Pennsville Memorial High School is comprehensive community public high school in Pennsville Township, Salem County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Pennsville School District.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 481 students and 44.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.7:1. There were 128 students (26.6% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 36 (7.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Pennsville Memorial High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
The Music Academy (which includes a Vocal and Instrumental Academy) and the Academy of Graphic Design in Multimedia Technology are located in the school facilities. Both of these academies are institutions hosted by Pennsville Memorial through the Salem County Vocational Technical Schools.Academies, Salem County Vocational Technical Schools. Accessed February 26, 2018. "Arthur P. Schalick High School (Dance, Drama, Visual Arts) and Pennsville Memorial High School (Graphic Design, Instrumental Music, Vocal Music) host multiple academy programs, while Penns Grove High School (Engineering) and Woodstown High School (Communications) each host one academy program."Academy of Creative and Performing Arts: Instrumental Music, Salem County Vocational Technical Schools. Accessed March 29, 2015.Academy of Creative and Performing Arts: Vocal Music, Salem County Vocational Technical Schools. Accessed March 29, 2015.Academy of Graphic Design in Multimedia Technology, Salem County Vocational Technical Schools. Accessed March 29, 2015.
Starting with the 2014–15 school year, the school operates on a four-block A day and a four-block B day day schedule. Each class period is 90 minutes long. The school day officially begins at 7:40 a.m., and students are dismissed at 2:15 p.m. Lunch periods are 30 minutes in duration. The school had previously had nine periods of classes that were 41 minutes each (including lunch) prior to the 2014–2015 school year.
History The initial high school facility began in September 1950 as Lower Penn's Neck Memorial School.Administrative Services, Pennsville School District. Accessed March 21, 2022. "The Pennsville Memorial High School is the completion of a memorial to honor those who served in all wars from this district. The first unit of eighteen classrooms, a gymnasium, library, teacher's rooms, health and administrative suites, was dedicated as the Lower Penn's Neck Memorial School on September 8, 1950." In that year, the district was spending $80,000 each year to send 500 students out of the district to attend high school as part of sending/receiving relationships."Adoption of School Budget Held up by Township Board", Wilmington Morning News, December 20, 1950. Accessed March 21, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Lower Penns Neck High School pupils are sent to Penns Grove and Salem and number approximately 500. Tuition fees: annually exceed $80,000."
The district spent $1.23 million (equivalent to $ million in ) for an addition to Memorial School that would be used to house the high school."New Salem County Schools Top $2,360,000 in Costs", Wilmington Morning News, September 15, 1955. Accessed March 21, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Topped by a huge new high school project in Lower Penns Neck Township, more than $2,360,000 is being expended currently in new school construction and enlargements in Salem County, County Superintendent Howard Morris announced today. The Pennsville job costing $1,230,000 is actually an addition to the Memorial School there and when completed it will house the township's first high school."
The high school program was started at the start of the 1955–56 school year with ninth grade students at Memorial School, prior to which high school students from the township attended either Penns Grove High School or Salem High School."Awards to Be Presented At School in Pennsville", The Morning News, June 9, 1955. Accessed April 15, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "An eighth grade awards assembly will be held Friday afternoon at 1 o'clock for students at Pennsville Memorial High School in exercises in the school gymnasium. Although it has not been established yet, this will probably be the last awards assembly to be held at the school until the new high school, now under construction is completed. The Memorial School, since its completion a few years ago, had been housing the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. From there the children attended either Penns Grove Regional of Salem High Schools. With the beginning of the 1955-'56 school year, the sixth graders will return to Pennsville School, and Memorial School will house the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades."
Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 255th-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 159th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 209th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 5, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 206th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed September 21, 2011. The school was ranked 257th 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.
Athletics The Pennsville Memorial High School EaglesPennsville Memorial High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete as one of the member schools in the Tri-County Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools located in Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.Member Schools, Tri-County Conference. Accessed November 18, 2020. The conference is overseen by 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 326 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2022–24 school years as Group I South for most athletic competition purposes.NJSIAA General Classifications - Public Schools 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022. The football team competes in the Royal Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconferencePennsville Eagles, 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 I South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 185 to 482 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
The football team won the South Jersey Group II state sectional titles in both 1974 (awarded by NJSIAA) and 1981, and the South Jersey Group I in 2015.NJSIAA Football History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022. The 1984 team finished the season with an 11–0 record after winning the South Jersey Group II state sectional title by defeating Haddon Township High School by a score of 6–0 in the playoff finals.Viggiano, Bob. "Pennsville defeats Haddon Township", Courier-Post, December 6, 1981. Accessed February 2, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Pennsville High School's football took advantage of the one break in the game and marched 22 yards for a third-period touchdown to win the South Jersey Group 2 championship here yesterday by downing Haddon Township, 6-0. The unbeaten, and untied Eagles received their big break late in the third period after defensive end Mike Ropiak, who turned in a tremendous performance all day, nailed Township runners for two successive losses." The team won the South Jersey Group I state sectional championship in 2015 against Clayton High School by a score of 28–6 in the tournament final. The team finished with an 11–1 record, and marked the first time the football team had won a state championship in 34 years and the first time they won in Group I.Anastasia, Phil. "Football: Pennsville beats Clayton for SJ 1 title", The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 5, 2015. Accessed August 4, 2016. "The formula was fitting for Pennsville in the Eagles' 28-6 victory over Clayton in the South Jersey Group 1 title game on Saturday at Rowan University.... The victory earned Pennsville (11-1) the second sectional title in the program's history and the first since the 1981 team won the Group 2 crown." Every year before Thanksgiving (except for the 2018 season where the game was held on the first game of the season), there's a memorial football game between Pennsville and Pennsgrove and whoever wins receive the Norm Willy Boot Trophy as a tribute to one of Pennsville's fallen coaches and former defensive lineman for the Philadelphia Eagles. Pennsville also competes for the Old Oaken Bucket Trophy, a prize for the winner of Pennsville/Salem game. The healthy competition of passing the bucket started more than 50 years ago during the first Pennsville/Salem football game. Between 1985 and 2005, Salem had a winning streak and was in possession of the Old Oaken Bucket until Pennsville won it back in fall 2005. The Old Oaken Bucket Trophy would go missing until it was found on the front lawn of Pennsville Memorial High School nine years later.