Preparing high school students for the new millennium and beyond

Pleasantville High School is devoted to continuing to prepare its students for the New Millennium and beyond. We have set as our mission: "To prepare our students to be successful, whether they go on to institutions of higher learning or enter the work force, enabling them to become productive, responsible members of society by providing an education that encompasses values, citizenship, self-esteem, decision-making skills, good ethics and good character." We feel this mission is being accomplished through student achievement and a variety of challenging course offerings/programs.

Pleasantville High School is located in Pleasantville, New Jersey, which is approximately six (6) miles from Atlantic City, New Jersey. Pleasantville is an urban school district in a community with a population of seventeen thousand ( 17,000) people.

The enrollment at Pleasantville High School has escalated in the last two years, as we moved into a new state of the art facility in September 1998. Four years ago, our enrollment was approximately 600 at the end of the school year. Our present enrollment is 980.

Pleasantville High School is devoted to continuing to prepare its students for the New Millennium and beyond. We have set as our mission: "To prepare our students to be successful, whether they go on to institutions of higher learning or enter the work force, enabling them to become productive, responsible members of society by providing an education that encompasses values, citizenship, selfesteem, decision-making skills, good ethics and good character." We feel this mission is being accomplished.

Student achievement and the number and variety of challenging course offerings/programs continue to be our main focus:

There are advanced placement and honors courses offered in science, English and history. These accelerated academic programs better prepare our students for college;

College courses and credits are offered to Pleasantville High School students by both Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and Atlantic Cape Community College. Thus, our students can, in effect, pursue higher education before they graduate;

There is a distance-learning classroom (two-way interactive video broadcasting) that allows students in Pleasantville High School to take courses that are not available at our school site; these courses are taught by faculty of other high schools and colleges in New Jersey, but are taken at our school site via this technology. We are exploring the offering of more courses, such as, the world languages for the next school year;

The Army JROTC program is now in its fourth year. This program exposes our students to the discipline and opportunities a military career offers without obligating them to enlist. The JROTC has won several prestigious awards during its short tenure;

Our television production program offers four television production courses and operates from one of the most wellequipped studios in the area;

There is a career exploration and placement center that allows students to take and interpret interest surveys, write resumes and research college and career information, thus helping them make wise choices far their future;

All classrooms at Pleasantville High School are equipped with a minimum of six computers with Internet capability. Another way in which we have included technology as a means of raising test score is through the use of an assessment tool called PLATO, which is located in a computer technology lab, and can service twenty-five (25) students.

In addition to these course offerings, Pleasantville High School offers health, physical education and athletic programs that are aimed toward developing a "sound mind in a sound body." The physical education program allows students to participate in lifetime sports and leisure activities that hopefully continue after graduation. As a result of moving into a new facility in September 1998, we have been able to "welcome our students to the water" in the new pool. The health program explores the pressing issues that confront our youth on a daily basis. The athletic program has brought local and statewide recognition to the Pleasantville community. We, at Pleasantville High School, are very proud of our athletic accomplishments. For the last several years, our numbers of athletes to enter institutions of higher learning have increased in appreciable amounts. The completion rate of students entering and finishing college has greatly improved. Our athletes are not the only ones to earn us recognition; our marching band, also, has competed and received numerous awards.

Learning at Pleasantville High School does not end at the school door; rather, we offer real life learning experiences that include:

A traveling club, led by our social studies department, affords opportunities for our students to travel throughout these United States and abroad, such as France, England and Italy.

A School-To-Work program that combines classroom learning with on-the-job, hands-on training that is desired to lead to career paths in the finance, guest relations and communications industries.

Through the support of the Pleasantville High School Parent Teacher Association and local business, we offered Project Prom, a non-alcoholic, safe after-prom party for a sixth successful year. Other community support comes in the form of scholarships for our deserving high school graduates.

Pleasantville High School has aligned its curriculum to reflect the Core Curriculum Content Standards. Instructional staff members are involved in staff development programs devoted to providing our students a thorough and efficient education, and are writing unit plans that address the seven academic content areas. Teachers have been involved in workshops pertaining to various kinds of intensive scheduling and whole school reform, such as Coalition of Essential Schools. The School Management Team and staff are now researching the feasibility of implementing Coalition of Essential Schools (WSR) for the next school year.

A reading teacher and a dropout prevention counselor were added to our staff. Both have made a very positive impact on improving the quality of educational experiences for our students.

Training for peer mediation was accomplished, and is functioning in a positive manner.

A School Based Youth Services program is available for our students. This group is housed on the campus of Pleasantville High School, and it provides counseling, field trips, tutorial services, medicals, and other amenities for our students.

Finally, for those students who are atrisk of dropping out, there are two alternative high schools, which provide a non-traditional program to ensure student success. The alternative schools are housed in separate facilities.

All of these offerings, and more, combine to make Pleasantville High School the success it is. This is most clearly evidenced by our continued growth in enrollment which is attributed to the community's recognition of the one education we offer.

There are areas needing improvement; staff members and the climate committee constantly meet to devise ways to improve the following: (A) High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) scores. All students must take and pass this test in reading, mathematics and writing before graduating from any public high school in the State of New Jersey. While we continue to improve, we are not meeting the standards set by the State; (B) more students are taking the SAT and ACT, and scores are improving, but they have not improved as appreciably as they should; (C) we must continue to work on student attendance. The state mandate is 90% attendance. We have not met this standard, but continue to work with various methods and we offer incentives to make students want to come to school; (D) there is a definite need for parental/community involvement. (E) We have a PTA in the high school, which functions and provides scholarships for our students; however, there are only four people actively involved and they don't have children who attend Pleasantville High School; (F) while we have improved on the number of dropouts, we continue to work on this problem. At one time, we had the highest dropout rate in the Atlantic County area; however, during the last two years, our dropout rate has improved considerably. This problem, also, has a great deal to do with the high transient population; (G) efforts continue to be impressed upon teachers of the importance of their attending and supporting students in afterschool activities. Students have a different respect for teachers/staff who are at their football, basketball, soccer, track, and other sports; (H) the number of students continuing their education at institutions of higher learning continues to be a main focus area. We realize that colleges and universities are very expensive; therefore, we pound the pavement to try to find scholarships for our students.

Basically, we do everything possible to improve the quality of life for the students who attend Pleasantville High School. We have ample staff, allowing us to have small class sizes, as smaller seems to be better. We are an Urban 30 district; therefore, we receive extra funds to assist our students. All these monies go to assist them during the school and during summer months in an effort to prepare for the state test, which is administered in October of each year.

The Pleasantville High School Greyhounds are privileged to have this opportunity to express the positive things that we are doing. Additionally, we are looking forward to implementing new programs and procedures to address all areas of improvement that have been listed.

NORMAN G. KING, JR.

Principal, pleasantville High School

701 Mill Road

Pleasantville, NJ 08232

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