As students are busy with their back-to-school shopping, construction crews are finishing up work on the additions and renovations at High School South in time for the new year.##M:[more]##
Heading into the summer, the first two phases of construction from the January, 2006, referendum were already complete. The first phase of construction, which included rehabilitation to the modular units at J.V.B. Wicoff and Maurice Hawk elementary schools, was completed in September, 2006, and phase two, which included a six-classroom addition at Dutch Neck Elementary, was completed in October, 2007. Work on the track and football field at High School South, which was a second question on the referendum ballot, was completed in time for the start of school last year
Some of the construction work at South, the remaining phase, was originally slated to begin in March of this year, but actually began in October, 2007, and because of that, things were able to move a lot more quickly. The renovations to South include placing partitions in the open space classroom areas, adding a new performing arts center/auditorium and a new gymnasium and auxiliary gym. The current gym will be turned into four new classrooms.
The third phase of the project also included minor changes to High School North — where one room was changed into a science room — and renovations to South’s music and art rooms.
“Right now, we’re on schedule to complete the music rooms and the auditorium, and the four classrooms, on schedule prior to the start of school,” said Thomas Smith, assistant superintendent for pupil services and planning.
The gym, he said, is schedule to be completed in early to mid-October. “We’re running a little late on the gym, but that’s alright because we’re focusing all the energy to finish the auditorium and music rooms and classrooms for September.”
All the other work in the referendum, including construction at the other schools, is finished, he said. The whole project is being completed a year ahead of schedule, as the original referendum projected construction would end in September, 2009.
WW-P High Schools Make Top Rankings
West Windsor-Plainsboro’ high schools have made the rankings in New Jersey Monthly’s top 75 schools in the state yet again. This time around, though, both schools dropped from higher spots in the rankings since 2006.
The magazine ranks the state’s top high schools every two years. In the latest issue, High School North was ranked 19th and High School South was ranked 21st. In 2006, North was ranked 18th, while South was ranked 9th. Surpassing both of them was Princeton, which rose in the rankings from 13th in 2006 to sixth this year. Montgomery, the only other area school to make the list, also dropped from 4th to a ranking of 16th this year.
The good news for WW-P schools is that its SAT scores are consistent with other schools on the list, with North’s averaging 1,”742 and South’s averaging 1,”798.
Steve Mayer, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, says he believes the reason North surpassed South in this year’s rankings is because of the different indicators and criteria the magazine factored into its rankings. The class sizes are smaller and the student-faculty ratios were lower at North, with class sizes averaging 19.9, compared with South’s 21.5. North’s student-faculty ratio was 11.2, compared with South’s 12.2.
Still, Mayer says district officials are pleased that it seems both the high schools are balanced properly, especially when it comes to test scores, and the fact that they are only two rankings away from each other. It shows that “both high schools are competitive and compete with equity through the system,” he says. “This is consistent with the board’s work to make sure the two high schools are representative of each other.”
He said that the district has been working on trying to increase the number of students who reach advanced proficiency on the HSPA, the High School Proficiency Assessment test, as the numbers seem to hover in the 40 to 45 percentile.
When asked why officials thought South dropped significantly in the rankings, he said it was hard to say because “our testing data showed pretty good strong consistency in South over the years,” he said. “We’ve shown a really consistent pattern of performance, even improving performance. It’s difficult to assess right off the bat that decline in ranking, given strong performance across the years from our testing report.”
He said one possible factor that school officials are paying attention to is the performance of its subgroups, including minorities, and making sure all students, regardless of economic and ethnic background, are performing and achieving at a high level. “I know Princeton spent some real energy on that in the past couple of years, and obviously, that’s showing good results for them.” He said WW-P officials are partnering with other districts to try to improve that area here.
Still, “we’re very happy to be ranked among the best schools in New Jersey, and will continue to strive toward the top of the list,” Mayer added.
