WILLIAM L DICKINSON

William L. Dickinson High School overlooks New York Harbor from the southern tip of the Hudson River Palisades. Our campus is immediately adjacent to Jersey City's revitalized world financial center. Standing as an educational beacon since 1906, Jersey City’s first high school has continued to embrace the rich ethnic and cultural diversity that surrounds it. Dickinson's student population is 44% Hispanic, 16% African-American, 10% White, 25% Asian and 5% other. We speak thirty-seven languages and we have come from over fifty countries.
The Dickinson staff has always recognized the potential of its geographic and demographic bounty. It continues to refine forward-looking curricula to capitalize on the treasure coast and maximize the talents of Jersey City students. Magnet programs attract students from all over our city with specialty studies focusing on a variety of academic and vocational themes.

Dickinson Rams work directly with national financial companies in the Marketing Tech Prep and Business Tech Prep Magnets. Our Academy of Travel and Tourism stands ready for international opportunities in the growing airline, hotel and restaurant jewels of the tri-state area. Our Science Research Magnet continues to receive national accolades for prize winning projects, and student successes are plentiful in the Commercial Art Technology Magnet currently housed on the campus of NJCU, The Applied Technology Magnet, Culinary Arts Magnet and the Academy of Information/Technology Magnet. The United States Air Force JROTC program promotes the study of aerospace technology and fosters leadership development in every cadet and the Academy of Travel and Tourism Magnet.

The Dickinson family encourages all its members to reach beyond high school and into post secondary and vocational training opportunities. Through an ever-growing spectrum of student clubs, Dickinson Rams share interests, traditions, customs and languages. The family encourages one another to develop career goals. Clubs foster student awareness of the needs of the community and they help students discover the wealth their own talents can bring to our cosmopolitan city.

Dickinson has structured a caring and effective support system for students in need. We coordinate an enthusiastic guidance department, full and part-time child study teams, bilingual education specialists, a pupil assistance committee, a substance abuse counselor, crisis intervention teachers and social service brokers right on our hilltop campus. We enjoy the services of a full time job placement coordinator and a variety of cooperative education employment opportunities and other school to work initiatives.

Special attention remains focused on twenty-first century educational endeavors. These include comprehensive preparation for the state mandated High School Proficiency Assessment for all general, bilingual and special education students. We offer a broad extended day course selection and fully utilize our interactive television instructional setting. Technology coordinators assure the updating of software and the effective integration of technology with computers in classrooms, faculty rooms and in the media center.

We are currently reforming our Freshman Academy and Academic Programs to comply with the District’s Small Learning Communities (SLC’s) model. In 2008, Dickinson High School will be known as The Academy of the Sciences. We are excited by this reform and the benefits it will have as we service the young students of Jersey City. The SLC’s are implemented in instructional formats that provide a customized curriculum and the services of exclusively designated school support personnel. The current Freshman Academy and the Academic Programs will fit neatly into this model.

Dickinson remains proud of its athletic program and can boast of an expanded offering of teams that includes varsity level football, baseball, softball, soccer, tennis, and bowling. We boast of more than our share of championship medals, but we are most proud of the good sportsmanship displayed by so many of our male and female student athletes as they compete throughout the state.

William. L. Dickinson High School is prepared to stand for generations to come. It proudly serves Jersey City's youth and remains determined to celebrate the rich multicultural tapestry that is the United States of America and from which we all have gained so much.

In April of 2005, Dickinson was visited four days by Middle States Validation Team and received a sterling review and approval by the Commission on Secondary School of the Middle States Association. Dickinson High School was granted full accreditation from November 1, 2005 through November 1, 2012.

Contact Person: Ms. Geraldine Domino, Vice Principal 201-714-4417
E-mail address: GDomino@JCBOE.org


Arlene Farrell
201-714-4400