As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 421 students and 24.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 17.5:1. There were 298 students (70.8% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and none eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
History
Camden High School was established in 1891 and was known as the Camden Manual Training High School. The school was built in a similar styles of the Center Philadelphia high schools, which were known to have "cutting edge innovation."[8] It was located on 123 Federal Street in 1891. The school was designed by architects Arthur Truscott and Pail Armon Davis III. In 1891, the school accepted 48 boys; three years later, the first group of girls was accepted. Due to the rapid increase in the population of the school, the school had to expand and relocate to Haddon and Newton Avenues.[9]
On May 9, 1969, a group of 100 white residents marched to the home of Camden Mayor Alfred R. Pierce to insist that white students receive protection from the black students who were the majority at Camden High School. Black students were fighting for administrative and curriculum changes, wanted more courses on African American culture and history, and sought the appointment of an African American principal and athletic coaches. The mayor planned to call in the police to deal with the situation at the school but he did not let the parents know. The white parents were not going to send their children back to school until the situation was resolved. Charles V. Koppenhaver, the principal, told black students that he would retire at the end of the next month and he would do so for them.[10]
In 2003, based on reports of violence, Camden High School was identified as "persistently dangerous" by the New Jersey Department of Education, one of seven schools in the state (and one of two high schools) listed in an annual report required under the No Child Left Behind Act; under the terms of the federal act, families were notified and given the option to transfer to a different school.[11]
In 2008, a cafeteria brawl led to the arrest of 18 students, a 14-year-old student was found with a gun loaded with hollow-point bullets, and the school principal was replaced.[12]
Demolition
In 2008, Governor of New JerseyJon Corzine announced plans to renovate Camden High School at an estimated cost of $100 million for renovation. In 2011, Chris Christie cancelled the project after deciding that it was not the best way to solve the problems of the school.[13] This ultimately led to the decision to demolish and rebuild the high school because it was much more economical to rebuild a new school than to renovate the old school. On November 27, 2017, an attempt to demolish Camden High School by the school's parent association was denied by Judge Nan S. Famular. It was denied because superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard and the city's school board, as defendants, argued that it was a violation of the New Jersey Register of Historic Places Act to destroy the high school. Mo'Neke Ragsdale, a member of the Camden High PTA, believed that putting resources towards saving the school was not worth the effort but still wanted to save the school. The final decision was ruled by a state Superior Court judge allowing the demolition of the high school. The school was demolished after the end of the 2016/2017 school year.[14]
The parts of the school that were to be demolished were the ones that were built before 1917. They would be replaced with a $133 million budget for academic buildings that would be considered state-of-the-art.[15] Alumni of Camden High School and the group "Stop the Demolition of Camden High," led by Mo'Neke Ragsdale, fought to preserve the old Camden High School building. They sought to add Camden High School to the National Register of Historic Places. They wanted the construction to be on the back of the school because they had over 18 acres of land.[16]
Construction
As part of a $132.6 million construction project begun at the start of the 2017–18 school year at Camden High School by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, the school's 500 students were shifted to the Hatch Middle School building. The new 242,000-square-foot (22,500 m2) building will be completed for the 2021–22 school year and be able to accommodate 1,200 students when it reopens.[17]
As of 2019, the construction of the new Camden High School building is expected to be finished by 2021.[18] Current students are temporarily using Cooper B. Hatch Middle school for their classes while construction continues.[19]
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.[20] 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.[21] The magazine ranked the school 316th in 2008 as the lowest out of 316 schools.[22] The school was ranked 314th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[23]
Performance and building condition
A report issued in 2014 indicated that in the city of 80,000, only three high school students posted SAT scores deemed "college ready."[24]
Athletics
The Camden High School Panthers compete in the Olympic Conference,[2] an athletic conference consisting of public and private high schools located in Burlington County, Camden County and Gloucester County.[25] The Olympic Conference operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[26] With 683 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2022–24 school years as Group II South for most athletic competition purposes.[27] The football team competes in the Constitution Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconference[28][29] and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group II South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 514 to 685 students.[30]
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.[31] As of 2009, Camden High had won over 41 South Jersey Championships, and appeared in over 20 state championship games, winning 11 of them.[citation needed]
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.[32] The school has had a football rivalry since 1931 with Camden Catholic High School; Camden Catholic leads the series with an overall record of 35–29–2 through the 2017 season. NJ.com listed the rivalry as 28th on its 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football"[33]
