Camden High School

Camden High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students between ninth grade and twelfth grade from the city of Camden, in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school is part of the Camden City School District, which is classified as an Abbott District. The school, established in 1891, celebrated its centennial in 1991. The school was originally known as the Camden Manual Training and High School, admitting its first class of 48 boys in 1891, with girls entering the school three years later. The school had been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools from 1929 until 2011, when the accredited status was removed. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 385 students and 35.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.8:1. There were 248 students (64.4% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 4 (1.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch. 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." 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. 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.