Stroudsburg High School
Stroudsburg High School is a public high school located at 1100 West Main Street in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. The school's mascot is the Mountaineer. The school is part of the Stroudsburg Area School District.
Academics
The PSSA is the state assessment test for Pennsylvania schools. All students in 11th grade are required to take this test. During the 2008–2009 school year, the 476 scored examinations at Stroudsburg High School students scored as follows[1]:
- Math
- Advanced= 50.0%
- Proficient= 29.6%
- Basic= 18.5%
- Below Basic= 27.9%
- Reading
- Advanced= 33.4%
- Proficient= 33.8%
- Basic= 15.5%
- Below Basic= 17.2%
- Science
- Advanced= 19.9%
- Proficient= 24.6%
- Basic= 41.7%
- Below Basic= 13.8%
- Writing
- Advanced= 17.6%
- Proficient= 67.3%
- Basic= 14.2%
- Below Basic= 0.8%
Due to the No Child Left Behind policy, Stroudsburg High School is currently under Corrective Action II. In 2011, Stroudsburg High School Seniors made AYP, as needed by the state government. Especially senior Will Birch, did very well. However one student, Max Pensyl, got zeros on all sections and is now considered borderline mentally handicapped. This student has an IQ of 70, just one point away from mental retardation.
Rivalry
Stroudsburg High School's original rival is with East Stroudsburg South High School, but over the last few years a growing rivalry has started with Stroudsburg High School and Pleasant Valley (P.V.) High School. The three schools compete vigorously for the Mountain Valley Conference championship in many sport competitions.
Extracurriculars
The school boasts over 20 extracurricular activities. These activities include:
- Student Council
- Key Club
- Mock Trial
- Science Olympiad
- Chess Team
- National Honor Society
- Math Club
- Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
- Scholastic Scrimmage
- Marching Band
- Orchestra
- Chorus
- Percussion Ensemble
- Show Choir
- Chorale
- Chamber Orchestra
- Musical
- Concert Band
- Jazz Band
- Diversity/GSA
- Students Against Destructive Decisions, (SADD)
- Model Congress
- Amnesty International
- Student Environmental Conservation Organization (S.E.C.O.)
- Technology Student Association
- Yearbook Committee
- Bowling Club
- Sports Club
- Walleyball
- H.A.W.K.
- Color Guard
Athletics
With over 21 varsity athletics, Stroudsburg offers a wealth of opportunity for involvement. All sports, except Rifle, compete in the Mountain Valley Conference. In 2007–08, Stroudsburg won the MVC Cup, a trophy for the best winning percentage in MVC games. All home football games, track meets, and occasional home boys and girls soccer games are held inside Ross-Stulgaitis Stadium, which was renamed for former head football coaches Fred Ross and Jerry Stulgaitis. The Varsity "S" Club raised funds to renovate the field with new artificial turf as well as a composite track.
Teams include: Fall:
- Boys Football
- Boys & Girls Cross Country
- Boys Soccer
- Girls Tennis
- Girls Volleyball
- Girls Field Hockey
- Golf
- Cheerleading
Winter:
- Boys & Girls Basketball
- Boys & Girls Swimming
- Wrestling Mvc champs
- Rifle
- Cheerleading
Spring:
- Boys & Girls Track and Field
- Boys Tennis
- Baseball
- Softball
- Girls Soccer
Boys Soccer under the direction of Coach Ellison has won the MVC in the past three consecutive seasons (2007–2009) and were the District XI champions in 2009.
School newspaper
The school newspaper, The Mountaineer, is a recipient of the Pennsylvania School Press Association Gold Award for Overall Excellence. Its staff consistently receives high-ranking awards for its in-depth coverage of school and teen related topics. Its current adviser is Mr. Matthew Sobrinski. In the past, it was funded entirely through local advertisers and sold for fifty cents to the student body. However, in the 2007–2008 school year, school funding has allowed the staff to disseminate the periodical to every student in the building.
Five issues are typically printed each year through the local newspaper, the Pocono Record. The front, center, and back are full color pages. The final issue of the year lists the future plans for all graduating seniors, whether they intend on continuing their education, joining a branch of the military, or obtaining a job.
Shooting controversy
"...the fact that they were carrying .22-caliber rifles and the discovery of a seven-page transcript of an Internet instant messaging conversation between them, escalated tensions. The transcript was not released to the media, but police said there was a line in it that caused alarm."
Al Camaerei, who is a wrestling coach at East Stroudsburg High School-South, believed the line was fairly innocuous when viewed in hindsight. "I'm going to miss you," he summarized. "We're going to rough it. We want to hunt how we want to hunt."
New building controversy
With an influx of new students, the district has expressed the need for a new building. Residents are debating whether the current building should be renovated or whether a new building should be built to accommodate this growth. In April 2008, members of the school board voted 5–4 in favor of renovating the existing high school on West Main Street. Currently the school district is demolishing the now vacant houses and apartment complexes adjacent to the high school.
Dress code controversy
In the spring of 2008 the school district discovered that the current dress code which had formerly only banned the wearing of ripped or sagged jeans on boys, and the wearing of revealing clothes on girls, was being flagrantly violated. In response to this, it was proposed that there be a standardized dress policy consisting of Kaki or black pants and skirts and polos in either black, white, or Maroon. This policy was immensely unpopular among parents, teachers, and students alike and sparked an online protest group apply named Stroudsburg Students Against The Dress Code. This group produced little real protest, besides making limited appearances at school district meetings and convincing students to wear black arm bands for a short period of time, the group was unsuccessful, and the policy went into effect on August 30, 2008. Initially, students questioned whether or not this new dress code was an infringement on their right to free speech, but principal Jeffery Sodl was quick to dismiss this questioning by saying "When students enter the high school, they leave their first amendment rights at the door." [citation needed] In large part, the dress code was reported to have increased problems rather than solving them because of its inability to define what was considered appropriate, and its ambiguous enforcement. In the spring of 2009, the administration released findings that showed the dress code had caused disciplinary referrals to decrease by 1000, but this recent statistic has been thrown into question by many staff members as well as students due to the fact that it did not include any of the violations for dress code. The figures from the past years, however, did include dress code violations, and there were MANY more violations in 2009.[citation needed]