Camden High School (New Jersey)

Camden High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students between ninth grade and twelfth grade from the city of Camden, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. The school is part of the Camden City Public Schools, which is classified as an Abbott District.[3] The school, established in 1891, celebrated its centennial in 1991.[4] The school was originally known as the Camden Manual Training and High School, admitting its first class of 48 boys in 1891, with girls entering the school three years later.[5] The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1929.[6]

Camden High School
Location
Camden High School
Camden High School
Camden High School
1700 Park Boulevard
Camden, NJ 08103

United States
Coordinates39.934195°N 75.0982°W / 39.934195; -75.0982
Information
TypePublic high school
Established1891
School districtCamden City Public Schools
NCES School ID3402640[1]
PrincipalPia Garbutt
Faculty39.0 FTEs[1]
Enrollment395 (as of 2018–19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio10.1:1[1]
Color(s)     Purple and
     Gold[2]
Athletics conferenceOlympic Conference
Team namePanthers[2]
WebsiteSchool website

As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 395 students and 39.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.1:1. There were 206 students (52.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 0 (0.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

In 2003, Bonsall Family School, Camden High School and East Camden Middle School were identified as three of the seven "persistently dangerous" high schools in New Jersey.[7]

History

Camden High School was established in 1891 and was known as the Camden Manual Training High School in that time period. The school was built in a similar styles of the Center Philadelphia high schools, which were known to have "cutting edge innovation".[8] It was located on 123 Federal Street in 1891". Arthur Truscott and Pail ArmonDavis III were the architects that designed the school. In 1891, the school accepted 48 boys, then, three years later, they accepted a group of girls. Due to the rapid increase in the population of the school, the school had to expand and relocate to Haddon and Newton Avenues.[9]

On May 9, 1969, a group of 100 white residents marched to the home of Camden Mayor Alfred R. Pierce to insist that white students receive protection from the black students that were the majority at Camden High School. Black students were fighting for administrative and curriculum changes, wanted more courses on African American culture and history in school and sought the appointment of an African American principal and athletic coaches. The Mayor planned to call in the police to deal with the situation at the school but he did not let the parents know. The white parents were not going to send their children back to school until the situation was resolved. Charles V. Koppenhaver, the Principal, told black students that he would retire at the end of the next month and he would do so for them.[10]

In 2003, based on reports of violence, Camden High School was identified as "persistently dangerous" by the New Jersey Department of Education, one of seven schools in the state (and one of two high schools) listed in an annual report required under the No Child Left Behind Act; under the terms of the federal act, families were notified and given the option to transfer to a different school.[11]

In 2008, there was a fight in the cafeteria of the school. 18 teenagers were arrested after this event and there was a police with a bruised face. This same year, there was a 14 year old student that was brought a gun to the school and the high School had to change their principal.[12]

Demolition
Construction Work on Camden High School after the demolition

In 2008, Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie announced plans to renovate Camden High School. He approved a budget of $100 million for renovation until in 2011 when he decided that it was not be the best way to solve the problems of the school.[13] This ultimately led to the decision to demolish and rebuild the high school because it was much more economical to rebuild a new school than to renovate the old school. The school was demolished after the end of the 2016/2017 school year.[14] On November 27, 2017, the attempt to demolish Camden High School by the school's parent association was denied by Judge Nan S. Famular . It was denied because the superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard and the city school board as defendants said that it was a violation of New Jersey Register of Historic Places Act to destroy the high school. Mo'Neke Ragsdale, a member of the Camden High PTA, believed that putting resources towards saving the school was not worth the effort but still wanted to save the school. The final decision was ruled by a state Superior Court Judge allowing the demolition of the high school. The parts of the school that were to be demolished were the ones that were where built before 1917. They would be replaced with a $133 million dollar budget for academic buildings that would be considered state-of-the-art.[15] Alumni of Camden High School and the group "Stop the Demolition of Camden High", led by Mo'Neke Ragsdale, fought to preserve the old Camden High School. They sought to add Camden High School to the list of National Register of Historic Places. They wanted the construction to be on the back of the school because they had over 18 acres of land.[16] The students will use the Cooper B. Hatch Middle school for their classes while construction continues in their school.[17] As of 2019, the construction of the new Camden High School is expected to be finished by 2021.[18]

