Community High School, Teaneck, New Jersey
As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 247 students and 44.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 5.5:1. The school's student body was 48.6% (120) White, 34.4% (85) Hispanic and 17.0% (42) Black.
The school is a member of the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools.
History
Community High School was founded in 1968 in Demarest, New Jersey, and was a pioneer in teaching learning-disabled students. It became one of the largest programs in the region to provide for students in need of special education.
Westwood campus and fire
In 1990, the school relocated to Westwood, New Jersey, and moved into a former parochial school building that was affiliated with St. Andrew's Roman Catholic church that sat next door. Most students attended on tuition paid by the state, and the school bused in students from Northern New Jersey and New York City.
Shortly before 8:30 AM on March 13, 1998, a 17-year-old student from Manhattan set a fire in a second floor bathroom, which quickly spread through the building's open attic of the building, fanned by strong winds that day. The school was not required by law to have a sprinkler system as it was less than 70 feet. All students, teachers and administrators were safely evacuated and no one was harmed, but the school's 67-year-old main building burnt to the ground and supplies and equipment inside were destroyed, though books and materials in an adjoining wing that had been added on to the original structure survived the fire. The school moved to its current location in Teaneck following the fire.
Athletics
As of the 2007 school year the coach of Community High School's boys' basketball team, had worked to build a cohesive team from a group of teens who struggle with attention deficit disorder, dyslexia and social delays.
See also
- Community School - Lower school for grades 1-8
References
- ^ School data for The Community School Inc., National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2023.
- ^ THE HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL, accessed May 10, 2007.
- ^ Community High School Archived 2012-04-14 at the Wayback Machine, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed September 1, 2011.
- ^ List of Member Schools, New Jersey Association of Independent Schools. Accessed December 3, 2016.
- ^ Hanley, Robert. "Fire Destroys School; Student Is Charged", The New York Times, March 13, 1998. Accessed September 1, 2011. "In midafternoon, as the charred shell of the Community School was still smoldering, Bergen County arson investigators said a 17-year-old student from Manhattan had started the fire in a second-floor bathroom and arrested him on charges of aggravated arson and criminal mischief."
- ^ Hanley, Robert. "Officials Seek Building for Students Displaced by Fire at a School", The New York Times, March 14, 1998. Accessed September 1, 2011.
- ^ On the right track, The Record, January 4, 2007
