Watchung Hills High School Earns State Lighthouse Award

WARREN, NJ — Watchung Hills Regional High School is one of seven schools in the state to be honored by the Department of Education with the Lighthouse Award.

The award recognizes districts and charters that have demonstrated measurable progress toward equitable outcomes in a specific area. The areas are broken down into four categories:

• Increasing equity in postsecondary enrollment
• Increasing diversity in the teacher workforce
• Increasing equity in course enrollment
• Increasing equity in disciplinary outcomes

Watchung Hills Regional High School in Warren was honored for increasing diversity in the teacher workforce. This is the third round of awards given by the Department of Education and each award includes a description of the ways they progressed towards equitable outcomes.

WHRHS has a total of 1,936 students in grades PreK-8 with a 12:1 student teacher ratio. In the summary of WHRHS' efforts to increase diversity, the state wrote that the school has been proactive in both the recruitment of diverse educators and advocating for diversity in teacher preparation programs.

"As an active member of Central Jersey Program for the Recruitment of Diverse Educators (CJPride), a professional shared services group with a mission of recruiting diverse educators, WHRHS has participated in the development and delivery of the annual CJPride Job Fair, presented as part of CJPride at the New Jersey Convening on Diversifying the Educator Workforce, and developed and awarded CJPride scholarships to students from under-represented groups who are entering New Jersey teacher preparation programs," the report reads.

The full summary can be found online.

— With reporting by Sam Mercado

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