Union County Magnet High School

Union County Magnet High School
Location
1776 Raritan Road Scotch Plains, NJ 07076
Information
Type	Magnet public high school
Established	1997
School district	Union County Vocational Technical Schools
Principal	Gwendolyn Seneschal
Faculty	24 (on FTE basis)
Grades	9 - 12
Enrollment	274 (as of 2009-10)
Student to teacher ratio	11.42
Website	School website

The Union County Magnet High School (UCMHS) is a magnet public high school located in Scotch Plains on the Union County Vocational Technical Schools Campus, serving the vocational and technical educational needs of students throughout Union County, New Jersey. The Magnet School serves approximately 280 students. The Mission Statement of the school states that the school's goal is to prepare students for college/vocational training utilizing technology through problem solving, project-based learning, and interdisciplinary education. Students must apply to enter the school and the school turns away approximately 2/3 of applicants.

As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 274 students and 24 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.42.

Awards and recognition

Union County Magnet High School was recognized by Governor Jim McGreevey in 2003 as one of 25 schools selected statewide for the First Annual Governor's School of Excellence award.

Union County Magnet High School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive, during the 2004-05 school year.

Union County Magnet High School was cited as a "Public Elite", one of 22 such schools recognized nationwide in Newsweek magazine's listing of "America's Best High Schools" in the May 8, 2006 issue. Newsweek described that the school's "Focus is on science, math and technology".

In Newsweek's May 22, 2007 issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Union County Magnet High School was listed in 598th place, the 12th-highest ranked school in New Jersey.

In 2005-06, the school averaged a 1922 combined SAT score, fourth highest of all public high schools statewide.

In 2008, Magnet High School, along with the Academy for Allied Health Sciences, was named #1 youth per capita in the entire nation by the American Cancer Society for their Relay for Life. In total, the schools raised over $73,000.

In 2009, Magnet High School, along with the other UCVTS schools, was named #1 youth per capita in the entire nation by the American Cancer Society for their Relay for Life. In total, the schools raised over $115,000.^{[citation needed]} This was achieved by setting a minimum fundraising amount per participant an order of magnitude larger than the registration fee required by the American Cancer Society.

Schooldigger.com ranked the school as one of 10 schools tied for first out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (a decrease of 30 positions from the 2009 rank) 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), with all students taking the test at the school being classified as proficient.

In 2011, Magnet High School was named a Silver Medal School and ranked #70 in the Nation as one of the best math and science high school according to U.S. News & World Report.

Culture and extracurricular activities

Magnet is accepting and open to new cultures and tries to recognize and celebrate these cultures through the Multicultural Club, and French Club. In addition to this club, there is also drama club, Science Olympiad and math league for those interested in science and math competitions, golf club, community service club, robotics, Magnet Inventors Team, chess club, technology club, yearbook committee, art club, newspaper club (TechToday), video wall committee, class councils (one for each grade), and student council (whole school). Most clubs meet during lunch.

In October 2006, a small group of students formed an Anime Club to view and discuss anime, or Japanese cartoons. They met significant difficulty in forming the club due to opposition from the school board. Now these students meet under the permission of the Multicultural Club, and are forming a larger fanbase as the interest spread to other schools on campus. As of 2008, these students are considered to be a separate organization, known as "A.N.I.M.E." rather than the "Anime Club" as they do not have an advisor and are not an official school club. They are not listed in the student handbook as an extracurricular activity.

The school holds dances about once a month and annually, Magnet hosts a talent show and the Coffee House, which is put together by the drama club. In Spring 2006, the drama club has put on its first full-length production since 2003. Since 2006, the drama club included a musical group, and in 2007, musicals and singing acts were included in the annual "Coffeehouse" production.

The second largest club within the school district is 1257 Robotics Team. Because the school is oriented to math and science, the FIRST robotics team receives a lot of support. Although disbanded in 2006 due to loss of the founding members, the 1257 robotics team was reformed in the 2008-09 school year and is going strong once again.

Being enrolled in an engineering school, a few Magnet students also compete in the annual Union County College bridge building competition, which consists of teams of about five people each from all over the county. Teams are divided into novice and advanced categories, and each team must build a bridge with the given specifications (they change every year).

A new club at Magnet, which began in the 2007-08 school year, is the SMAC (Student Movement Against Cancer) club. The club was started by two students, and its main objective is to schedule, plan, and organize the annual Relay For Life held at the school. Since its inception, SMAC has become hugely successful, as evidenced by the success of UCMHS Relay for Life.

