Lenape Valley students will be put to the test

Stanhope n Lenape Valley Regional High School students with an eye toward college will be put to the test early and often this year. School administrators will be hosting the Princeton Review, which will provide seminars to help upper-level students prepare for the SAT and BSAT college entrance examinations. "We're trying to assist the kids to become more test-aware," said Lenape Valley principal Doug deMarraist. "Kids have to be comfortable the first time they sit through one of those tests." DeMarraist also said the school would offer several new courses including forensic sciences and e-commerce. Lenape Valley includes students from the sending districts of Byram, Stanhope and Netcong. The principal said accommodating the educational needs of students from different secondary school districts presents challenges. "It's always a juggling act when we try to revise the curriculum," said deMarraist. "It's important that we serve all three sending districts so that we're not overlooking anyone with the opportunity for a quality education." DeMarraist said the school has reached its capacity to hold students, but demographic figures predicted for the next couple of years should not present any unforeseen problems. In the meantime, he said some rooms were subdivided to enable more course offerings. Earlier this year, voters from Byram and Stanhope rejected a plan to revamp a formula for funding Lenape Valley, which they share with neighboring Netcong from Morris County. The plan would have modified the manner in which property taxes are apportioned to a formula based solely upon the number of pupils enrolled from each municipality. The current formula, in place for the past 10 years, computes each municipality's equalized valuation with its elementary and regional school enrollments.