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 339th-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.[19] The school had been ranked 287th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 322nd and lowest in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[20] The magazine ranked the school 316th in 2008 as the lowest out of 316 schools.[21] The school was ranked 314th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[22]

Performance and building condition

A report issued in 2014 indicated that in the city of 80,000, only three high school students posted SAT scores deemed "college ready."[23]

Athletics

The Camden High School Panthers compete in the Olympic Conference,[2] an athletic conference consisting of public and private high schools located in Burlington County, Camden County and Gloucester County.[24] The Olympic Conference operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[25] With 550 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019-20 school year as Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 486 to 758 students in that grade range.[26] The football team competes in the Constitution Division of the 95-team West Jersey Football League superconference[27] and was classified by the NJSIAA as South Jersey Group II for football for 2018-20.[28]

Previously, the athletic teams at Camden High School were called/known as the "Purple Avalanche," a fitting name for the large football teams (60 or more players) on the sideline at the start of their games in the 1960s and 1970s.[29] As of 2009, Camden High had won over 41 South Jersey Championships, and appeared in over 20 state championship games, winning 11 of them.

The school and their crosstown rival, Woodrow Wilson High School, still play the traditional Thanksgiving Day football game each year. The Thanksgiving Day game in 1979 was suspended after rival gangs started shooting at each other, resulting in at least 14 injuries and dozens of arrests.[30]

The boys' basketball team went undefeated in both 1959 and 1960, winning state championships each year. The team won a total of seven state championships in the 1970s and 1980s. USA Today ranked the 1986 team as number one nationwide. Curtis Walls, Lee Wall, Louis Banks, Sean Turner, Larry Cohen, Reggie Lawrence, Kevin Smith, Dennis Brown, Davis Nieves, and Vic Carstarphen all played on this team.[31]

The boys basketball team won the Group IV state championship in 1945 (vs. Union Hill High School in the final game of the tournament), 1959 (vs. Weequahic High School), 1960 (vs. Weequahic), 1978 (vs. Linden High School), 1979 (vs. Union Hill), 1982 (vs. Montclair High School), 1984 (vs. JFK of Paterson), 1986 (vs. Montclair), 1987 (vs. JFK of Paterson), and won the Group III title in 1974 (vs. Memorial of West New York) and 2000 (vs. Lawrence High School). The 11 group championships won by the team is tied for the fourth most in the state.[32] The team won the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions in 2000, defeating Seton Hall Preparatory School by a scoe of 50-46 in the tournament final.[33]

The 2000 boys' basketball team won the South Jersey Group III state championship as the seventh-seeded team, with an 89–64 win against top seed Lakewood High School, as Dajuan Wagner topped all scorers with 43 points. Camden High went on to win the State Group III title against Malcolm X Shabazz High School. From there they moved on to the Tournament of Champions, which pits each state champion against each other to determine one overall champion. Camden defeated Seton Hall Preparatory School in the championship game.[34][35]

The boys track team won the indoor track championship in Group III in 1997, 2001, 2007 and 2008 (as co-champion) and won in Group II in 2005.[36]

Administration

The school's principal is Pia Garbutt.[37]

