Washington Township High School (New Jersey)

Washington Township High School is a four-year public high school located in Washington Township, in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Washington Township Public School District. It is one of the largest public high schools in South Jersey. The school building itself is just over a quarter of a mile long. It is located at 509, 519 and 529 Hurffville-Cross Keys Road.

As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,108 students and 167.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.6:1. There were 331 students (15.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 83 (3.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Washington Township High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.

Washington Township High School is the home of the Republic Bank Performing Arts Center, known until 2022 as the Investors Bank Performing Arts Center, a 2,500-seat performing arts center located at the center of the school. Most of the school's concerts and events are held there, and many notables have performed in this center, including the Barenaked Ladies, Tony Bennett, Wayne Brady, George Carlin, David Copperfield, Bill Cosby, B. B. King, Barry Manilow, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Jessica Simpson, Lewis Black, Pete Davidson, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.Caffrey, Michelle. "N.J. concert venue gets new name, sponsor", NJ.com, July 29, 2015. Accessed November 23, 2015. "The performing arts center at Washington Township High School – which has brought in scores of big acts including Tony Bennett, Willie Nelson, B.B. King and the Moscow Ballet over the years – has a new name.The 19,344-square foot facility will now be the Investors Bank Performing Arts Center after the Board of Education accepted an offer from Short Hills-based financial institution for the exclusive naming rights, the district announced Tuesday night.... It took on the name Commerce Bank Arts Centre in 2004 when the naming rights were first up for sale, and then became the TD Bank Arts Centre after Commerce was acquired by TD."

Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 149th-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.Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014. The school had been ranked 165th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 175th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 24, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 149th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 17, 2011. The school was ranked 150th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state."Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.

History

11–12 Wing Construction on what is now the 11–12 wing of the high school began in 1962. WTHS opened in September 1963, serving grades 6–9 while parts of the building were still under construction. Each successive year, all of the grades incremented by 1 (1964 was 7–10, 1965 was 8–11 and 1966 was 9–12) In 1966 the first High School Class of WTHS graduated. In the early 1970s, the school became overcrowded (a problem that would plague the school on and off through 1998). In the fall of 1968, the 7th grade was sent to the new Birches Elementary School, occupying 1/2 of that facility. For the 1969/70 school year, the 7th grade returned to WTHS which operated an AM and PM session, staggered over 4 lunch periods. The 9th through 12th grades taking the morning session and the 7th and 8th grades, the afternoon. In the 1970–71 school year, the 7th grade was sent to Wedgewood Middle School and WTHS operated a traditional single session. In the 1971–1972 school year, the 7th and 8th were sent to Wedgewood Middle School and the school operated split sessions with grades 11–12 attending from 7:30 AM to noon and grades 9–10 attending 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM. For 1972–73 it was back to split sessions in the high school with grades 10–12 taking the morning shift. As a result, a two-story addition was opened in September 1973 to the right side of the building, as well as an additional gym and a new library. The school continued to serve students in grade 7–12 until the 1979–1980 school year. As a result of this overcrowding and moving of grades, the Class of 1975 was the youngest class as 7th graders, then again the youngest class as 8th graders, then again the youngest class as 9th graders, and finally, with split sessions, the youngest class in their session, as 10th graders.

9–10 Wing In the late 1970s, construction on what would be the township's first middle school began. In September 1980, WTMS opened, serving 7th and 8th graders. Because of its location right next to WTHS (at the time, what is now the location of the Core was just a parking lot), the two schools would often share facilities.

Despite a new rather large school to house 7th and 8th graders, and more room in the high school, the township was exploding in population at the time, and both WTHS and WTMS were overcrowded only a few years after the middle school opened. In the mid-1980s, planning for yet another new middle school was underway. This time, however, because WT's elementary schools also faced overcrowding, the school district went ahead and built two schools, which would enroll grades 6 through 8, thus relieving all the elementary schools in the district from 6th graders (they also were relieved of all kindergarteners, thanks to an addition at Grenloch Terrace Early Childhood Center). In fall of 1989, Chestnut Ridge Middle School and Orchard Valley Middle School opened for grades 6–8. The former WTMS became part of the high school complex, renamed as the 9/10 Building (as it served mostly students in 9th and 10th grade), while the original HS was also renamed as the 11/12 Building.

