Greenwood Lake sizes up its suitors
By Pamela Chergotis GREENWOOD LAKE — A comparison of the three schools competing for Greenwood Lake's high school students shows in detail what each has to offer in academic subjects, athletics, and extracurricular activities.
The full comparison is available in pdf form here: Greenwood Lake Options Summary
Not surprisingly, Chester, one of the smallest high schools in the county with 567 students, offers fewer programs than Warwick, which has four times as many high school students.
Tuxedo is the county's smallest district with 397 high school students. It will be left with a tiny student population if it loses its 240 high school students from Greenwood Lake.
Greenwood Lake has for the past 30 years sent its high school students to Tuxedo but is considering other options now that its five-year contract with Tuxedo is up for renewal.
While Chester has fewer offerings than Warwick, Greenwood Lake may decide that its students will integrate better with Chester's smaller and more intimate school setting. And Chester Superintendent of Schools Sean Michel has said the district will be able to offer many more student programs if Greenwood Lake joins the district.
To bulk up its curriculum, Chester already offers a number of college-level courses in conjunction with SUNY Orange, including English, world history, algebra, trigonometry, Spanish and French. Warwick offers calculus, algebra, trigonometry, business courses, and science research through SUNY Orange, plus advanced courses in academic and narrative writing through Syracuse University for which students pay tuition. Tuxedo offers a forensics course through Syracuse University, with extra tuition required.
Tuxedo, despite its small size, compares favorably with Chester in many areas. Take the English program, for example. In addition to its core courses, Tuxedo offers journalism and communications. Chester offers neither. Tuxedo offers a course in humanities that combines art, history, literature, and music; another course in science fiction, mystery, horror, and fantasy; another in survival ("Students will meet people who because of life circumstances have developed survival skills), and another in advanced writing. Chester's English program includes a course in the graphic novel, which tells stories using sequential art, like a long-form comic book.
Tuxedo's technology program offers courses in audio electronics, transportation systems, aerospace, energy, and graphics communications. The other two schools do not.
Warwick's science program is especially strong. The other two schools do not have Warwick's honors courses in Living Environment, chemistry, or physics. Warwick is also alone if offering oceanography, astronomy, and advanced placement in environmental science and physics.
In the world languages program, all three schools offer French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.
Chester offers family and consumer sciences, where Warwick does not. But Warwick has extensive offerings in agricultural technology that the other two schools don't have, including such specialized areas of study like hydroponics, horse science, floral design, and landscape design, among others.
Chester's business program amounts to one course in career and financial management. Warwick offers 12 business courses, including fashion marketing, travel and hospitality, and business law. Tuxedo has seven offerings in its business program.
Warwick's offerings in fine arts, physical education, and extra curricular activities are far more extensive than the other schools.
Other factors Post-secondary plans. Chester has the highest percentage of students with plans to pursue higher education, according to a 2009-10 state report cited in the comparison, but the lowest percentage with plans to attend a four-year college. Chester also has the highest percentage — 5 percent — with plans to join the military after graduation, compared to Warwick's 1 percent and Tuxedo's 2 percent.
Students with disabilities. Chester has the highest graduation rate — 75 percent — of students with disabilities, according to 2009-10 state data. In Warwick the graduation rate for these students is 65 percent, and in Tuxedo 67 percent.
Discipline. All three schools rank about the same in the discipline report for 2008-09, although Chester has a higher rate of minor altercations — 5 percent to Tuxedo's 1 percent and Warwick's 0.4 percent.
Graduation rates. In the graduation report for 2009-10, 86 percent of Chester students graduated with a Regents diploma, compared to Tuxedo's 89 percent, and Warwick's 96 percent.
Greenwood Lake scheduled its final public session on its high school options for April 25. A decision is expected by the end of the school year.