| Washington Township High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 519 Hurffville-Crosskeys Road Sewell, NJ 08080 |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Public high school |
| Established | 1966 |
| Principal | Joseph Bollendorf |
| Asst. Principal | Theresa Pietrowski Ann Moore |
| Faculty | 202 (on FTE basis)[1] |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 2,775 (as of 2009-10)[1] |
| Student to teacher ratio | 13.74[1] |
| Color(s) | Red White Blue |
| Athletics conference | Olympic Conference |
| Team name | Minutemen; Minutemaids |
| Website | School website |
Washington Township High School, colloquially referred to as "Township," is a four-year public high school located in Washington Township, in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Washington Township Public School District. It is the largest public high school in South Jersey. The school building itself is just over a quarter of a mile long. It is located at 509, 519, and 529 Hurffville-Cross Keys Road.
Washington Township High School is the home of the TD Bank Arts Centre, which is a 2,500-seat performing arts center located at the center of the school. Most of the school's concerts and events are held there, and many notables have performed in this center, including the Barenaked Ladies, Tony Bennett, Wayne Brady, George Carlin, David Copperfield, Bill Cosby, BB King, Barry Manilow, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Jessica Simpson, Lewis Black, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,775 students and 202 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.74.[1]
The school was the 175th-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 149th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[2] The school was ranked 150th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[3]
Contents |
Construction on what is now the 11-12 wing of the high school began in 1962. WTHS opened in September 1963, serving grades 6-9 while parts of the building were still under construction. Each successive year, all of the grades incremented by 1 (1964 was 7-10, 1965 was 8-11 and 1966 was 9-12) In 1966 the first High School Class of WTHS graduated. In the early 1970s, the school became overcrowded (a problem that would plague the school on and off through 1998). In the fall of 1968, the 7th grade was sent to the new Birches Elementary School, occupying 1/2 of that facility. For the 1969/70 school year, the 7th grade returned to WTHS which operated an AM and PM session, staggered over 4 lunch periods. The 9th through 12th grades taking the morning session and the 7th and 8th grades, the afternoon. In the 1970-71 school year, the 7th and 8th grades were sent to Wedgewood Middle School and WTHS operated a traditional single session. Starting with the 1971-72 year, the school operated split sessions with grades 10-12 attending from 7:30 AM to noon and grades 7-9 attending 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM. As a result, a two-story addition was opened in September 1976, to the right side of the building, as well as an additional gym and a new library. The school continued to serve students in grade 7-12 until the 1979-1980 school year. As a result of this overcrowding and moving of grades, the Class of 1975 was the youngest class as 7th graders, then again the youngest class as 8th graders, then again the youngest class as 9th graders, and finally, with split sessions, the youngest class in their session, as 10th graders.
In the late 1970s, construction on what would be the township's first middle school began. In September 1980, WTMS opened, serving 7th and 8th graders. Because of its location right next to WTHS (at the time, what is now the location of the Core was just a parking lot), the two schools would often share facilities.
Despite a new rather large school to house 7th and 8th graders, and more room in the high school, the township was exploding in population at the time, and both WTHS and WTMS were overcrowded only a few years after the middle school opened. In the mid-1980s, planning for yet another new middle school was underway. This time, however, because WT's elementary schools also faced overcrowding, the school district went ahead and built two schools, which would enroll grades 6 through 8, thus relieving all the elementary schools in the district from 6th graders (they also were relieved of all kindergarteners, thanks to an addition at Grenloch Terrace Early Childhood Center). In fall of 1989, Chestnut Ridge Middle School and Orchard Valley Middle School opened for grades 6-8. The former WTMS became part of the high school complex, renamed as the 9/10 Building (as it served mostly students in 9th and 10th grade), while the original HS was also renamed as the 11/12 Building.
