New York Jets, Washington Redskins, and Buffalo Bills, as well as pre—game ceremonies for the New York Mets. The band has also worked for the Walt Disney Company at the Radio City Music Hall premier of Pete's Dragon and Mickey’s 50th Birthday Whistlestop tour at Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan.
In the 1980s, the band garnered international acclaim, touring Ireland in 1981 and 1985 and capturing first place in the Dublin and Limerick St. Patrick's Day Parades on each trip. The band continued its success on a national level as well, taking first place at the World of Music Festival in San Diego, California in 1983 and 1987, and at the Festivals of Music in Orlando, Florida in 1989. They also won consecutive New York City St. Patrick's Day Parades early in the decade, and they continued to be locally successful, placing first in numerous shows around the slate. They won the first-over Tropicana Bowl Mid-Atlantic Championship at Rutgers Stadium in 1983. and the first-ever CMBC (USSBA) competition at Giants Stadium in 1988, featuring the finest bands from the Tri-State Region.
During the 1990’s the Superchiefs have focused on the CMBC (USSBA) circuit that features some of the finest bands in the Eastern United States. The band has won live consecutive Group V Open Championships, from 1990 through 1994. and again in 1996. In addition, the band has placed in five Bands of America Eastern Regional Finals Championships in 1996. 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2003 and won the Yamaha Corporation's Yamaha Cup Preview of Champions in 2001 & 2002. In 2002, the Superchiefs also look first place in the USSBA New Jersey State Championships.
Another first in the history of the Superchiefs, the band was invited to perform in the 2002 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which aired on NBC on November 28, 2002. Since then, the band has continued its successes and quest for excellence which has been upheld by "excellent" ratings at the New Jersey State Band Festivals, 3rd place finish at the USSBA Championships in 2004, special recognition award by the New Jersey State Board of Education, and the school was awarded the title of "Best 100 Communities for Music Education in America 2005" by the American Music Conference. This year, the Superchiefs will be going to Orlando, Florida to participate in the Walt Disney World parade.
The Superchief Marching Band is a USSBA Group VI Open band. Group VI Open requires that the band have in excess of 126 members.
[edit] Administration
- Dr. Michael A. Wanko - Principal
- Mr. Dennis Bergeron - Assistant Principal
- Ms. Loretta Gronau - Assistant Principal
- Mr. Ralph Pennacchio - Assistant Principal
- Mr. Lennox Small - Assistant Principal
- Mr. William Gonzalez - Dean of Students
- Ms. Lisa Parker - Dean of Students