Notable alumni

References
  1. School data for Camden High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
  2. Camden High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 4, 2015.
  3. Abbott School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 15, 2016.
  4. Ott, Dwight. "Camden High School Turns 100", The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 6, 1991. Accessed July 1, 2011. "The school, once predominantly Jewish and Italian and now largely black and Hispanic, has produced other well-known alumni: Superior Court Judges Isaiah Steinberg and Theodore Davis; former Camden Mayor Angelo J. Errichetti; record producer Leon Huff; former Camden County Prosecutor Samuel Asbell; former Supremes singer Cindy Birdsong; basketball player Billy Thompson of the Miami Heat, and physician and civic leader Charles Brim."
  5. History, Camden High School. Accessed July 1, 1011. "Camden High School (CHS), originally known as Camden Manual Training and High School was located at 123 Federal Street in 1891. Forty-eight boys entered and were taught by the male principals of the city. In 1894, a group of girls were admitted and ordinary teachers were assigned to the school."
  6. Camden High School Archived 2012-03-30 at the Wayback Machine, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools. Accessed July 1, 2011.
  7. List of dangerous schools, CNN, September 25, 2003. Accessed July 25, 2007.
  8. Spencer, John. "Public Education: High Schools". The Encyclopeida of Greater Philadelphia. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  9. "Camden High School History". WayBack Machine. Archived from the original on August 31, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  10. Arnold, Martin. "100 Whites March on Camden Mayor's Home; They Demand Protection for Students After Negroes Close High School", The New York Times, May 10, 1968. Accessed July 25, 2019. "About 100 white persons marched on the suburban home of Camden's Mayor Alfred R. Pierce tonight to demand protection for white students at the predominantly Negro Camden High School."
  11. Newman, Maria. "Briefings: Education, Dangerous Schools", The New York Times, August 10, 2003. Accessed July 25, 2019. "The state Department of Education has named seven schools as 'persistently dangerous,' based on reports of violent incidents. The schools on the list, which is mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act and will be published annually, will be required to notify parents within 15 days that they can ask for their children to be transferred. The schools are Camden High School, East Camden Middle School and Bonsall Family School, all in Camden..."
  12. Fahim, Kareem (May 18, 2008). "Instead of Fistfights, Fashion at a Troubled High School". New York Times. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  13. Steele, Allison (October 5, 2016). "'Castle on the Hill' to be torn down, new Camden school coming in 2021". The inquirer. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  14. Staff, SNJ Today. "Camden High School Closes Doors After 126 Years". www.snjtoday.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  15. Trethan, Phaedra (December 8, 2017). "As fight to preserve Camden High fades, images of new school emerge". Courier Post. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  16. Perez, Walter (June 20, 2017). "Final class from Camden High's 101-year-old building graduates". 6abc. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  17. Trethan, Phaedra (December 8, 2017). "As fight to preserve Camden High fades, images of new school emerge". Courier Post. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  18. "Design proposed for new Camden High School". Courier-Post. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  19. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  20. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 10, 2012.
  21. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed July 1, 2011.
  22. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  23. Via Associated Press. "Only 3 students scored college-ready in Camden", NJ.com, December 18, 2013. Accessed August 27, 2014. "The new school superintendent in Camden says it was a 'kick-in-the-stomach moment' when he learned that only three district high school students who took the SAT this year scored as college-ready."
  24. Member Schools, Olympic Conference. Accessed July 30, 2017.
  25. League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed July 15, 2020.
  26. NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019-2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed July 22, 2019.
  27. Divisions, West Jersey Football League. Accessed September 25, 2017.
