International High School (New Jersey)

International High School is a four-year public high school in Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades operating as part of the Paterson Public Schools. The school is intended to create an educational environment that "respects diversity and celebrates the multicultural atmosphere of Paterson". It offers a curriculum of international and global studies that also address government, business, legal, and law enforcement subjects. It stresses key organizational skills, such as oral speaking and presentations, research, and debate. Students are required to work to be conversant in a language other than their native language.[2]

International High School
Address
200 Grand Street

Paterson
,
Passaic County
,
New Jersey
07502

United States
Coordinates40.9095°N 74.1798°W / 40.9095; -74.1798
Information
TypePublic high school
Established2001
School districtPaterson Public Schools
NCES School ID3412690[1]
PrincipalRobina Puryear-Castro
Catherine Forfia-Dion
Faculty58.0 FTEs[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment483 (as of 2018–19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio8.3:1[1]
Websiteihs-pps-nj.schoolloop.com

As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 483 students and 58.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 8.3:1. There were 290 students (60.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 20 (4.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

The school district hired a private investigator to look into the reasons behind the significant percentage of students in the district who opted out of mandated PARCC testing in the 2014-15 school year, including 30% at the co-located International High School and Garret Morgan Academy.[3]

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 272nd-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.[4] The school had been ranked 238th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 228th out of 322 schools in its 2010 magazine story. New Jersey Monthly developed the 2012 rankings based on data from New Jersey School Report Card for 2010-2011 school year from New Jersey Department of Education.[5][6]

Schooldigger.com ranked the school 243rd out of 389 public high schools statewide in its 2011-2012 school year rankings, which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). This was a significant improvement from 2009-2010 when it was ranked 354th out of 376 public high schools.[7]

Building

Since its establishment in 2001 with an enrollment of 160 students, the school had occupied several leased sites, the final one being the former Don Bosco Technical High School, which was then purchased by the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (SCC) in May 2004 for $6.3 million to house students while buildings it was developing were being constructed.[8][9]

The school's new 113,500-square-foot (10,540 m2), four-story building opened in September 2008 for its 420 students, a few days after school started, due to some last-minute delays. The SCC estimated that the building would cost $31.9 million when it was first proposed in 2001.[8] The SCC approved the project in October 2004, estimating that the building would be completed by 2006 at a cost of $29.6 million.[10] By the time the building was completed in 2008, the final cost had ballooned to roughly $49 million. It included millions of dollars in design, remediation, and site acquisition that were not included in the approved funding. The New Jersey Schools Development Authority (successor to the SCC), awarded a $35.5 million construction contract in 2006, with technology upgrades adding $3 million, and another $2 million for environmental work and demolition. Problems with the fire alarm system were anticipated to take several weeks to resolve after the building opened, and Paterson fire marshals were paid $1,500 per day to patrol the school until the problems with the system were resolved.[8]

The new building includes a two-floor library, four science labs, five soundproof music practice rooms, two gymnasiums and an outdoor athletic field, a 500-seat auditorium and 15 classrooms. The new facility, which was nestled into a steep hill underneath and next to Interstate 80, has triple pane windows to keep out the noise from the highway.[8]

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:[3][11]

  • Dr. Robina Puryear-Castro, Principal of International High School
  • Catherine Forfia-Dion, Principal of International Baccalaureate

References
  1. School data for International High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
  2. Mission Statement, International High School. Accessed May 15, 2013.
  3. Malinconico, Joe. "Paterson district uses private investigator to question school board member about PARCC tests", The Record, June 11, 2015. Accessed October 30, 2015. "In that lawsuit, International Principal Robina Puryear-Castro, Vice Principal Amod Field and Garret Morgan Principal Stanley Sumter say an outside third party investigator conducted one-on-one interrogations of each of them about the PARCC tests. The administrators said the investigator wanted to know why about 30 percent of the students at the two schools, which share a building on Grand Street, opted out of the test."
  4. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  5. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 27, 2012.
  6. Schlager, Ken; and Staab, Amanda. "Education 2012: Top New Jersey High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 13, 2012. Accessed May 15, 2013.
  7. International High (See Rankings), Schooldigger.com. Accessed May 15, 2013.
  8. Haddon, Heather. "Sleek school comes with a heavy price -- Cost overruns plagued $49M project", The Record, September 11, 2008. Accessed October 30, 2015.
  9. Kvasager, Whitney. "State buys former Don Bosco Tech H.S.", The Record, May 30, 2004. Accessed September 11, 2008.
  10. Faruque, Zinnia. "State panel approves $29.6M for high school in Paterson", The Record, October 30, 2004. Accessed September 11, 2008.
  11. Our School, International High School. Accessed April 20, 2020.
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