| Pascack Valley High School |
Article Index for Pascack Valley |
Website Links For Valley High |
Information AboutPascack Valley High School |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PASCACK VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL | |
| high schools in bergen county, new jersey | |
|
Current enrollment of Pascack Valley High School for the 2005-2006 year is 860 students. HISTORY The school was originally founded in 1955 with 650 students enrolled. As enrollment and faculty size increased, educators realized that both the curriculum and the facilities were in need of expansion. Double-session scheduling was used as a remedy for the problem in 1963. The next year, Pascack Hills High School opened and promptly became Pascack Valley's rival. In 1970, Pascack Valley's capacity was again full and it became necessary to perform another expansion. A new cafeteria was provided as well as expanded areas for each department, new classrooms, a new Gymnasium , and a new Library . 1997 walkout In 1997, in an act of planned Civil Disobedience , about 700 students (at that time the capacity of the campus) walked out of the school in protest of the controversy surrounding the upcoming budget vote. In the past three years, the budget had been voted down and this had caused major setbacks for the school. Faced with popular teachers being cut from the budget, students staged a Walkout and the local media were called to attend the event. Originally, the principal had planned to let students walk only to the back, but students took matters into their own hands when the leader of the group impulsively decided to take the walkout to the front, where it could be noticed. Half of the instructional time allotted for the day was missed, but students eventually had to return to class. In the end, the budget successfully passed. 2004 Mascot Controversy The school's Mascot is an Indian . In 2004, there was a major controversy at the school about the appropriateness of the mascot. The school took up the issue after receiving numerous complaints from Native American organizations that the mascot was offensive. After months of public debate and an official symposium in which students voiced opinions from both sides of the issue, a vote was held among the students and teachers and the motion to keep the Indian was overwhelmingly affirmed, and the suggested "Warrior" replacement was rejected. 1:1 eLearning Initiative In the fall of 2000, the idea arose to provide a Laptop to every student and teacher for educational purposes. A Wireless Network environment for the school was proposed as part of a referendum project. As the concept evolved, school representatives visited districts where such a program was already in place. The school's Steering Technology Committee was responsible for the logistics of the plan from 2000 to the present. Corporate partners for the district included Sony , Promedia Technology Services, Inc. , McAfee , Nexus Consortium , Stewart Industries , Motion Systems , ScanSoft , Minitab , Questia Media Inc. , and Quia . For the 2004-2005 school year, the school finally issued all its students laptops, the first Public School in the State to do so. The laptops were issued by the Sony Corporation and were put under a contractual lease for a period of 4 years. The lease will expire in 2008. The laptops were hailed as a success by the administration, but the students largely differed in their opinion. Soon after the issuing of the computers, many of them promptly began to break and malfunction. In response, the school debuted the so-called "Laptop Hospital," where students could drop off their laptops for repair. Against the wishes of the administration, students downloaded games and various other Application s for personal use. In early 2005, the networked Multiplayer game Halo in particular caused a major problem for the school's limited Bandwidth . An increase in personal student-to-student E-mail was noted, as was the drop in grades between the issuing of the laptops and the close of the next academic quarter. In the 2005-2006 academic school year, computer use was for the first time restricted for all students. As of now, students no longer have access to student email during the school day and are limited to a restricted screen with a sole window full of shortcuts to the various needed applications within the computer. The situation is not likely to change as the administration has not budged on the issue thus far. The school email also features a spam-block program. This has its advantages but the one cited disadvantage to this, is that many incoming replies from university emails have been blocked; thus complicating the process of applying to a university online if the student uses a school issued email address. The ''1:1'' in the name of the program probably refers to the ratio of students to computers that it sought to attain. CAMPUS Pascack Valley High School is well endowed with a wide range of facilities and a large Campus . It is complete with one track (currently undergoing renovation), a new, large turf Football field, four Tennis courts, a softball field and one Baseball field. The school has two levels and is mainly arranged in a rectangular fashion. EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES Like most other area high schools, Pascack Valley offers a wide range of cocurricular and extracurricular activities. Included are the Academic Decathlon, the Animal Rights Club, the Art Portfolio Club, the Audiovisual Club, the Marching Band and Concert Band, the Computer Club, the Debate Team, the Flag Squad, Fall Drama , the French Club, the French and Spanish Honor Societies, the National Honor Society , HOPE (Helping Other People Every Day), the Human Rights League, the Interact Club, JAC (Just About Caring), a Literary Magazine, a Mathematics League, the Spring Musical, the Yearbook , etc. The school recently began cut its German program and it will be phased out in two years. In Athletics , PV offers a wide array of choices. These include Cheerleading , Dance , cross-country, football, boys' soccer, girls' soccer, tennis, Volleyball , Gymnastics , basketball, Bowling , Ice Hockey , Swimming , Wrestling , Winter Track, baseball, softball, and Lacrosse . The school has had considerable success, most notably in girls' basketball and in football. The school newspaper is the ''Smoke Signal'', published on a quarterly basis. STUDENT GOVERNMENT Pascack Valley High School is governed by the Pascack Valley Regional High School District Board of Education in conjunction with the PVHS Executive Student Council. The Executive Council is ultimately responsible for the appropriation of funds, with the approval of the Board, for the school. It is also very deeply involved in organizing activities and events for the school. Each year there is a special student representative to the Board Of Education . The next step down the ladder of the student government consists of the four class councils, which participate in the running and operations of the school with the Executive Council but are specifically designed to represent each constituent class. Election s to the class councils are held at the end of every year for various positions. There are two positions to which candidates must be appointed. The Executive Council, which is separate from the constituent class councils, holds elections at the same time of year. The current council is in the midst of a massive project to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina . The school has adopted a sister school in the area and is encouraging donations of school supplies and other items which will be sent to the affected school. Also, the council is sponsoring a "Powder Puff" football game against Pascack Hills, in which senior girls will participate in a flag football contest. All proceeds are to go to Hurricane relief. FUTURE OF PVHS From 2005 to 2007, the school will undergo a major renovation to add a new gymnasium and auditorium, expand upon the science/mathematics wing, and refurbish existing construction. The future classes have met this arrangement with many reservations, including concerns about limited parking space and a general state of disarray. ASSORTED FACTS
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|