Montgomery High School (New Jersey)

Montgomery High School

School as seen from Skillman Road
Address
Montgomery High School
Montgomery High School
Montgomery High School
1016 Route 601
Skillman, NJ 08558
Coordinates 40°25′03″N 74°42′08″W / 40.417368°N 74.702353°W / 40.417368; -74.702353Coordinates: 40°25′03″N 74°42′08″W / 40.417368°N 74.702353°W / 40.417368; -74.702353
Information
Type Comprehensive public high school
Established 1967
School district Montgomery Township School District
Principal Paul J. Popadiuk
Vice Principals Naoma Green
Keith Land
Scott Pachuta
Faculty 125.8 (on FTE basis)[1]
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 1,722[1] (as of 2013-14)
Student to teacher ratio 13.7:1[1]
Campus Rural
Color(s)      Green and
     Gold[2]
Athletics conference Skyland Conference
Team name Cougars[2]
Newspaper The Pawprint
Yearbook The Lens
Website School website

Montgomery High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Skillman area of Montgomery Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Montgomery Township School District. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1976.[3]

As of the 2013-14 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,722 students and 125.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.7:1. There were 53 students (3.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 14 (0.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

The district's District Factor Group ranking of "J" indicate that the school serves students of relatively high socioeconomic status.[4]

Awards, recognition and rankings

For the 1992-93 school year, Montgomery High School was awarded the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[5] the highest award an American school can receive.[6][7]

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 13th in New Jersey and 636th nationwide.[8] The school was ranked 643rd nationwide, the 18th-highest in New Jersey, in Newsweek magazine's 2010 rankings of America's Best High Schools.[9] 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.[10]

The school was the 33rd-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.[11] The school had been ranked 61st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 10th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[12] The magazine ranked the school 16th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[13] The school was ranked 4th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.[14]

Schooldigger.com ranked the school 39th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 7 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (93.3%) and language arts literacy (98.1%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[15]

Academic curriculum

New Jersey State law requires that every student pass the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) and successfully complete the following graduation requirements:[16]

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 Junior years. Freshmen take swimming for half of a marking period (two days a week) while Sophomores take it for half of a marking period (one 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 must successfully complete 135 credits for graduation.

Student activities

Clubs and publications

Montgomery High School offers multiple academic, co-curricular and athletic club programs.[17]

In science, Montgomery High School has a 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 Overall 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 Yearbook is called the Lens and, since 2007, is printed in full color.

Each year a video is produced for the senior class, known as senior video. The video is a look back at the time spent in Montgomery by the outgoing seniors and consists of a wide variety of video footage, from the annual senior class trip to Disney World all the way back to Kindergarten. It has historically been handled by the TV department, however since 2008 it has been done as a joint venture between the TV department and the Class Historian for the graduating class. The video is shown once, at the senior dinner dance.

There are other extracurriculars at the school. The Future Business Leaders of America Club competed for the first time at competitions and 9 out of 11 people placed in regionals and went to states and three people went to and placed at the national competition.

Pawprint is MHS' high school newspaper.

Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad in Montgomery is run by the teachers in the Science department. From 1997 to 2005, the school won the New Jersey state championships nine consecutive times, qualifying for the national tournament each time. The nine state titles are the most of any high school in the state.[18]

Sports

The Montgomery High School Cougars[2] compete a member of the Skyland Conference, which includes public and parochial high schools covering Hunterdon County, Somerset County and Warren County in west Central Jersey, and operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[19] With 1,301 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2014-15 school year as Central Jersey, Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,083 to 2,230 students in that grade range.[20] Sports offered at Montgomery High School include golf, wrestling, soccer, cross country running, baseball, football, ice hockey, field hockey, basketball, lacrosse, softball, swimming, gymnastics, fencing, cheerleading, wrestling, and track.

The girls' softball team won the 2004 NJSIAA Group III state championship.[21]

The boys lacrosse team won the 2007 Group III state championship with a 10-8 win over Randolph High School.[22]

The boys and girls track teams won the 2005 North II Group III state championships.