The boys basketball team won the Group IV state championship in 1945 (vs. Union Hill High School in the final game of the tournament), 1959 (vs. Weequahic High School), 1960 (vs. Weequahic), 1978 (vs. Linden High School), 1979 (vs. Union Hill), 1982 (vs. Montclair High School), 1984 (vs. JFK of Paterson), 1986 (vs. Montclair), 1987 (vs. JFK of Paterson), and won the Group III title in 1974 (vs. Memorial of West New York) and 2000 (vs. Lawrence High School). The 11 group championships won by the program is tied for the fourth-most of any school in the state.[34] The 1945 team won the Group IV title with a 46–38 win against Union Hill in the championship game played at the Elizabeth Armory.[35] The boys' basketball team went undefeated in both 1959 and 1960, winning state championships each year. The team won the 1959 Group IV state title with a 94-73 win against Weequahic in the championship game.[36] A crowd of 5,000 at the Camden Convention Hall watched the 1960 team win the Group IV title with a 64–49 victory against Weequahic in the finals to extended the team's unbeaten streak to 47 games over two seasons.[37][38] 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.[39] 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.[40][41] 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 the six state group champions (four public school and two private school groups) against each other to determine one overall champion. Camden defeated Seton Hall Preparatory School by a score of 50–46 in the tournament final.[42]
The boys track team won the Group IV spring / outdoor track state championship in 1975 and 1995–1997, and won the Group III title in 1998–2001, 2004 and 2005. The program's 10 state titles are tied for eighth in the state.[43]
The 1976 football team finished the season with an 11–0 record after winning the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV state sectional title with a 30–13 victory against Toms River High School South in the championship game.[44][45][46]
The girls team won the NJSIAA spring track Group IV state championship in 1978 and 1979, won the Group III title in 2008, and won in Group II in 2009.[47]
The girls track team won the indoor relay championship in Group III in 1994 and 2008. The boys team won the Group III title in 1997 and 1999, and won the Group II title in 2005[48]
The boys track team won the indoor track championship in Group IV in 1996, in Group III in 1997, 2001, 2007 and 2008 (as co-champion) and won in Group II in 2005.[49]
Administration
The school's principal is Aaron Bullock. His administration team includes two lead educators.[50]
^ abcOtt, Dwight. "Camden High School Turns 100", The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 6, 1991. Accessed July 1, 2011. "The school, once predominantly Jewish and Italian and now largely black and Hispanic, has produced other well-known alumni: Superior Court Judges Isaiah Steinberg and Theodore Davis; former Camden Mayor Angelo J. Errichetti; record producer Leon Huff; former Camden County Prosecutor Samuel Asbell; former Supremes singer Cindy Birdsong; basketball player Billy Thompson of the Miami Heat, and physician and civic leader Charles Brimm."
^History, Camden High School. Accessed July 1, 1011. "Camden High School (CHS), originally known as Camden Manual Training and High School was located at 123 Federal Street in 1891. Forty-eight boys entered and were taught by the male principals of the city. In 1894, a group of girls were admitted and ordinary teachers were assigned to the school."
^Fall 2011 Accreditation ActionsArchived March 9, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, The Standard; A Newsletter from the Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary School, Winter 2012. Accessed November 11, 2020. "Removal of Accreditation... Camden High School, Camden, NJ"
^Newman, Maria. "Briefings: Education, Dangerous Schools", The New York Times, August 10, 2003. Accessed July 25, 2019. "The state Department of Education has named seven schools as 'persistently dangerous,' based on reports of violent incidents. The schools on the list, which is mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act and will be published annually, will be required to notify parents within 15 days that they can ask for their children to be transferred. The schools are Camden High School, East Camden Middle School and Bonsall Family School, all in Camden..."
^Fahim, Kareem. "Instead of Fistfights, Fashion at a Troubled High School", The New York Times, May 18, 2008. Accessed November 11, 2020. "Notable happenings at Camden High School this year included a cafeteria brawl that led to the arrest of 18 teenagers and left a police officer with a bruised face, a 14-year-old boy smuggling a gun loaded with hollow-point bullets into school in his backpack, the replacement of a principal and a hip-hop fashion show that turned the auditorium into a South Jersey version of a Bryant Park tent."
^Trethan, Phaedra. "School officials announce plan for when the High is on hiatus", Courier-Post, May 18, 2017. Accessed December 12, 2017. "Officials have a plan for the temporary placement of Camden High School's approximately 500 students as "The Castle on the Hill" is demolished and a new school is constructed. Most of Camden High's students will attend classes at the Cooper B. Hatch Middle School building when classes begin in September, said Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard in an interview Thursday.... The new Camden High School, a $132.6 million project unanimously approved by the state Schools Development Authority in October, will include four "learning communities" in a state-of-the-art, 242,000-square-foot facility educating about 1,200 students when it's completed in time for the 2021-22 school year, Gov. Chris Christie announced in a visit to Camden last year."
^Via Associated Press. "Only 3 students scored college-ready in Camden", NJ.com, December 18, 2013. Accessed August 27, 2014. "The new school superintendent in Camden says it was a 'kick-in-the-stomach moment' when he learned that only three district high school students who took the SAT this year scored as college-ready."
