Piscataway Township High School

Infobox_School
name = Piscataway Township High School


imagesize =
motto =
established = 1957
grades = 9 - 12
district = Piscataway Township Schools
type = Public high school
principal = Dr. Michael A. Wanko
asst principal = Dennis Bergeron
Gail Cunningham
Dr. Antoine Gayles
Ralph Pennacchio
enrollment = 2,227 (as of 2005-06)
faculty = 156.9 (on FTE basis)
ratio = 14.2
teamname = Chiefs
conference = Greater Middlesex Conference
colors = Black and Gold
publication =
location = 100 Behmer Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854
information = 732-981-0700
website = [http://www.piscatawayschools.org/phs/site/default.asp Piscataway High School]

Piscataway Township High School is a four-year public high school in Piscataway Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in grades 9-12 as part of the Piscataway Township Schools.

Piscataway High School has been recognized as a Governor’s School of Excellence and is the only secondary school in New Jersey to be admitted as a full member in the Coalition of Essential Schools.

As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,227 students and 156.9 classroom teachers (on a FTE basis, for a student-teacher ratio of 14.2. [http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&SchoolID=341305003554&ID=341305003554 Piscataway Township High School] , National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 6, 2007.]

The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools since 1963, and is also accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education. [ [http://www.css-msa.org/search.php?MODE=VIEW(NJ268)&org=CSS Piscataway Township High School] , Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Accessed June 19, 2007.]

The school was the 146th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in "New Jersey Monthly" magazine's September 2008 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools". The school was ranked 177th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. [ [http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/highschoolrankings/top-new-jersey-high-schools-by-rank.html "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank"] , "New Jersey Monthly", September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.]

Curriculum

Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses are offered in AP English Language and Composition, AP French Language, AP Statistics, AP Spanish Language, AP Calculus, AP Computer Science, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP United States History, AP Psychology and AP Studio Art.

Its radio station is WVPH, also known as 90.3 The Core

Notable legal cases

Two notable legal cases have originated at Piscataway High School.

New Jersey v. T. L. O.

In 1984, the school was involved in a case that made it to the Supreme Court of the United States.

A 14-year-old freshman, known only by the initials T. L. O., was caught by a teacher smoking in a bathroom with another girl at the high school. The teacher took both students to the Principal's Office where they met with Assistant Vice Principal Theodore Choplick. In a search of T. L. O.'s purse, Choplick observed a pack of cigarettes, and while removing the cigarettes he noticed a package of rolling papers, often closely tied to the use of marijuana. Choplick then began a more thorough search for the evidence of drugs, which revealed a small amount of marijuana, a pipe, empty plastic bags, a large quantity of money in $1 bills, an index card that appeared to list students who owed T. L. O. money, and two letters that implicated T. L. O. in being a drug dealer.

Choplick then notified T. L. O.'s mother and the police, to whom he turned over the evidence of drug dealing. The police requested the mother to take her daughter to police headquarters, where T. L. O. confessed to selling marijuana at the high school. Using the confession and the evidence obtained by Choplick's search, the State brought delinquency charges against T. L. O. in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Middlesex County.

T. L. O. claimed the assistant principal's search violated the Fourth Amendment. She moved to suppress the evidence found in her purse as well as her confession, arguing, the evidence was "fruit of the poisonous tree." The Juvenile Court denied the motion to suppress. Although the court concluded that the Fourth Amendment did apply to searches carried out by school officials, it held::"a school official may properly conduct a search of a student's person if the official has a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been or is in the process of being committed, or reasonable cause to believe that the search is necessary to maintain school discipline or enforce school policies." Id., at 341, 428 A. 2d, at 1333 (emphasis in original).

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the search and seizure by school officials without a warrant was constitutional, as long as the search is deemed reasonable. This overturned the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling.