The transition wasn't smooth, however. Both CRMS and OVMS weren't finished in time for the new school year. As a result, the newly formed WTHS complex started its first month with split sessions. High school students would have class starting early in the day, while all middle school students would have class in the late afternoon/early evening. During this time period, the high school students also had to share their lockers with the temp middle school students.
Washington Township's population continued to grow, and before the district knew it, they needed to expand the high school yet again. Under a $50 million district wide improvement program [4], a third building was to be built on the site between the 11/12 and 9/10 buildings. The Core building would physically connect the two existing buildings and would include a 2500-seat auditorium (formerly known as Commerce Bank Arts Centre, now known as the TD Bank Arts Centre), administrative and guidance offices, a new Media Center (library), new cafeteria (for 9-10 wing students) and more classrooms. Construction on the core building began in the summer of 1996. Parts of the building opened in 1998, and some classes were moved immediately from both the 11/12 and 9/10 buildings.
The entire building was completed before the 1998-1999 school year. WTHS was now one building for the first time since the 1988-1989 school year. The three parts of the building were renamed the 11/12 wing, core, and 9/10 wing, and hallways were renamed to integrate the building. Since the new building featured a new library, a united guidance office, and cafeteria for the 9/10 wing, the old libraries and guidance offices in each of the wings as well as the old 9/10 cafeteria were able to be renovated for other uses.
The Washington Township High School Minutemen/Minutemaids compete in the Olympic Conference, which consists of nineteen public and private high schools located in Burlington County, Camden County, and Gloucester County, and operates under the aegis of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.[5]
The WTHS Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 1992 to honors outstanding WTHS athletes as well as citizens of the town who have achieved success in athletics.
Washington Township is home to the NJ 932nd Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.
The Washington Township High School Orchestra is under the direction of Judy Barnett. On April 22, 2011, the Orchestra participated and played at Carnegie Hall in the National Invitational Band and Orchestra Festival.
The Washington Township High School Minutemen Marching Band is a regionally and nationally recognized band. Under the direction of James Beyer, the band grew to over 225 members in 1997, the same year they achieved a 94.40 at the ACC Championships[12], a school record that still stands today. Later that season they participated in the 1998 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California and became the first band to be decorated in 5,000 live flowers and seeds, creating the first ever “Marching Musical Float”. Designed by Todd Marcocci, this unique concept and design approach received tremendous support from all major media around the world.[13] The band has also participated in the 1995 and 1997 Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade, the 2004 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, the 2005 Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California and the 2008 Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida.[14] Since its inception in 1973, the band has placed in the top 10 at the Tournament of Bands (TOB) Atlantic Coast Championships 16 times, and was Chapter One Champions for 16 straight years from 1985 to 2000, winning the Group 3 title from 1985 to 1987 and the Group 4 titles the subsequent 13 years.[15]
In recent years the band has undergone many changes, including becoming a separate ensemble (no longer a required part of the concert band program) and a director change in 2003. In 2004, the Minutemen band became the first South Jersey band to compete in a Bands of America (BOA) Regional at Rutgers University, part of the nation's top marching circuit.[16] The band competes in class IV-A of the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) and was host to the 2007 USSBA New Jersey State Championships for Open class bands and the 2008 USSBA New Jersey State Championships for A class bands and will also be the host again in 2009.[17][18] The current director is Casey Corigliano.
The 2009-10 school year was a historic one for the Minutemen band as they were named the 2009 USSBA Northern States Group 3A Champion. This was the band's first championship of any kind since the 16 year Chapter Championship streak was broken in 2001. The band was also named the 2010 Cotton Bowl Music Festival Grand Champion while participating in the Cotton Bowl Classic festivities in Dallas, Texas. By being named grand champion, the band had the honor of playing their show "Journey of Man" during pre-game in front of 78,000 fans.[19] The WTHS Drumline also received first place and won the honor to play their cadence to bring all of the bands onto the field for the mass half time show at the 2010 Cotton Bowl.
Core members of the school's administration are:[20]
|
|||||||||||