Wendy Gordon
South students
doing well
To the editor:
I would like to respond to Mr. (Gisbert) Manskopf’s letter of Sept. 13.
Mr. Manskopf has kept us informed of the basic statistics of South Hunterdon Regional High School for several years now.
First, the school has 350 students enrolled, grades seven to 12, not the 226 students Mr. Manskopf states. Our average grade size is, thus, 58.3, not 37.6.
He uses this number to question whether the expansion of the high school is necessary, but the enrollment at South Hunterdon has not fluctuated drastically like he claims.
If we improve our facility, perhaps some of the students in Lambertville, Stockton and West Amwell that currently attend private schools will take another look at South. It has been my experience that the curriculum, faculty, staff and programs at South are very strong, and it has been the condition of the school that needs improvement.
It is true our cost per pupil is high. With a small school offering competitive programming and small class size, this is difficult to control.
I’d like to look at the numbers in a different way, to look at what we are achieving with the $20,377 cost per student 85 percent of the graduating class last year moved on to two- and four-year colleges and universities.
The total of their scholarships and awards came to more than $764,500, which, for a class of 58, amounts to more than $13,180 per student.
And this is not an anomaly. Previous graduating classes show similar numbers.
The class of 2006 sent students to Cornell, Smith, Johns Hopkins and Boston College, to name a few. We are doing something right.
Yes, we await with great expectation the next school year.
Wendy W. Gordon
West Amwell
