Middletown High School (New York)

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Middletown High School
Address
Gardner Ave. Ext.
Middletown, NY 10940
Coordinates 41°27′06″N, 74°23′54″W
Information
School district Enlarged City School District of Middletown
Principal Alan Gonzalez
Staff 140[1]
Enrollment

2,179[1] (2005[1])
Grade 9 562[1]
Grade 10 602[1]
Grade 11 570[1]
Grade 12 445[1]
School type Public high school
Grades 9-12
Language English
Team name Middies
Color(s) Blue      and white     
Communities served Middletown
Town of Wallkill (part)
Town of Wawayanda (part)
Feeder schools Twin Towers Middle School, Monhagen Middle School
Homepage About Our School

Middletown High School educates students in grades 9-12 from the Enlarged City School District of Middletown, which covers that city as well as adjacent portions of the towns of Wallkill and Wawayanda in Orange County, New York, USA. It is located on Gardiner Avenue in a small outlying area of the city, near the county fairgrounds on a small rise south of NY 211.

The school, formerly Anthony Veraldi Junior High School, built in 1959, replaced the building now known as Twin Towers Middle School as the district's high school in 1976. It has been expanded at least four times since then.[2]

[edit] 2000s controversies

The school has been at the center of a number of controversies in the last several years. When former district superintendent Robert Sigler was investigated and convicted in 2003 for sexually abusing a male student, then-principal Bernard Cohen was suspended by the school board and barred from school-related events for allegedly not doing enough to prevent it, and other allegations against him. He claimed it was retaliation for his testimony before the county grand jury investigating the abuse and that he was being scapegoated.[3] Students sympathetic to him organized a protest walkout, spoke in his behalf at board meetings and then helped campaign during the ensuing elections, in which two incumbents were defeated.[4] Four years later, the district settled with Cohen for $425,000.[5]

The 2005 school year began chaotically when many students received incorrect class schedules or none at all due to problems implementing a new computer program,[6][7] and continued as ongoing construction did not run smoothly and disrupted the school.[8] Students again staged a walkout over a number of their concerns that they believed were not being taken seriously by the district administration, such as overcrowding and safety issues.[9] Cohen's replacement, Larry Ashley, resigned three months into the school year, citing health problems.[8]

Later that month, the district sought to fire tenured art teacher Peter Panse, who had offered his senior students a nude figure drawing class taught off-campus as a way to improve their portfolios and chances for scholarships at art schools. Very few of his students supported him, but many claimed they had felt pressured into taking the class. The district argued Panse had a conflict of interest, since he personally profited from the students taking the class. After lengthy litigation, in January 2007 a state administrative law judge ruled that he should have been suspended for only 15 days and ordered him reinstated.[10]

The beginning of the 2007-08 school year also saw some more scheduling problems, with new textbooks ordered only the week before school opened and many teachers not knowing their own schedules.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g New York State School Report Card, Accountability and Overview Report for Middletown High SchoolPDF (521 KiB)
  2. ^ McCulloch, Roberta. "Middletown High School searches for space", Times-Herald Record, April 8, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 
  3. ^ Doucette, John-Henry. "New Middletown target: high school principal", Times-Herald Record, April 1, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 
  4. ^ Cahn, Dianna. "School of Hard Knocks", Times-Herald Record, June 20, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 
  5. ^ Murphy, Doyle. "Middletown school district settles last suit", Times-Herald Record, September 27, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-27. 
  6. ^ Cahn, Dianna. "The computer ate the school schedule", Times-Herald Record, August 18, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 
  7. ^ Cahn, Dianna. "High school schedule still a big headache", Times-Herald Record, October 1, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 
  8. ^ a b Cahn, Dianna. "Principal resigns amid school unrest", Times-Herald Record, December 2, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 
  9. ^ Baxter, Tracy. "Student walkouts", Cable 6, November 29, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 
  10. ^ Wells, Kristina. "Middletown art teacher Panse will return to classroom", Times-Herald Record, January 24, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 
  11. ^ Murphy, Doyle. "Middletown school has rocky opening", Times-Herald Record, September 8, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 

[edit] External links