Piscataway Board of Education v. Sharon Taxman

Piscataway Board of Education v. Taxman, 91 F.3d 1547 (3d Cir. 1996) was a racial discrimination case begun in 1989. The school board of Piscataway, New Jersey needed to eliminate a teaching position from the high school Business Education department. Under New Jersey state law, tenured teachers have to be laid off in reverse order of seniority. The newest tenured teachers, Sharon Taxman and Debra Williams, white and African-American respectively, had started working at the school on the same day. In the interest of maintaining racial diversity (Williams was the only black teacher in the department, and 50% of the students were minorities), the school board voted to lay off Taxman, even though she had a master's degree and Williams only had a bachelor's degree. Taxman complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying that the board had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Taxman. The school board appealed to the United States Supreme Court and a hearing was scheduled for January 1998, but civil rights groups, fearing that the case could lead to the prohibition of affirmative action, provided money for the board to settle the case out of court, so the case was never heard.

Taxman was subsequently rehired. Both teachers are currently teaching in Piscataway. Williams remains at the high school, while Taxman has been reassigned to Conackamack Middle School.

Athletics

The Piscataway High School teams are known as the Chiefs and they wear the school colors of Black and Gold. The Chiefs compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC), made up of private and public high schools located in the greater Middlesex County area. The league operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.

The 2008 boys basketball team won the North II, Group IV state sectional championship with a 58-47 win over Linden High School in the tournament final. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=260152&tclass=North%20II%2C%20Group%20IV 2008 Boys Basketball - North II, Group IV] , NJSIAA. Accessed March 12, 2008.]

Piscataway High School has produced many high-achieving athletes in various sports including:

;Football
* Mike Alexander (born 1965), former wide receiver, Los Angeles Raiders, Buffalo Bills. [ [http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=ALEXAMIK01 Mike Alexander profile] , accessed May 7, 2007.]
* Malcolm Jenkins (born 1987), cornerback for the Ohio State Buckeyes, considered a top cornerback prospect for the 2009 NFL Draft. [ [http://ohiostate.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=24003 Malcolm Jenkins] , Rivals.com. Accessed December 2, 2007.] ;Baseball
* Corey Smith, a member of the San Diego Padres baseball program of Major League Baseball; he was the Cleveland Indians first round draft pick in 2000
* Eric Young, Jr. (born 1967), a member of the Colorado Rockies baseball program of Major League Baseball.Gottlieb, Tom. [http://media.www.dailytargum.com/media/storage/paper168/news/2003/10/17/GamedayHomecomingIssue/High-School.State.Champions.Bring.Ru.Neighborhood.Flavor-531508.shtml "High school state champions bring RU neighborhood flavor"] , "Daily Targum", October 17, 2003. Accessed May 7, 2007. "It is fairly easy to consider Piscataway a sporting hotbed. After all, it's the only town in America known to be the hometown of players in three professional sports leagues - Eric Young of the MLB, James Lewis of the NFL, and John Celestand of the NBA."] ;Basketball
* John Celestand (born 1977), formerly played for the Villanova Wildcats and Los Angeles Lakers.
* Asjha Jones (born 1980), WNBA basketball player player for the Connecticut Sun. [ [http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/asjha_jones/bio.html Asjha Jones profile] , Women's National Basketball Association. Accessed September 6, 2007. "A Parade, USA Today and Street & Smith First Team All-American at Piscataway High School, averaging 22.2 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.5 blocks and 2.9 steals…Scored a school career-record 2,266 points and had 1,256 rebounds."]

The Superchief Marching Band

PHS is home to the Piscataway Superchiefs, a marching band with a very rich history. The band has achieved much through its years, including numerous USSBA Championships. The band began as a small group in the 1950's and existed with little or no fanfare. Starting in 1971 led by Band Directors R..Bruce Bradshaw and Joeseph T. Mundi it quickly grew from 44 members to 204 members and consistently represents nearly 10% of the entire school's student body, year after year. The Superchiefs have recorded music for CBS, The Walt Disney Company, and were in the 2002 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Famed percussion instructor Dennis DeLucia previously wrote and arranged the percussion music for the drumline, but has since parted ways with the band.

