Type Public high school Principal Scott E. Shanklin Enrollment 695 (as of 2014-15) Phone +1 856-966-5100 Color Gold | Established 1891 Faculty 66.5 FTEs Student to teacher ratio 10.5:1 Founded 1891 | |
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Camden High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades 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. The school, established in 1891, celebrated its centennial in 1991. 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. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1929.
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As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 695 students and 66.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.5:1. There were 598 students (86.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 14 (2.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
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.
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. 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. The magazine ranked the school 316th in 2008 as the lowest out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 314th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.
Performance and building condition
A report indicated that in the city of 80,000, only three high school students posted SAT scores deemed "college ready."
Athletics
The Camden High School Panthers compete in the Olympic Conference, an athletic conference consisting of public and private high schools located in Burlington County, Camden County and Gloucester County. The Olympic Conference operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 778 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as South Jersey, Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 496 to 778 students in that grade range.
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. 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.
The school operates as the lead agency for a cooperative wrestling program with Woodrow Wilson High School, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2017-18 school year.
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.
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.