The transition wasn't smooth, however. Both CRMS and OVMS weren't finished in time for the new school year. As a result, the newly formed WTHS complex started its first month with split sessions. High school students would have class starting early in the day, while all middle school students would have class in the late afternoon/early evening. During this time period, the high school students also had to share their lockers with the temp middle school students.

The 9/10 building has H-Hall, I-Pod, J-Hall, K-Pod, and L-Pod. The "Pods" are large hallways with bathrooms in the center. The classrooms are arranged around the pods like a courtyard. There were lockers in the center of each pod, but they have since been removed due to the addition of the lockers in the core.

I-Pod: Originally called "A-Pod" before the 9/10 building was connected to the 11/12 building. The flooring is Red in the classrooms. The Student Assistance office and speech therapists are located here. K-Pod: Originally called "C-Pod" before the 9/10 building was connected to the 11/12 building. The flooring is Yellow in the classrooms. The math and science department office is here. L-Pod: Originally called "C-Pod" before the 9/10 building was connected to the 11/12 building. The flooring is Green in the classrooms. The 9/10 executive principals office is here.

H-Hall: Originally called "D-Hall" before the 9/10 building was connected to the 11/12 building. The bathrooms, main office, principals offices, restriction room, and wood shops are here. The 9/10 Gym is also here. The old 9/10 cafeteria was converted to the "Auxiliary Gym". The new cafeterias are in the core. J-Hall: Originally called "E-Hall" before the 9/10 building was connected to the 11/12 building. The adaptive gym, orchestra room and nurses office is downstairs. Upstairs are classrooms. The original library was here until the core expansion. The old library was converted to the 9/10 adaptive gym.

Core building Washington Township's population continued to grow, therefore, they needed to expand the high school yet again. Under a $50 million district wide improvement program,referendum amount:, accessed June 20, 2007. a third building was to be built on the site between the 11/12 and 9/10 buildings. The Core building would physically connect the two existing buildings and would include a 2500-seat auditorium (known as the Investors Bank Performing Arts Center as of 2015, formerly known as Commerce Bank Arts Centre and the TD Bank Arts Centre), administrative and guidance offices, a new Media Center (library), new cafeteria (for 9–10 wing students) and more classrooms. Construction on the core building began in the summer of 1996. Parts of the building opened in 1998, and some classes were moved immediately from both the 11/12 and 9/10 buildings.

The new WTHS The entire building was completed before the 1998–1999 school year. WTHS was now one building for the first time since the 1988–1989 school year. The three parts of the building were renamed the 11/12 wing, core, and 9/10 wing, and hallways were renamed to integrate the building. Because the new building featured a new library, a united guidance office, and cafeteria for the 9/10 wing, the old libraries and guidance offices in each of the wings as well as the old 9/10 cafeteria were able to be renovated for other uses.

Athletics The Washington Township High School Minutemen/MinutemaidsWashington Township High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the Tri-County Conference, which is comprised of 23 public and private high schools located in the Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties, and operates under the aegis of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020–2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. With 1,572 student athletes in grades 9–12 as of the 2022–2023 school year, the school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,060 to 5,049 students in that grade range.NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020. The football team competes in the Continental Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconferenceWashington Township Minutemen, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023.Home Page, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023. "The WJFL is a 94-school super conference that stretches from Princeton to Wildwood encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conference, the Tri-County Conference, the Colonial Conference, and the Cape Atlantic League. The WJFL is made up of sixteen divisions with divisional alignments based on school size, geography and a strength-of-program component." and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group V South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 1,333 to 2,324 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.