  28. NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2018-2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 25, 2017.
  29. Callahan, Kevin. "Frambes was go-to guy for S.J. sports history", Courier-Post, July 6, 2008. Accessed July 19, 2012. That was because often unbeaten seasons and championships were on the line when the Purple Avalanche (Camden's old nickname) played the Panthers of Collingswood."
  30. Staff. "14 Hurt at Camden Stadium As Gangs Exchange Gunfire; 37 Taken Into Custody", The New York Times, November 23, 1979. Accessed July 1, 2011. "Three separate volleys of shots, perhaps a dozen in all, set off a stampede of hundreds of an estimated total of 3,600 football fans and led to the suspension of the Thanksgiving Day game between Camden and Woodrow Wilson High School, which are traditional rivals."
  31. Strauss, Robert. "In Person; Hoop Dreams Revisit Camden", The New York Times, February 13, 2000. Accessed September 26, 2017. "Camden High has been winning state basketball championships for more than four decades now. It went undefeated all the way to the title in 1959 and 1960. Its 1986 team was ranked best in the nation by USA Today. And there were seven other state championships in the 1970s and 1980s... Legends have grown up around its stars, from the Sunkett brothers and Itchy Smith in the 1960s to Billy Thompson and Milt Wagner, teammates in the early 1980s, both of whom went on to play for the Los Angeles Lakers... On game day, the gym is usually filled and attention is almost always focused on one young man, DaJuan Wagner, son of Milt, touted by the top high school junior in the nation.
  32. NJSIAA Boys Basketball Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed July 25, 2019.
  33. NJSIAA Boys Basketball Tournament of Champions History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed July 25, 2019.
  34. Narducci, Marc. "Wagner Powers Camden To S.J. Title With 43 Points; The Super Junior Took Advantage Of A Man-to-man Defense By Lakewood. The Result Was An 89-64 Camden Romp.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 8, 2000. Accessed August 19, 2007.
  35. Public Sectionals - South, Group III, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed August 19, 2007.
  36. NJSIAA Indoor Group Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed July 25, 2019.
  37. About the Principal, Camden High School. Accessed February 10, 2020.
  38. Anastasia, Phil. "Camden's Dajuan Wagner aims to play again in NBA", The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 9, 2014. Accessed August 18, 2016. "Wagner last played in the NBA in November 2006... Camden city councilman Arthur Barclay, a teammate of Wagner's at Camden and Memphis, said his old friend's return to the court would be a thrill."
  39. Pastor, Shawn. "Fran Brown to interview for Temple job on Monday", 247Sports.com, December 9, 2018. Accessed December 21, 2018. "Brown is a native of Camden, N.J., who played quarterback at Camden High School."
  40. Friedman, Josh. "Camden star rising: Temple's Fran Brown; Fran Brown Overcame A Tough Childhood And Shattered Nfl Dreams To Become A Star In College Football Coaching.", Courier-Post, July 10, 2019. Accessed July 25, 2019. "In Camden, resilience is key. For Brown, the way forward was football. When he got to Camden High, the long-time running back switched to quarterback just so he could play immediately."
  41. John Brown player profile Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, database Football. Accessed August 16, 2007.
  42. Stapleton, Art. "Inside NY Giants rookie Sean Chandler's odds-defying journey to the NFL", The Record (North Jersey), November 9, 2018. Accessed July 25, 2019. "The sun had barely risen and Sean Chandler was already there in the bleachers on those chilly April mornings four years ago. On the first day of spring practice, then-Temple University and now-Baylor University football coach Matt Rhule will never forget the sight of Chandler in the stands at Camden High School, nor what his presence told everyone about his commitment to the game and his team from that moment forward."
  43. Naedele, Walter F. "Mary DiSabato; headed N.J. State Parole Board", The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 23, 2016. Accessed October 27, 2016. "Born in Camden, Mrs. DiSabato graduated from Camden High School in 1946 and served as a Sixth District Assemblywoman, covering parts of Camden and Burlington Counties from 1974 to 1980, son Stephen Croce said."
  44. George Hegamin, Pro-Football-Reference.com. Accessed December 21, 2018.
