On Sunday, Nov. 9, Shaker High School will celebrate a rather important anniversary. Fifty years ago on that day, the new high school was dedicated.
As family and friends plan to gather to celebrate 50 years of education, memories and high school moments, those who were there at the beginning are recounting what Shaker High School was like all those years ago.
Director of Library Audio Visual and Gifted Services Joyce Horsman was one of the first employees of Shaker High School when it first opened its doors in September 1958. According to Horsman, then, as well as now, the dream for Shaker High School was that it be both innovative and creative.
And that’s exactly what we were, she said.
Horsman said the school started out as a Junior-Senior High School, supporting grades seven through 12, and there were about 1,000 students at the time, who came from secondary schools across the Capital District, including Milne School in Albany, as well as other schools in Albany, Watervliet and Troy.
Horseman recounted memories of then-Supervising Principal Edgar Pitkin.
She told Spotlight Newspapers, `He set very high standards for students.`
Horsman said, aside from his high standards for students’ academic excellence, Pitkin would walk the halls, making sure every boy had a belt on.
If they did not, they were either sent home, or were given a makeshift belt, which was a piece of string. He kept a ball of string in his office for instances like this.
Girls were not permitted to wear low-cut tops, and though he did not walk around with a ruler, skirts needed to be a certain length.
Horsman said Pitkin did not do this to be a bully. He monitored students’ appearance because he wanted them to be representative of the good moral beings the school was helping them become. Shaker High School was his pride and joy.
`He was here night and day, seven days a week,` Horsman said. Pitkin even wrote the school’s alma mater.
In 1963, the school was allowed to open to all four years of high school, as per state standards. Two decades later, in 1988, the school added a special education program. As teachers began to fine-tune the program, today, 74 percent of the special education population at Shaker High School has earned Regents diplomas and 83 percent of the special education population has earned admission to a college or university.
In 1990, Shaker High School became one of the first in the state to become an all-Regents high school, meaning 90 percent of the school’s graduates heave earned Regents diplomas.
Principal Richard Murphy said he has been working with staff and Shaker High School alum to find an appropriate and exciting way to celebrate Shaker High School’s 50th anniversary.
`What we’ve been focusing on, really at the high school, is the rededication of the school,` he said.
According to Murphy, Shaker High School was originally dedicated on Nov. 9, which is why the committee working on the celebration chose to have it rededicated this year on the same day.
Horsman said the committee also chose to have punch and cookies served at the rededication, because they were the refreshments being served at the original dedication.
Students from every class in the high school were asked to complete a project reflecting the 50 years of Shaker High School. These projects will be on display at the high school on Sunday, Nov. 9.
As part of the rededication ceremony, guests will hear from Assistant Commissioner of Education Edward Placke; former principals Arthur Walker and James Jackson; retired Assistant Superintendent Peter McManus; New York State Assemblyman Robert Reilly, D-Newtonville; Superintendent of Schools Randy Ehrenberg; Principal Richard Murphy; Board of Education President Joan Hart; and many more.
To attend Shaker High School’s rededication ceremony, contact Karen Klepper at 785-5511. “