^Member Schools, Olympic Conference. Accessed July 30, 2017.
^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."
^Callahan, Kevin. "Frambes was go-to guy for S.J. sports history", Courier-Post, July 6, 2008. Accessed July 19, 2012. That was because often unbeaten seasons and championships were on the line when the Purple Avalanche (Camden's old nickname) played the Panthers of Collingswood."
^Staff. "14 Hurt at Camden Stadium As Gangs Exchange Gunfire; 37 Taken Into Custody", The New York Times, November 23, 1979. Accessed July 1, 2011. "Three separate volleys of shots, perhaps a dozen in all, set off a stampede of hundreds of an estimated total of 3,600 football fans and led to the suspension of the Thanksgiving Day game between Camden and Woodrow Wilson High School, which are traditional rivals."
^Stypulkoski, Matt. "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 27, 2017, updated May 15, 2019. Accessed December 1, 2020. "25-Camden vs. Camden Catholic.. This is a local rivalry that started in 1931 between Camden and Camden Catholic, which is located in nearby Cherry Hill.... All-time series: Camden Catholic leads, 35-29-2"
^"Camden Beats Union City To Win State Championship; Carter Nets 21 Points in 46-38 Victory; Outstanding Player in Tourney", Courier-Post, March 19, 1945. Accessed January 9, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "For the first time in the history of the 27 year-old New Jersey State Interscholastic Association basketball tournament, which concluded a four-night run Saturday at the Armory, Camden High school carried off a state championship. The South Jersey Group 4 representatives, who completely dominated the tourney from the minute they stepped on the floor on Friday night, turned in another super-fine exhibition in the title round, routing Union Hill, 46-38."
^Hall, Bill. "Camden High Romps, 64-49. To Win State Group 4 Title", The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 20, 1960. Accessed March 6, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Coach Tony Alfano's Purple Avalanche, more widely known as Camden High School's basketball team, fell on Weequahic (Newark) High, 64-49, and thereby donned its second straight New Jersey State Interscholastic AA Group 4 crown Saturday night in Camden Convention Hall before more than 5000 (4650 paid) howling; partisans."
^Ryan, John. "Camden Emerges As Lone Repeater; South Jersey Club Routs Weequahic To Run Victory Skein To 47 Games", The Record, March 21, 1960. Accessed March 6, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Powerful Camden emerged as the lone successful defending , champion in the forty-second annual New Jersey State Interscholastic A. A. Basketball Tournament by whipping Weequahic, 64-49, Saturday night The South Jersey quintet, in winning the Group 4 crown, extended its 2-year undefeated string to 47, easily the best in the state at the present time."
^ abcdStrauss, Robert. "In Person; Hoop Dreams Revisit Camden", The New York Times, February 13, 2000. Accessed September 26, 2017. "Camden High has been winning state basketball championships for more than four decades now. It went undefeated all the way to the title in 1959 and 1960. Its 1986 team was ranked best in the nation by USA Today. And there were seven other state championships in the 1970s and 1980s... Legends have grown up around its stars, from the Sunkett brothers and Itchy Smith in the 1960s to Billy Thompson and Milt Wagner, teammates in the early 1980s, both of whom went on to play for the Los Angeles Lakers... On game day, the gym is usually filled and attention is almost always focused on one young man, DaJuan Wagner, son of Milt, touted by the top high school junior in the nation.
^Denman, Elliott. "Unlisted Camden Player Heartbreaker to South", Asbury Park Press, December 5, 1976. Accessed January 9, 2021, via Newspapers.com. But yesterday he broke out of the ranks of the anonymous with an 82-yard return of a fumble recovery for the touchdown that gave Camden the momentum to march to a 30-13 victory over Toms River South and the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV championship."
^"Rev. Alfred Banyard, 84, Episcopalian bishop", Courier-Post, November 25, 2018. Accessed December 3, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "A native of Merchantville, the bishop was a graduate of Camden High School, the University of Pennsylvania and the General Theological Seminary of New York, from which he earned his Bachelor of Sacred Theology (S.T.B.) degree in 1931 and his Doctor of Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) degree in 1946."
^Anastasia, Phil. "Camden's Dajuan Wagner aims to play again in NBA", The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 9, 2014. Accessed August 18, 2016. "Wagner last played in the NBA in November 2006... Camden city councilman Arthur Barclay, a teammate of Wagner's at Camden and Memphis, said his old friend's return to the court would be a thrill."
^Stapleton, Art. "Inside NY Giants rookie Sean Chandler's odds-defying journey to the NFL", The Record, November 9, 2018. Accessed July 25, 2019. "The sun had barely risen and Sean Chandler was already there in the bleachers on those chilly April mornings four years ago. On the first day of spring practice, then-Temple University and now-Baylor University football coach Matt Rhule will never forget the sight of Chandler in the stands at Camden High School, nor what his presence told everyone about his commitment to the game and his team from that moment forward."
