Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts is a specialty

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nicke ...

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

that serves students in sixth through

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

s in the city of

East Orange East Orange is a city in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was the state's 20th most-populous municipality in 2010, after having been the state's 14th most-po ...

in Essex County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States, as part of the

East Orange School District East Orange School District is a comprehensive community public school district serving students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade from the city of East Orange, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The district is one of 31 form ...

, offering separate

and

curricula. The school is named for actress

Cicely Tyson Cicely Louise Tyson (December 19, 1924January 28, 2021) was an American actress. In a career which spanned more than seven decades in film, television and theatre, she became known for her portrayal of strong African-American women. Tyson recei ...

. Students are accepted based on all their talents. The school teaches core disciplines while focusing on the creative potential of the students. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 732 students and 64.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.4:1. There were 451 students (61.6% of enrollment) eligible for

free lunch A free lunch is the providing of a meal at no cost, usually as a sales enticement to attract customers and increase revenues from other business. It was once a common tradition in saloons and taverns in many places in the United States, with th ...

and 48 (6.6% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Cicely L. Tyson Community Middle/High School
National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 1, 2022. The school district, in partnership with the City of East Orange applied for and received a Demonstration Project Grant to build a new school. Between 2006 and 2009, Tyson Principal Mrs. Laura Trimmings, Washington Academy of Music Principal Mrs. Brenda Veale, the Mayor Robert Bowser and District Arts Coordinator Mrs. Iqua Colson worked with Ms Cicely Tyson on the design and curriculum for the project. In September 2009, Tyson's historic Elmwood Avenue building (formerly known as Vernon L. Davey Junior High) closed, and a new $180 million, facility on Walnut Street (on the site of the former East Orange High School) took its place. The new facility, the Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts, is among the largest and most technologically advanced schools ever built in the state of New Jersey, with extensive performing arts facilities which meet or exceed the highest professional standards. The school sits on a campus which consists of an elementary school and middle/high school. The school's 800-seat theater has been built to Broadway standards in terms of sound, lighting and acoustics. In addition to the school's theaters, students have access to a TV studio, art studios, music rooms, individual performance practice rooms, animation rooms and shops to build and design stage sets. The classrooms all feature smartboards, advanced integrated audio-visual systems, and multiple computer workstations.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 247th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in '' New Jersey Monthly'' magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 233rd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 221st in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 208 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 255th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. 2009 reports published in ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to '' The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of ...

'' showed Tyson to be the most improved school in an

Abbott District ''Abbott'' districts are school districts in New Jersey that are provided remedies to ensure that their students receive public education in accordance with the state constitution. They were created in 1985 as a result of the first ruling of ''Abb ...

, and among the most improved schools in the state of New Jersey, that year.

Administration

The school's Principal is John English. His core administration team includes two assistant principals. There are two Assistant Principals: Ameenah Poole and Wanda Davis. The District Supervisor of Visual and Performing Arts is Iqua Colson.

Notable alumni

* Luxx Noir London (born 1999), drag performer, singer and songwriter most known for competing on the fifteenth season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

.''Cutler, Jacqueline
"N.J.’s Luxx Noir London talks ''RuPaul’s Drag Race,'' journey to the runway"
'' Asbury Park Press'', NJ Advance Media for

NJ.com NJ.com is a digital news content provider and website in New Jersey owned by Advance Publications. According to a report in ''The New York Times'' in 2012, it was the largest provider of digital news in the state at the time. In 2018, comScore r ...

, February 9, 2023. Accessed April 18, 2023. "East Orange's Luxx Noir London in a number where she played a woman whose husband had thrown her in the river.... Luxx, 23, graduated from East Orange’s Cicely L. Tyson Middle/High School and New Jersey City University with a degree in musical theater."

References

External links

Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine ArtsEast Orange School District
*
School Data for the East Orange School District
National Center for Education Statistics {{DEFAULTSORT:Cicely Tyson School Of Performing And Fine Arts East Orange, New Jersey Magnet schools in New Jersey Public high schools in Essex County, New Jersey Public middle schools in New Jersey