  45. via Associated Press. "Cheyney Selects New Grid Coach", Hanover Evening Sun, August 3, 1979. Accessed January 21, 2018. "Andy Hinson, former Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference coach of the year, has been named head football coach at Cheyney State College, a spokesman announced today... The 1949 graduate of Camden, N.J., High School, was New Jersey scholastic football coach of the year following his first of three seasons there in 1973."
  46. Burney, Melanie. "A homecoming in Camden for an R&B songsmith Leon Huff was half of a duo instrumental in the Sound of Philadelphia. His alma mater honored him yesterday.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 28, 2002. Accessed July 1, 2011. "When Mayor Gwendolyn Faison decided her city should have an official song, she called on popular songwriter and native son Leon Huff. Huff wrote Camden, New Jersey last year in honor of the city where he began his music training more than 50 years ago playing piano for his church choir. Yesterday, the city paid tribute to Huff at his alma mater - Camden High School - where the soon-to-open Fine Arts and Communications Academy will bear his name."
  47. Staff. Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey; 1990 Edition, p. 208. J.A. Fitzgerald, 1990. Accessed September 28, 2016. "Mr. Laskin was born June 30, 1936, in Atlantic City. He was graduated from Camden High School in 1954."
  48. Reggie Lawrence, Pro-Football-Reference.com. Accessed December 21, 2018.
  49. Los Angeles Public Library reference file
  50. Callahan, Kevin. "Competitor stirs love of cooking", Courier-Post, June 8, 2008.
  51. Staff. "Payton's a Surprise", The Dispatch, March 6, 1979. Accessed August 27, 2014. "Turner talked Payton into coming out for basketball his junior year at Camden High."
  52. Biddle, Joe. "Florida: Kentucky Players Nearly Went to Bethune-Cookman", Daytona Beach Morning Journal, November 12, 1977. Accessed July 1, 2011. "Kentucky, winner of seven straight and 8-1 overall, is anchored by defensive end Art Still and quarterback Derrick Ramsey, former teammates at Camden, N. J., High School."
  53. Hitchner, Emelia. "Catching up with a hometown hero", The St. Augustine Record, June 26, 2016. Accessed July 25, 2019. "'By going to Camden, we thought that opportunity would be afforded to me,' Ramsey said. 'And it was.' While playing at Camden High School, Ramsey added another high school football championship to his resume in 1974."
  54. Frank, Reuben. "Savitsky, of Eagles' '48-'49 champs, dies at 88", CSNPhilly.com, September 6, 2012. Accessed November 6, 2018. "Savitsky was born in New York, but his family moved to South Jersey in the 1930s, and he grew up on Pershing Street in Camden and attended Camden High School. He was captain of the 1942 Camden High football team, coached by legendary Billy Palese, which went undefeated, outscoring its opponents 220-8."
  55. Ortiz, Eric. "Camden’s 'Funny Chick'; Tasha Smith grew up in a hardscrabble neighborhood of east Camden, where the temptations of the streets seemed to outweigh those of the classroom. During her freshman year at Camden High School, she dropped out, turned to drugs, and forged friendships with people who would wind up in jail or dead.", New Jersey Monthly, December 20, 2007. Accessed July 29, 2019. "Tasha Smith grew up in a hardscrabble neighborhood of east Camden, where the temptations of the streets seemed to outweigh those of the classroom. During her freshman year at Camden High School, she dropped out, turned to drugs, and forged friendships with people who would wind up in jail or dead."
  56. Guide to the Walter F. Snyder collection, University of South Florida. Accessed July 30, 2019. "A historian of high regard, Walter Fifield Snyder graduated from as Valedictorian of Camden High School, then going on to receive his BA from Swarthmore College in 1932."
  57. Sokolic, William. "Approval sought for Writer's House", Courier-Post, December 14, 2014. Accessed August 3, 2017. "A vibrant person who graduated Camden High School, Virgilio visited Rutgers University–Camden in search of Chinese poetry and discovered Japanese poetry instead."
  58. "Bruce Wallace, ex-president of N. J. Senate", The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7, 1977. Accessed August 8, 2019. " Mr. Wallace, a native of Merchantville, N. J., began serving in the State Senate in 1941... Mr. Wallace was a graduate of Camden High School and graduated from Rutgers University's South Jersey Law School in 1930."
  59. Wynn, Ron. "Buster Williams: Blendability", JazzTimes, April 1, 2001. Accessed September 2, 2019. "Though Williams began working professionally upon graduating from Camden High School in Camden, New Jersey, he eventually took some courses in Composition and Harmony and Theory at Combs College of Music in Philadelphia."
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