Time to plan for new high school

To the editor

   As many of you know, Hillsborough is a rapidly growing town. In 1969, when Hillsborough High School was built, it was small and the only high school that was needed.
   Since then, three additions have been added to the high school to accommodate the growing number of students. Now HHS is large with a student population of over 2,100.
   That population will continue to grow much further, especially with the upcoming County Classics project to build over 300 new homes near Amsterdam School and because Hillsborough is only 50 percent developed.
   The next approach that the town would have to handle the growing population would most likely be one that involves continuing to have one, massive high school for the entire town.
   However, instead of having one large high school, it would be better to build a smaller, additional one holding between 500 and 1,000 students.
   There are many disadvantages that come with a large high school. No matter how much administrators try to personalize it, it will never become as personal as a small high school.
   With personal attention comes safety. Just like the cities, the larger the school is, the less safe it becomes since people do not know each other as well.
   If someone’s wallet falls out of his/her pocket, he/she wold have to walk around for hours in order to find it. When he/she finally gets to the spot in which the wallet was dropped, a thief that does not know him/her would have already picked it up.
   Also, if there is a bomb scare like there was three years ago, the entire school loses over an hour of valuable education from sitting in the football field. If it were to happen in a small school, less time would be needed to search the school and fewer students would be affected.
   Also, a larger school means that more time will be needed to switch classes, and a larger student body would mean more time needed for class periods to allow every student to learn. This would thus make the school day longer, giving less time to complete homework.
   Lastly and most importantly, studies show that student performance and parental involvement with the school is lower in a large school than a small school. These reasons and more are why we should not keep one large school and build a second high school instead.
   The new high school would start with a capacity between 500 and 1,000 students. Then when the number of high school students appears to be surpassing the total capacity of both Hillsborough High School and the new one, additions may be built until the total number of students in that school is between 1,500 and 2,000.
   At that point, a third high school may be built, and so on. This would ensure that no school in Hillsborough grows to become mega-sized and lose its personal touch.
   Right now, Hillsborough needs to begin building an additional high school to accommodate the growing number of students. Hillsborough is not mostly farmland anymore. It has grown to be a major suburb of New York City and Philadelphia. One high school is no longer enough for this town.
   Many parents of high school students remember how difficult it was to find their way to their children’s classes at Back-to-School night even though there were National Honor Society guides to help.
   Imagine if the school were twice as big and twice as confusing, and it took twice as long to get to classes. That and more will happen if Hillsborough continues to have only one high school. The time to build another high school is now, not after Hillsborough High School becomes even bigger.
   I hope that the Board of Education will carefully consider this proposal.

Jeff Ultee
Hillsborough High School