| Pinelands Regional High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 590 Nugentown Road Tuckerton, NJ, Ocean County, 08087 |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public high school |
| Established | September 1979 |
| School district | Pinelands Regional School District |
| Principal | Thomas Normile |
| Asst. Principal | Alfonso Cirulli Chris Peters |
| Faculty | 75 (on FTE basis)[1] |
| Grades | 10 - 12 |
| Enrollment | 931 (2009-10) |
| Student to teacher ratio | 12.41[1] |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Color(s) | Green & Gold |
| Athletics conference | Shore Conference |
| Nickname | Wildcats |
| Publication | The Scratching Post |
| Yearbook | 'A Cat Tale' |
| Website | School website |
Pinelands Regional High School (PRHS) is a three-year regional public high school that serves students from four communities in tenth through twelfth grade from Ocean County, New Jersey, operating as part of the Pinelands Regional School District, which serves students from Bass River Township, Eagleswood Township, Little Egg Harbor Township and Tuckerton Borough.[2] The school is overseen by the New Jersey Department of Education and has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1986.[3]
As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 931 students and 75 classroom teachers (on a FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.41.[1]
The school was the 262nd-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 241st in 2008 out of 316 schools.[4] The school was ranked 254th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[5]
Of a recent graduating class, students went on to a Four-Year College (30.5%), Two Year College (31.9%), Trade-Vocational School (2.9%), Work (18.0%), Military (1.0%), Undecided (1.0%) or were Vocationally Trained (14.7%).
Pinelands Regional is 96.7% white, 1.5% black, and 1.8% Hispanic.
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Pinelands Regional High School officially opened on September 5, 1979 as a Junior-Senior High School, originally housing grades 7-12 from Tuckerton, Little Egg Harbor, Bass River, and Eagleswood. Prior to the opening of the school, students from those towns attended Southern Regional School District in Manahawkin.
The building originally housed grades 7-8 on the third floor, 9-10 on the second, and 11-12 on the first. The building featured an experimental "Open classroom" design, where a large group of students of varying skill levels would be in a single, large classroom with several teachers overseeing them; and contained no interior walls. However, this format didn't last long, and in the 1980's, the rooms were walled off, and separated by floor-to-ceiling folding partitions.
In 1991, Pinelands Middle School opened across the street for students in grades 7-8. Also in the 90s, a new building was completed next to the high school, which houses a daycare center called "Rainbow Express". Students taking Child Care classes go to class in this building to help with the daycare kids. In 2002, the Middle School was expanded and the 9th grade was moved there. When the expansion was completed at the Middle School, it was renamed "Pinelands Regional Junior High School" while the High School was renamed the "Senior High School", although this name is rarely used.
Most of the High School is centered around a "Commons" area, which is a two-story open court with skylights, benches, and planters. The commons is home to many of the school's events, such as the Junior Prom, Semi-formal, and Jazz & Java Art show. Most of the commons feeds into a 3-story mall-like hallway where most of the classrooms are off of. Most elective classes, such as Art rooms, Shop classes, Auto tech, etc. are located in the one-story "D-wing" away from the rest of the classrooms, surrounding the Auditorium. This wing also houses remedial and self-contained classes, causing the remedial students to be called "D-wingers". Some of these classes have since been moved to a new off-site building built near the Athletic fields that opened in 2009.
Most of the school, especially the Commons area, has remained unchanged since its 1979 opening. Elements from the decade, such as globe lighting, planters, and earth tones are present. Recent major improvements to the school include renovated science labs and locker rooms, expanded parking lot, permanent lighting for the football field, and repainting of the lockers, which were formerly painted in a 70s-esque repeating orange-yellow-red-brown pattern were painted a dark green.
In 2010, severe budget cuts resulted in the removal of several teachers and programs, including Freshmen sports and the 3-day Pinelands Experience, which was held annually at the school since the opening.
The Pinelands Regional High School Wildcats compete in the Shore Conference, an athletic conference made up of private and public high schools centered at the Northern Jersey Shore.[6][7] All schools in this conference are located within Monmouth County and Ocean County. The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). Pinelands Regional's strongest athletic sport is wrestling where it has won 9 division titles, 2 district titles, and has been ranked in the top 20 in the state four times.
Pinelands Regional's drama and theater program has been highly successful, especially in the past several years. In 2010, the team won 19 awards at the annual Speech and Theatre Association of New Jersey competition at Rutgers University, including 8 Governor's awards, which are the highest honors in the state to be given for education.[8]
WCAT-TV is Pinelands Regional's local Public-access television cable TV station sponsored by Comcast Cable. It is located on channel 21 for the area that the district serves. Most of the cast and crew is made up of students who take the video production classes as an elective. The channel shows live morning announcements at 8:20am daily, followed by a commercial or short skit made by members of the WCAT class. Throughout the day, especially during lunch periods, other school programs or past school events are shown on the channel. The remainder of the time the channel broadcasts school and community events through the Infochannel program, along with a simulcast of lite-rock station WWZY. The communities which it serves are Little Egg Harbor, Tuckerton, Eagleswood and Bass River, New Jersey.
Core members of the school's administration are:[9]
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