James M. Bennett High School

James M. Bennett High School
Address
300 East College Avenue
Salisbury, Maryland, 21804
USA
Coordinates 38°20′43″N 75°35′26″W / 38.34528°N 75.59056°WCoordinates: 38°20′43″N 75°35′26″W / 38.34528°N 75.59056°W
Information
School type Public High School
Opened 1962
School district Wicomico County Public Schools
Dean Joseph Raffa
Principal Steve Grudis
Assistant principals James Cook
Lisa Forbush
Courtney Lewis
Faculty 140
Grades 9-12
Number of students 1282 (2010)
 • Grade 9 330
 • Grade 10 330
 • Grade 11 333
 • Grade 12 289
School colour(s) Red and Black          
Mascot The Clippers
Newspaper The Kelp
Yearbook The Voyager
Website James M. Bennett High School website

James M. Bennett High School is a high school located in Salisbury, Wicomico County, Maryland. It is part of the Wicomico County Public School system. It is one of four public high schools in Wicomico County along with Mardela Middle and High School, Parkside High School, and Wicomico High School. It was established in 1962. It has an enrollment of 1346 (in 2008) in grades nine through twelve, and 110 teachers and assistants.

Background

James M. Bennett High School is currently headed by principal Steve Grudis, who is aided by Vice Principals James Cook, Courtney Lewis, and Kim Pinhey and Dean of Students Joseph Raffa.[1]

New Building

Construction on the replacement James M. Bennett High School completed 2010, and the school opened for the 2010-2011 school year. Construction began in 2008, with a goal completion date of 2011. The new building includes state of the art technology including geothermal heating control and automated energy-saving lighting and up-to-date educational tools such as LCD projectors, digital whiteboards, campus-wide Wi-FI and TV networks, and document cameras replacing overhead projectors. The building was designed to honor the Bennett Memorial Garden - a garden designed to honor three Class of 2000 students who died before graduating. The Garden was dedicated on August 19, 2000 with participation from Frank Perdue, then Salisbury Mayor Barrie Tilghman and current Salisbury City Council President Jacob Day, who designed the Garden.

Eventually Bennett Middle School will be demolished for additional sports fields.[2] The new school was rededicated on April 18, 2011, marking Salisbury's first new high school in more than 30 years.[3]

Below are images of the old Bennett High School prior to demolition.

Athletics

James M. Bennett High School has won the following state championships:

State Champions

Finalist

Semifinalist

Quarter-finalist

Academics

Several of Bennett's nonathletic organizations have seen competitive success in recent years.

The Clippers Marching Band is led by Band Director Douglas Miles, and has won numerous accolades, including traveling to the ACC championships, finishing 21st in 2007, finishing 16th and achieving a bronze medal finalist award in 2008, and finishing 13th and achieving a bronze medal finalist award in 2009, and finishing in 7th and achieving a bronze level finalist award in 2010. The band qualified for the ACC's again in 2011, but did not attend the competition due to miscommunications. The Bennett Band is one of the largest high school marching bands on the Delmarva Peninsula. Along with the marching band, the concert band is one of the most talented in the area as well, regularly achieving high scores at festivals.

JMB's Destination ImagiNation creative problem-solving teams have been successful. Two teams qualified to go to Global Finals in 2003 (one state-champion, one runner-up). In 2007, a team of freshmen won the state championship and traveled to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville for the Global Finals tournament.

The school's Academic Challenge team has also fared well, placing in the top three in the Comcast Academic Challenge for four straight years, and appearing on WJZ-TV's high school quiz show, It's Academic, where Bennett placed second for the Baltimore region in 2009 and 2012, and won in 2014.

Faculty Awards

The school's faculty and staff have won numerous awards. In 2004, Patricia Adkins was named the Maryland's Vice-Principal of the Year. Brian Raygor was the 2004-05 Wicomico County Teacher of the Year, and recipient of the National Association of Biology Teacher's Outstanding Biology Teacher Award. Biology teacher Jeff Royer was recognized as being Technology Educator of the Year in 2004. Raygor, Cheryl Doughty (Family and Consumer Science), Don Abbatiello (Social Studies), Marc Garlock (Social Studies) and Lisa Santore (English Language Learners) have earned National Teacher Certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Doughty was also recognized as a "Service Learning Fellow" for her innovative student service learning projects and webpage. Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year recipients include social studies teacher Josh McKelvy and English teacher Mary Lou Coffin.

Advanced Placement Classes

Current Advanced Placement offerings at James M. Bennett include Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Physics, Computer Science A, Psychology, English Language and Composition, English Literature, U.S. Government and Politics, United States History, European History, Calculus, AP Calculus II Spanish, AP Statistics and Latin.

Students

Graduation rates at James Bennett High School have significantly improved over the past 12 years. In 1999, the graduation rate was near 69%, though in 2007 the rate had climbed to 88%.[15]

James Bennett High School's enrollment has been steadily increasing over the past 19 years.[16] The enrollment peaked in 2013 at 1,406.

Student population
2013 1,406
2012 1,374
2011 1,307
2010 1,282
2009 1,313
2008 1,346
2007 1,303
2006 1,381
2005 1,388
2004 1,358
2003 1,370
2002 1,320
2001 1,300
2000 1,260
1999 1,216
1998 1,251
1997 1,263
1996 1,218
1995 1,220
1994 1,207
1993 1,124

See also

References

  1. ↑ James M. Bennett High School Administration
  2. ↑ DelmarvaNow.com Old school to be gone by August '11
  3. ↑ DelmarvaNow.com JMB continues proud legacy
  4. ↑ MPSSAA Baseball
  5. ↑ MPSSAA Girls' Track & Field
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 MPSSAA Boys' Basketball
  7. ↑ * 1992 - Wrestling /fh%20state%20champs%202007%20.pdf MPSSAA Field Hockey
  8. ↑ MPSSAA Football
  9. ↑ MPSSAA Boys' Track & Field
  10. ↑ MPSSAA Girls' Soccer
  11. ↑ MPSSAA Boys' Soccer
  12. ↑ MPSSAA Volleyball
  13. ↑ MPSSAA Baseball
  14. ↑ MPSSAA Girls' Basketball
  15. ↑ Maryland Report Card - Graduation Rate
  16. ↑ Maryland State Department of Education Maryland Report Card Enrollment

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James M. Bennett High School.