Over the years the Superchiefs have been featured in several TV shows, including "American Oompah" and "The Superchiefs Go To Ireland" for PBS, "Mario And The Magic Movie Machine" for CBS, and "Today in New York" for NBC. The band has performed at numerous halftimes for the New York Giants, New York Jets, Washington Redskins, and Buffalo Bills, as well as pre—game ceremonies for the New York Mets. The band has also worked for the Walt Disney Company at the Radio City Music Hall premier of "Pete's Dragon" and Mickey’s 50th Birthday Whistlestop tour at Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan.

In the 1980s, the band garnered international acclaim, touring Ireland in 1981 and 1985 and capturing first place in the Dublin and Limerick St. Patrick's Day Parades on each trip. The band continued its success on a national level as well, taking first place at the World of Music Festival in San Diego, California in 1983 and 1987, and at the Festivals of Music in Orlando, Florida in 1989. They also won consecutive New York City St. Patrick's Day Parades early in the decade, and they continued to be locally successful, placing first in numerous shows around the slate. They won the first-over Tropicana Bowl Mid-Atlantic Championship at Rutgers Stadium in 1983. and the first-ever CMBC (USSBA) competition at Giants Stadium in 1988, featuring the finest bands from the Tri-State Region.

During the 1990’s the Superchiefs have focused on the CMBC (USSBA) circuit that features some of the finest bands in the Eastern United States. The band has won live consecutive Group V Open Championships, from 1990 through 1994. and again in 1996. In addition, the band has placed in five Bands of America Eastern Regional Finals Championships in 1996. 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2003 and won the Yamaha Corporation's Yamaha Cup Preview of Champions in 2001 & 2002. In 2002, the Superchiefs also look first place in the USSBA New Jersey State Championships. This was the first-ever 'State Champions' title awarded to the band.

Another first in the history of the Superchiefs, the band was invited to perform in the 2002 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which aired on NBC on November 28, 2002. Since then, the band has continued its successes and its quest for excellence which has been upheld by "excellent" ratings at the New Jersey State Band Festivals, 3rd place finish at the USSBA Championships in 2004, and special recognition award by the New Jersey State Board of Education. Additionally, the township was declared one of the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education in America 2005" by the American Music Conference. [ [http://www.amc-music.com/musicmaking/schools/survey/communitieslist-2005.htm Best 100 Communities for Music Education in America 2005] , American Music Conference. Accessed September 22, 2007.] In 2007, the Superchiefs went to Orlando, Florida to participate in the Walt Disney World parade.

Today the Piscataway Superchief Marching Band is a USSBA Group VI Open band co- directed by Superchief band alumni Edward Gornick and Dr. Christopher Sumner. Group VI Open requires that the band have in excess of 126 members.

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are: [ [http://www.piscatawayschools.org/1368201016102347407/site/default.asp Administration] , Piscataway Township High School. Accessed August 22, 2008.]
*Dr. Michael A. Wanko - Principal
*Dennis Bergeron - Assistant Principal
*Gail Cunningham - Assistant Principal
*Ralph Pennacchio - Assistant Principal
*Dr. Antoine Gayles - Assistant Principal

Notable alumni

* Brandon Renkart (born 1984), practice squad player for the New York Jets. Renkart played quarterback on the football team, leading it to a 12-0 record and the Group IV State title as a senior. [ [http://www.nfl.com/draft/profiles/brandon-renkart?id=4435 Brandon Renkart profile] , NFL. Accessed October 4, 2008.]

References

External links

* [http://www.piscatawayschools.org/phs/site/default.asp Piscataway Township High School]
* [http://www.piscatawayschools.org Piscataway Township Schools]
*NJReportCard|23|4130|0|Piscataway Township Schools
* [http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3413050 Data for the Piscataway Township Schools] , National Center for Education Statistics