The boys baseball team won the 2005 North II Group III state championship with a 3-1 win over Millburn High School.[23]

Montgomery High School made it to the 2006 and 2011 NJSIAA Public School Ice Hockey state championship game, falling to Randolph High School both times in the finals of the 64-team tournament.[24]

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.[25] The 2010 girls tennis team won the Central Jersey, Group IV state sectional championship. Group I state championship in 1994 vs. Verona High School, 1996 vs. Mountain Lakes High School. The team won the Group II championship in 2002 vs. Summit High School.[26]

The 2009-10 boys basketball team won the Central Jersey Group IV sectional title with a 57-30 win over North Brunswick High School.[27]

The 2010 boys tennis team won the Central Jersey Group IV sectional title with a 3-2 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South.[28]

The 2012 girls soccer team won the Group IV state championship with a 1-0 win over Ridge High School in the tournament finals. In 2005, the team was the Group III co-champion with Moorestown High School.[29]

The 2011, 2012 and 2015 boys' golf teams won the Central/South Group IV state sectional championship.

The Varsity Cheerleading squad qualified for Nationals in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons. The Junior Varsity squad qualified for Nationals in 2011-2012 season, placing first at Empire Regionals at Hofstra University.

Testing

Montgomery was recognized in 2006 as excellent in Advanced Placement Art History; all 203 students who took the AP exam that year scored 3 (out of 5) or above.[30]

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.[31] 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.[32]

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:[33]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 School Data for Montgomery High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 18, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Montgomery High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 18, 2015.
  3. ↑ Montgomery High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools. Accessed January 17, 2012.
  4. ↑ District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 14, 2014.
  5. ↑ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Accessed May 11, 2006.
  6. ↑ "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."
  7. ↑ "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."
  8. ↑ Mathews, Jay. "The High School Challenge 2011: Montgomery High School", The Washington Post. Accessed July 24, 2011.
  9. ↑ Staff. "America's Best High Schools: The List", Newsweek, June 13, 2010. Accessed March 27, 2011.
  10. ↑ "The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,200 top U.S. schools", Newsweek, May 22, 2007. Accessed May 24, 2007. Archived May 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  12. ↑ Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 19, 2012.
  13. ↑ Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 26, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  15. ↑ New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed February 26, 2012.
  16. ↑ 2015-16 Program of Studies, Montgomery High School. Accessed November 28, 2015.
  17. ↑ 2015-16 Student Handbook, Montgomery High School. Accessed November 28, 2015.
  18. ↑ New Jersey Science Olympiad Tournament Champions, New Jersey Science Olympiad. Accessed November 18, 2015.
  19. ↑ League Memberships – 2015-2016, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 30, 2016.
  20. ↑ 2014-2015 Public Schools Group Classification: ShopRite Cup–Basketball–Baseball–Softball for Central Jersey, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, as of July 8, 2014. Accessed September 14, 2014.
  21. ↑ 2004 Softball - Public Semis/Finals, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed April 25, 2007.
  22. ↑ 2007 Boys Lacrosse - Group III, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed June 5, 2007.
  23. ↑ 2005 Baseball - North II, Group III, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed June 12, 2007.
  24. ↑ 2006 Ice hockey - Public, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed August 12, 2006.
  25. ↑ 2007 Girls Team Tennis - Central, Group IV, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 25, 2007.
  26. ↑ History of NJSIAA Girls Team Tennis Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 28, 2015.
  27. ↑ New, Mike. "Montgomery's run comes to an end", Home News Tribune, March 11, 2010. Accessed July 24, 2011. "Loupos finished with 20 points and nine rebounds and junior guard Ryan McCoy added 13 points and nine rebounds to lead fourth-seeded Montgomery to a 57-30 victory over 11th-seeded North Brunswick and the Cougars first sectional title."
  28. ↑ LoPrinzi, Ann. "West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys' tennis players up to the 'challenge'", The Times (Trenton), April 1, 2011. Accessed July 24, 2011. "What they really would like is a state title. Last year, the Pirates suffered some late-season injury setbacks and were eliminated, 3-2, by Montgomery in the sectional final."
  29. ↑ History of NJSIAA Girls Soccer, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 28, 2015.
  30. ↑ Snyder, Susan (2005-01-26). "Pennsylvania lags U.S. average in AP scores". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  31. ↑ 2005-06 School Test Score Rankings, The Star-Ledger. Accessed June 19, 2007.
  32. ↑ 2006-07 School Test Score Rankings, The Star-Ledger. Accessed February 21, 2008.
  33. ↑ Administration, Montgomery High School. Accessed May 30, 2016.
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