Photo courtesy of Reena Rose Sibayan / The Jersey Journal.
From Monday through Friday, Jenalise Rivera, 15, walks the crowded halls of William L. Dickinson High School feeling claustrophobic as she attempts to make it to class. With little to no room to walk, being shoulder-to-shoulder with her peers, Rivera has no choice but to wait for the traffic to subside.
At around 8:45 a.m., Rivera finally makes it to U.S. History 1, 15 minutes after the first-period bell rang throughout the school. Her teacher shoots her a quick, yet frustrated glare as Rivera takes her seat in the back, attempting not to make a sound.
With just over 2,000 students, Dickinson stands at No. 1 for the most populated high school in Jersey City. Despite the large student body population, the school struggles to provide sufficient material for classroom learning, making it difficult for some students to keep up with schoolwork.
Data from the Public School Review, William L. Dickinson Rankings, shows that the school is ranked in the bottom 50% in the school district for the 2024-2025 school year.
According to research from the U.S News & World Report, Dickinson High School Test Scores displays a 15.2 out of 100 for the school’s College Readiness Index. As a result, Dickinson has been nationally ranked 17,560th out of the 17,655 high schools in terms of graduation rate.
“There aren’t a lot of newly updated textbooks, so I feel like we have to get most of our information off of Google and off of what teachers tell us,” Rivera said. “Honestly, it makes the classes a lot more difficult than they should be if we would just be given textbooks and materials that were not outdated.”
For students like Rivera, issues of overcrowding and inefficient resources have become a daily part of their routine. Schools that were created to cater to the needs of each student, have now been dealing with the consequences of housing more than they can manage.
Just this past May, the Jersey City Board of Education, released their proposed budget for what public schools would be receiving for the upcoming school year, which amounted to over $1 billion. However, only 18.45% of this budget goes towards teacher salaries and classroom supplies, with the remainder being distributed across other academic areas. While this number may appear as a large quantity, it still falls short of addressing the needs of overcrowded schools like Dickinson.
Technology is one of the many resources that schools rely on, especially post the Covid-19 Pandemic. Research from the American Educational Research Association, Disparities in Educational Access in the Time of COVID, shows that following the pandemic, schools have seen a profound change in the availability of technology.
Despite its high demand, only 0.55%, of Jersey City’s school district budget goes towards technological related expenses.
“We do 95% of our school work online. We don’t do a lot of our work on pencil and paper,” Rivera said. “But if we have Wi-Fi issues or chromebook issues, we can’t study, we can’t finish our work before the due date.”
These funding problems extend far beyond the school district, they stem from the state itself.
New Jersey’s “funding formula,” which was created to provide funding to districts that are in dire need, has not been as effective as was intended. Schools that are considered to be “high-poverty” are receiving less aid, preventing them from addressing the needs of each student.
However, not everyone believes that these public schools are underfunded or lacking in resources.
Chris Gadsden, the principal of Lincoln High School, believes the district has been doing its part in order to secure the success of each student.
“The district has invested millions of dollars in a new curriculum to help students perform better, to provide them with the curriculum that has the resources to help them improve in Math and ELA,” Gadsden said.
However, for students at Dickinson and Snyder, these investments might not be enough to overcome the challenges that they face on a daily basis.
Ali Ishag, a 2023 graduate of Innovation High School, a smaller Jersey City school located in the same building as Snyder, described the vast contrasts between his high school experience and that of students at other public schools in the area.
“There were clear differences at Innovation compared to the rest of the Jersey City high schools,” Ishag said. “But it kind of felt like Jersey City was just so overpopulated. Every high school had a different thing going on. Innovation, Liberty and Infinity were kind of smaller, intimate schools. And then you had Lincoln, Snyder, Ferris and Dickinson: extremely rowdy. You kinda just heard stories, you know, from their schools. I couldn’t even imagine going to a school like Dickinson that has like 3,000 students.”
“That’s just a big environment, not enough teachers. I feel like they didn’t have enough resources and facilities,” Ishag continued. “And I feel like it’s really easy to get lost in the crowd.”
For Ishag, being in a smaller environment felt more comfortable and supportive, but he recognizes that students in other schools may not feel that same sense of security.
Not all schools in Jersey City are facing such difficult problems, however.
Nia Gadsden, a sophomore at McNair Academic High School, shares similar sentiments with Ishag. Going to a school that is rated No. 1 in the city and No. 6 in the state has allowed Gadsden to enjoy certain luxuries that other Jersey City students do not experience.
“I feel like McNair has a lot to offer and not just because of the classes. A majority of the courses are honors and since it is a magnet school, the scores are high,” Nia said. “So yes, it is a lot that we have to do in order to keep up with our work, but the school provides us with a lot of resources to help us achieve our goals.”
McNair’s academia is not the sole reason for its success, as the smaller classroom sizes have given students a more personalized learning. Research from U.S News & World Report, shows that McNair’s student-to-teacher ratio is 13-1, which provides students with the ability to connect with their teachers without feeling overwhelmed.
Similar to McNair, Snyder, Dickinson, and Lincoln all claim low student-to-teacher ratios with Snyder at 14-1 and Dickinson and Lincoln at 16-1. Given that these numbers are close to McNair’s, why have there been claims of overcrowding?
The disparities between schools like Innovation and McNair compared to Snyder and Dickinson leaves students with feelings of neglect and concern.
Students are looking towards educators, policymakers and the community to create an environment that will allow them to succeed.
“I really hope the future of education in Jersey City will improve because as of right now, nothing has changed,” Rivera said. “The Board of Education says that things are getting better in these public schools, but you can still see these day-to-day problems that are affecting so many people’s ability to learn. As of right now, I do not think things will change before I graduate, but I really hope that they will after I do.”
