Montgomery High School (New Jersey)

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Montgomery High School
Location
1016 Route 601
Skillman, NJ, 08558
USA
Information
School district Montgomery Township School District
Principal Mr. James H. Misek
Enrollment

1,528 (as of 2005-06)[1]
Faculty 111.5 (on FTE basis)[1]
Student:teacher ratio 13.7[1]
Type Public high school
Grades 9-12
Athletics conference Skyland Conference
Team name Cougars
Color(s) Green and Gold
Yearbook The Lens
Newspaper The Pawprint
Established 1967
Homepage School website

Montgomery High School is a four-year public high school located in the Skillman area of Montgomery Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, as part of the Montgomery Township School District. A new building opened in the fall of 2005.

As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,528 students and 111.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 13.7.[1]

Contents

[edit] Awards and recognition

For the 1992-93 school year, Montgomery High School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education[2], the highest award an American school can receive.[3][4]

In Newsweek's May 22, 2007 issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Montgomery High School was listed in 656th place, the 13th-highest ranked school in New Jersey.[5]

The school was the 4th 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.[6]

[edit] Graduation Requirements

New Jersey State law requires that every student pass the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) and successfully complete the following courses:

Subject Years Credits
English 4 20
Health and Physical Education 4 16-20
U.S. History 2 10
World Studies 1 5
Math 3 15
Science 3 15-18
Career Exploration/Consumer
Family and Life Skills		 1 5
Performing or Visual Arts 1 5

In addition, students are required to take swimming in gym for both their Freshman and Sophomore years. Freshmen take swimming for half of a marking period (2 days a week) while Sophomores take it for half of a marking period (1 day a week).

Students are required to schedule a minimum of 35 credits for grades 9, 10, 11 and 30 credits for grade 12.In order to graduate from MHS, students in the Class of 2008 must successfully complete 110 credits. Beginning with the Class of 2009, students must successfully complete 125 credits for graduation.

[edit] Extracurricular activities

There are many extracurricular activities offered at Montgomery High School. Sports include cross country running, baseball, football, hockey basketball, lacrosse, softball, swimming, Fencing and track. Montgomery is a member of the Skyland Conference, which is comprised of eighteen public and parochial high schools covering Hunterdon County, Somerset County and Warren County in west central New Jersey, and operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). A wrestling team has recently been added to Montgomery.

Other activities go into the arts and sciences. For example, in science, there is Science Olympiad, science league, science bowl, and FIRST Robotics. The band program also offers several extracurricular activities, including: a marching band which plays at every varsity football game and at various area competitions, where they have received superior ratings and special awards such as "Best Over All Effect", "Best Color Guard", and "Best Music"; a jazz band; and a lower-level jazz group called the "Stage Band." All musical ensembles are non-competitive, and only attend competitions in exhibition.

The girls' softball team won the 2004 NJSIAA Group III State Championship.[7]

The boys lacrosse team won the 2007 Group III State Championship with a 10-8 win over Randolph High School.[8]

The boys baseball team won the 2005 North II Group III State Championship with a 3-1 win over Millburn High School.[9]

The girls cross country team made it all the way too states.

Montgomery High School made it to the 2006 New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Public School Ice Hockey State Champions, falling to Randolph High School in the finals of the 64-team tournament.[10]

The 2007 girls tennis team won the Central Jersey, Group IV state sectional championship with a 3-2 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in the tournament final.[11]

[edit] SAT Scores

In 2005-06, Montgomery averaged a 1760 combined SAT score, 15th-highest statewide, and ranked 7th among all non-magnet, general admission public high schools.[12] In 2006-07, Montgomery averaged a 1755 SAT score, 14th-highest in the state and the 7th-highest for any non-magnet, general admission public high school.[13]

[edit] 2007 HSPA Scores

% at or above proficient

Science - 95% (State average is 73%)
Language Arts - 97% (State average is 85%)
Math - 94% (State average is 73%) About the Tests

About the HSPA: In 2006-2007 New Jersey used the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) to test students in grade 11 in language arts literacy, math and science. The HSPA is a standards-based test, which means it measures how well students are mastering specific skills defined for each grade by the state of New Jersey. Students are required to pass the HSPA in order to graduate. The goal is for all students to score at or above the proficient level.

