Northampton Area High School

The school is more of a prison than a school. There have been some incidents in the past 6 years, and now the school assumes that each student is like the one that caused the trouble. Too much security to feel like you're in a school. There are "random searches" where security officers will randomly pick students walking into school and make them walk through metal detectors, they'll wand them, and make them remove their backpacks so that they can pass them through the machine with the belt that scans/x-rays to see if there are any threats, just like at the airport. Also, students are not allowed to carry drinks with them because the school fears that they are carrying alcohol. If they carry coffee mugs to school the school directors will be waiting at the front of the school where they confiscate it and throw it out in the large trash bin next to them. There are some good teachers that care, but as you can see, there are some major trust issues between the directors and the students.
--Submitted by a student

The teachers and staff really are concerned about what is going on with the students. The time that is needed is taken with each child.
--Submitted by a parent

I have 3 children, 2 of which have graduated and gone onto higher education. One is on his way to law school. You make the best of what is given to you, work hard and keep yourself involved with after school activities and clubs. Every school district has issues.
--Submitted by a parent

I am currently a senior at Northampton. The school is great, most of the teachers really care about their students and will do anything to help in or out of the classroom. They are also abundent in activities. I'm proud to say I'm in over eight clubs, and hold titles in most of them. I would recommend this school to anyone. The school itself is great, its the school board that needs help. They don't take the time to actually see what the schools problems are. They act like everything is perfect when in reality there are so many things they could do to improve it. They need to get their head out of the clouds and do something before Northampton get a bad reputation.
--Submitted by a student

You make the most out of your high school career, both academically and in extra-curricular activities like sports and clubs. All the teachers I had tried their very best to get students to reach their fullest potential. They were willing to help you with any problems, school-wise or even personal. They truly cared about all their students, even the ones who were difficult to deal with. I was involved in many clubs, including Peer Helper, SADD, Best Buddies, and Scholastic Scrimmage and was also a cheerleader all four years. Northampton prepared me for my future, and if you make the best of it and do the work required, it is a quality place to go to school.

The school still has ceiling tiles missing in the hallways, the halls are still cramped, and half of the rooms are stil leaking. This school really needs to step it up a notch, when im a parent i sure hope my children wont have to go here.
--Submitted by a student

The security at the school appears to be doing a good job with what they are able to do.
--Submitted by a parent

It has been nice in the district. My son gets all the help he needs from the teachers, who do seem to really care. He is happy there and we are too.
--Submitted by a parent

A very cramped school. 1800 students are expected to fit into a school designed for perhaps 1000 students. The French classroom was converted from a closet, and a large study hall had a wall built in the middle in an attempt to make two more classrooms. They are expanding the gym instead of expanding the classrooms. The school mascot, the 'Konkrete Kid' only emphasizes the blatant disregard of academic excellence in favor of having as many sports as humanly possible. Students are shallow and flighty, concerning themselves with cheerleading and sports instead of English and Art. The school newspaper is among the worst I have ever seen, in terms of quality of both content and editing.
--Submitted by a former student

As a graduate and now a parent I see that there is not much improvement in the district in the last 15-20 years. Sad to say but I believe the school board is too caught up in its own politics to take education into consideration.
--Submitted by a former student