Phillipsburg High School

i love Destin Drew Merwarth!! :p and i miss you too.... :( LOVE LIZZY <3

Proud Grauate of Phillipsburg High School. Wonderful teachers, leaders and friends. It is what you make it, and I made it the best expierience of my life.
—Submitted by a student

I have 2 sons presently in the school now. Unfortunately for them they will never see a new school nor will their siblings that are in elementary school now. Anyone who thinks the state is going to give PHS money to build a school when more than half the population of the school are not Abbott are kidding themselves. For those that are bright and go the honors route they will be fine. For those in the middle and below it's hit and miss. There are some good teachers. The key word here is SOME. The worst thing that happened to the education system as a whole is tenure. Our kids deserve better. How about a banner at 150 years that says 150 years of academic excellence instead of sports. That will be the day.
—Submitted by a parent

My son is a freshman, and he's a very smart kid. So far, he's being challenged, maybe to his surprise! They do focus on sports, yes, but with the amount of homework these kids get, you can definitely say they focus on academics as well. They are always given time before sports practice to get some homework done. Of course it's not perfect - it's a public school in the state of NJ - the state is a disaster and a disgrace right now. I think that if parents stay involved, their kids will do well. The teachers there really do seem to care and many are young and enthusiastic. Hopefully one day we will get our new school built - these kids certainly deserve it.
—Submitted by a parent

Phillipsburg HS has a good sports program and a few good teachers. Extreme overbuilding in the sending school districts has forced a shift from a small local HS to a large regional HS. The writing was on the wall for a long time and they failed the transition process (and most of our students). A handful of students are successful, but, not in comparison to the surrounding high schools.
—Submitted by a parent

I have been disappointed in this high school for a few years now. I have two sons who have gone through and was less than impressed. They care too much about money and sports, and not nearly enough on academics. The school is too crowded and loaded with beuracratic red tape. Not enough teachers or administrators care.
—Submitted by john, a parent

PHS has all the ingredients to make an entirly successful school with the exception of a school. We have very good teachers that strive to make us the best we can be. There are some extremely talented individuals both acedemically and athletically. Year in and year out PHS sends students to Ivy League schools and is competitive it sports, the big ones being wrestling and football with some of the other less known well acheiving athletic programs including Cross Country and Cheerleading. However PHS is like a wave in that as high as it goes it sometimes will plunge to that opposite end with a lack of security, small high school (and trailers that make it virtully imposible to make class on time), and previlent drug scene. Music and art programs are also slightly lacking.
—Submitted by a student

I am a student here, at PHS, a sophmore. While I do think it is a great school, i think it definitely needs improvement. No matter what the season is, we must still walk through the trailer yard to get to our classes. We have way too many students shoved in this high school. It would be nice to move into this new highschool, that we already spent millions of dollars on building it. Aside from that, our security rate is not so good, either. We also do not have many courses involving law. I would like to become an attorney, but there are no courses for that.
—Submitted by a student

I would like to start by saying that phs does offer a variety of classes/activities including debate and newspaper club. I would also like to add that there is no gang activity present at the high school. Many students do graduate and go onto ivy league schools and the sports programs are excellent. This suburban school district has excellent teachers and high standards.
—Submitted by a teacher

Phillipsburg has the environment typical of a large urban HS combined with a large suburban sending district population. Consequently, there are large strata of different students. The upper academic end of the spectrum is excellent. There are more Honors and AP classes than most NJ high schools. Students in my son's class (2005) at this level went on to MIT, Dartmouth, Cornell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Rutgers and other very good colleges, most with substantial scholarships. The sports teams are very high caliber, esp, football and wrestling. The other end of the spectrum has students heavily involved in drug and gang activity. The students in the middle have a choice to make. Get involved in sports and academics and you will be fine. Get involved in the lower end and it will drag you right in to the sewer.
—Submitted by a parent

PHS is growing and improving, however there are not enough choices beyond the basics in your courses. A school of this size should offer journalism, creative writing, poetry classes, debate, jr. rotc and so on.
—Submitted by a former student