[edit] Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad in Montgomery is run by the teachers in the Science department. For many of the previous years the team was led by Mr. Pendleton with the other coaches including Mr. Sullivan, Mrs. Henn and Mr. Grieco. However, after they lost the hoped "Decade of Dominance" at the 2006 State Championship, the team was forced to rethink and restrategize their plan of action for the next Science Olympiad Year. In June 2006, the coaches held a prospective team meeting and announced the team would be under new leadership. Mrs. Henn would be the new head coach and Mr. Grieco and Mr. Pendleton following. New coaches were added to the team all of them being Montgomery High School science teachers. These teachers included Mrs. Chedid, Mr. Spinelli, Mr. Buzca, and Mr. English. In addition, the first Montgomery High School Science Olympiad Competition was announced which would be a simulated school competition used to choose the next year's team. In September of 2006, another prospective team meeting was called and the official tryout dates were set. November 2, 2006 would be the date to try out for the testing events including Chem Lab, Experimental Design, and Oceanography/Our Changing World. November 7, 2006 would be the date for testing events which included Sounds of Music, Boomeliever and Scrambler. The testing events were taken by all prospective members in three separate rooms; one for each event. The testing was completed in about one hour. The building events took place at different times on the set date. As an "long weekend" followed the November 7th building test date, several students were able to test on set days during the following five-day weekend. The team coaches had a meeting on November 13, 2006 to decide on the new 15 member-team and their respective events (23 among the team members). The new team-roster for regional competition was released Friday, November 24, 2006.

[edit] FIRST Robotics

Montgomery High School competes in FIRST Robotics, a competition sponsored by FIRST. Team 1403, Cougar Robotics[1] was founded in 2003 by a student from Team 75, the RoboRaiders, and as of 2006 has grown to over 95 students. The team has been successful in competition and recently held an off-season event at the school called Monty Madness. Over 36 FIRST Robotics and Vex teams showed up for the event at Montgomery High School, Gregory Olsen, a Montgomery Resident and Space Tourist was a keynote speaker. The team has also won the regional Engineering Award twice in 2007 and 2008, the second highest award bestowed upon teams. It is also proud to have a mentor that has won the regional Woodie Flowers Award, the highest award a mentor can win. The team is active in its community demonstrating its robots to the community and holding off-season events to inform the community of science and technology. The team strives to inspire others to recognize the importance of science and technology.

[edit] Alma Mater

The Alma Mater of Montgomery High School was revised in 1985 by Hunter/D'Amico. It is sung exactly one time every year, at graduation. The words are:

With pride and joy we sing you praises
Dear Montgomery High.
With all the memories
In our hearts you will never die.
In you our spirit lies.
We sing your praises, Montgomery!
Hail to Montgomery!
Living on and on,
in our hearts you will never die!
Wherever we may wander
Memories we'll hold.
We never will forget the colors
White, Green and Gold!

[edit] Administration

  • James Misek - Principal
  • Chip Clymer - Vice Principal
  • Margaret DeLuca - Vice Principal
  • Paul Popadiuk - Vice Principal
  • Tina Renga - Supervisor of Guidance

[edit] Environmental concerns

The building sits adjacent to a New Jersey Department of Corrections extension facility. It is also across the street from a tract known as the North Princeton Development Center, a 200-acre campus that, up until the late 1990s, served as a psychiatric facility for severely affected patients. The site contains more than 100 abandoned buildings, many of which are dilapidated, boarded up and vandalized. One of the township's elementary schools, the Village School, sits amidst the ruins.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Montgomery High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 22, 2007.
  2. ^ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Accessed May 11, 2006.
  3. ^ CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department, Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 90 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
  4. ^ Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; The Washington Post. September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
  5. ^ "The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,200 top U.S. schools", Newsweek, May 22, 2007. Accessed May 24, 2007.
  6. ^ "Top Public High Schools in New Jersey", New Jersey Monthly, September 2006, backed up by Internet Archive as of April 29, 2007. Accessed March 5, 2008.
  7. ^ 2004 Softball - Public Semis/Finals, NJSIAA, accessed April 25, 2007.
  8. ^ 2007 Boys Lacrosse - Group III, NJSIAA. Accessed June 5, 2007.
  9. ^ 2005 Baseball - North II, Group III, NJSIAA. Accessed June 12, 2007.
  10. ^ 2006 Ice hockey - Public, NJSIAA, accessed August 12, 2006.
  11. ^ 2007 Girls Team Tennis - Central, Group IV, NJSIAA. Accessed October 25, 2007.
  12. ^ 2005-06 School Test Score Rankings, The Star-Ledger. Accessed June 19, 2007.
  13. ^ 2006-07 School Test Score Rankings, The Star-Ledger. Accessed February 21, 2008.

[edit] External links