Magnet does not offer any varsity sports, but students are allowed to join sports teams in their home districts, provided they do not pose any scheduling conflicts. The Union County Vocational Technical School district offers after school intramurals. There is also a non-affiliated Ultimate Frisbee team that many Magnet students have chosen to become members of. Its first competitive year was 2007-08 where it entered in the ARJI youth tournament at Rutgers.

Students have complained that although the Magnet School advertises the students' right to utilize their local high school facilities for extra curricular activities, this right is severely hampered by the abundance of scheduling difficulties. For example, some students found it impossible to join their local school's music program, as attending practices during the school day was an impossibility.

Today, there are many clubs that students have the opportunity to be a part of through both Magnet and the UCVTS district. These include Art Club, Bridge Building Club, Chess Club, Class Councils (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior), Community Service Club (and SMAC), Dance Club, Drama Club (and Tech Crew), Future Business Leaders of America, French Club, French Honor Society, Intramurals, Marine Corps Fitness Club, Math League, Multicultural Club, National Honor Society, News Club, Newspaper Club, Peer Mediation, Robotics Club, Science Olympiad, Spanish Club, Spanish Honor Society, Student Council, and Yearbook Club. There are so many ways to get involved on campus and many students utilize their resources and maximize their potential.

Building

The building that houses UCMHS was constructed in the 1960s and housed a portion of (UCC) through the 1970s. It was abandoned through the mid 1990s when the UCVTSD had the building gutted and renovated. UCMHS opened in 1997 and since then the building has seen minor renovations and the addition of a glass atrium to the fitness center. Following the major renovations in the mid-1990s, the building was named Mancuso Hall after the Chairman of the Union County Board of Education at the time.

The facade of the building features faux-stone over the staircases, which project from the building, and a series of white and brown gravel coated concrete panels, each containing a trapezoidal window. The building contains many windows and glass walls to the extent that in some places one can stand on one side of the building and see through the other side of the building.

Magnet is located in Scotch Plains on a campus which is home to Union County Vocational-Technical School, the Academy for Information Technology, the Academy for Allied Health Sciences, and the Union County (or John H. Stamler) Police Academy. The campus also has a New Jersey Transit bus stop and a soccer field.

In 2008, construction began on an addition to the Magnet building. This addition serves as the site of the Performing Arts school. The plans included a bridge linking the building with the addition, which will be located in one of the last free patches of ground on campus, over a frequently used path leading from a parking lot to the front door of the Magnet High School. These plans were finished in 2010. The Union County Vocational-Technical Schools (UCVTS) has now changed from an open, spacious environment into a more urban environment.

Legal issues

Since its creation, UCMHS has been a subject of controversy.^{[citation needed]} There are 20 municipal school districts that are contained within the Union County Vocational Technical Schools District (UCVTSD). Following the creation of this school in 1997, a number of these districts filed suit against UCMHS. Scotch Plains petitioned the New Jersey Department of Education to force the exclusion of students from their district from the Magnet School. Rahway, New Jersey refused to allow Rahway students attending Magnet to participate in Rahway extracurricular programs. Their argument was that Magnet was taking the best students away from the home districts and that Magnet was drawing funds away from the home districts.

The final case against UCMHS was the case launched by the City of Linden. It was resolved late in 2002 in favor of UCMHS. Linden ran a science school within its own district where it sent its gifted and talented students. They argued that their program was comparable to UCMHS and they should not, therefore, be required to pay tuition for students attending the county school. The UCMHS argued that the programs were not comparable, as evidenced by Linden students desiring to leave their home district in favor of Magnet.

Magnet won each of these suits because it is, legally, a Vocational-Technical school (a school which offers a vocational education) and offers vocational certifications. State law requires local school districts pay tuition for students who attend the county vocational school.

Recently, as a result of extensive state budget cuts, the Board of Education of the Springfield Public Schools announced its plan in 2010 to refuse to pay tuition for students attending several of the schools on the UCVTS campus, on the grounds that it has comparable programs in engineering, performing arts, and health-care training. The Springfield Board of Education believes that, in the absence of any state funding to offset the cost of sending students to the Magnet, Performing Arts, and Allied Health high schools, it should not be obligated to pay to send its students to these schools.

External links

• Union County Magnet High School's website
• Union County Magnet High School's 2009–10 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• Data for Union County Magnet High School, National Center for Education Statistics
• 1257 Robotics Team
• Article in newspaper on the proposal of the Magnet school
• September 22, 2000 Decision by State Commissioner of Education Concerning the Magnet School (the Scotch Plains-Fanwood decision)
• July 12, 1999 Decision by State Commissioner of Education regarding refusal of Roselle Park Board of Education to pay tuition for students attending Union County Magnet High School