^Constitutional Convention of 1947, p. 952. Accessed July 15, 2022. "Joseph W. Cowgill (Camden County) Born April 24, 1908; son of William and Harriet Cowgill. Graduated Camden High School, 1925; University of Pennsylvania, 1929, with B.S. degree; University of Pennsylvania, 1933, with LL.B. degree."
^Naedele, Walter F. "Mary DiSabato; headed N.J. State Parole Board", The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 23, 2016. Accessed October 27, 2016. "Born in Camden, Mrs. DiSabato graduated from Camden High School in 1946 and served as a Sixth District Assemblywoman, covering parts of Camden and Burlington Counties from 1974 to 1980, son Stephen Croce said."
^Romalino, Carly Q. "Going for the Gold", South Jersey Times, June 13, 2008. Accessed September 15, 2023. "Golden, who graduated from Camden High School and attended Camden County College, started training in Houston, Texas at the Houston Gymnastics Academy under coaches Rustam Sharipov, an Olympic Gold medalist and Kevin Mazeika, 2004 Olympic head coach and the head coach for the 2008 Olympic team."
^Evans, Bill. "Camden's Brad Hawkins going to prep school, still committed to Michigan, coach says", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, July 8, 2016. Accessed October 6, 2022. "Brad Hawkins, a recent Camden High School graduate and football standout who committed to the University of Michigan just over a year ago, announced on Twitter he would be attending Suffield Academy (Ct.) for a year of prep school instead of going to Ann Arbor."
^via Associated Press. "Cheyney Selects New Grid Coach", Hanover Evening Sun, August 3, 1979. Accessed January 21, 2018. "Andy Hinson, former Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference coach of the year, has been named head football coach at Cheyney State College, a spokesman announced today... The 1949 graduate of Camden, N.J., High School, was New Jersey scholastic football coach of the year following his first of three seasons there in 1973."
^Staff. Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey; 1990 Edition, p. 208. J.A. Fitzgerald, 1990. Accessed September 28, 2016. "Mr. Laskin was born June 30, 1936, in Atlantic City. He was graduated from Camden High School in 1954."
^"It All Adds Up: Running, teaching and math.", Rowan University, September 16, 2009. Accessed November 24, 2020. "A 1957 graduate of Camden High School, Dr. Osler earned his bachelor's degree in physics in 1962, his MS in mathematics at New York University in 1969 and his Ph. D. in mathematics at NYU in 1970."
^Staff. "Payton's a Surprise", The Dispatch, March 6, 1979. Accessed August 27, 2014. "Turner talked Payton into coming out for basketball his junior year at Camden High."
^Hitchner, Emelia. "Catching up with a hometown hero", The St. Augustine Record, June 26, 2016. Accessed July 25, 2019. "'By going to Camden, we thought that opportunity would be afforded to me,' Ramsey said. 'And it was.' While playing at Camden High School, Ramsey added another high school football championship to his resume in 1974."
^Frank, Reuben. "Savitsky, of Eagles' '48-'49 champs, dies at 88"[dead link], CSNPhilly.com, September 6, 2012. Accessed November 6, 2018. "Savitsky was born in New York, but his family moved to South Jersey in the 1930s, and he grew up on Pershing Street in Camden and attended Camden High School. He was captain of the 1942 Camden High football team, coached by legendary Billy Palese, which went undefeated, outscoring its opponents 220-8."
^Sokolic, William. "Approval sought for Writer's House", Courier-Post, December 14, 2014. Accessed August 3, 2017. "A vibrant person who graduated Camden High School, Virgilio visited Rutgers University–Camden in search of Chinese poetry and discovered Japanese poetry instead."
^"Bruce Wallace, ex-president of N. J. Senate", The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7, 1977. Accessed August 8, 2019. " Mr. Wallace, a native of Merchantville, N. J., began serving in the State Senate in 1941... Mr. Wallace was a graduate of Camden High School and graduated from Rutgers University's South Jersey Law School in 1930."
^Wynn, Ron. "Buster Williams: Blendability", JazzTimes, April 1, 2001. Accessed September 2, 2019. "Though Williams began working professionally upon graduating from Camden High School in Camden, New Jersey, he eventually took some courses in Composition and Harmony and Theory at Combs College of Music in Philadelphia."
^Official Congressional Directory, p. 68. United States Government Printing Office, 1921. Accessed May 15, 2023. "Charles A. Wolverton, Republican, of Camden, N.J., born October 24, 1880, at Camden N.J., his parents being Charles S. Wolverton and Martha Wolverton; educated in the public schools of Camden graduating from Camden High School June 24, 1897..."