The End of Frenchtown High

In 1956 with Frenchtown High School enrollment overflowing, the borough school board published a leaflet making the case for a “West Hunterdon Regional High School.”

Frenchtown High School was owned by Frenchtown, with Milford, Alexandria, Holland and Kingwood paying tuition. A regional school would be co-owned by all five municipalities.

By standards of the day, the existing Frenchtown school building could accommodate 500 students, but it had 359 high school students and 195 Frenchtown elementary students. Kids in the younger grades had been displaced and were being taught in Borough Hall and the churches.

Frenchtown only had enough borrowing power to add four classrooms, but the high school would still be lacking school-owned athletic fields, a normal gym, locker rooms, a science lab, a music room, and more.

Although other municipalities would be involved, there were three options:

Option 1: Frenchtown could sell the school building to a new regional school board, build a new K-8 school for Frenchtown Borough kids, then as part of the new regional high school district pay its share to buy and improve the old Frenchtown High School. The net cost to Frenchtown would be $219,000.

Option 2: Frenchtown could join a regional district that would build a new regional high school that would cost $1.5 million. Frenchtown's share would be $180,000 – that's $39,000 less than Option 1.

Option 3: Limit enrollment in Frenchtown High School to borough students. The predicted per-pupil cost would rise from $295 to $550 – plus the facility would still be inadequate, and the state probably wouldn't approve such an itty-bitty high school anyway.

Well, as we all know, Frenchtown and its four favorite municipalities chose Option 2.

FHS' last graduation was in 1959. The yearbook cited Ilse Schmidt-Nickels and Bob Grossman as most likely to succeed, Betty Jane McCrea and Raymond McCrann as prettiest and handsomest, Zanette Chiarotto and Ron Trauger as best artists, and Carmella Dilello and George Kinney as best athletes.

The high school's successor, Delaware Valley Regional High School opened that September, almost 6 miles northeast of town.

Del Val inherited Bertram Light as superintendent for the first year, the FHS Terrier as its spirit animal, and most of the teachers, including Margaret H. Carpenter, math; Luther Hammond, English and business-ed; Hazel Hann, business-ed; Arthur Hawk, math and football; Lee Hill, phys-ed, baseball and basketball; Edna Holcombe, home-ec; Robin Johnston, guidance and science; Clifford Lessig, wood shop; Vera Miller, Latin and English; Elpedio “Pete” Petinelli, instrumental music; Ronald R. Rogers, science; Joseph Salema, history and football; Charles Strauss, art; Paul H. Snyder, business-ed; Helen Townsend, English; and W. Tap Webb, science and football.

The borough's K-8 students expanded into the vacated space – each grade having its own classroom instead of doubling up.

And ever since, the only Frenchtown High School has been in memory (and in Frenchtown, Montana. Go Broncs!).

From "Rick's Frenchtown Encyclopedia"