Letter from the Principal

The Patchogue-Medford High School 2023-2024 Program of Studies Handbook has a wealth of information. Please take the time to review it carefully and thoroughly. Each year we add more course selections that we feel students will find interesting, challenging, exciting, and engaging. Our goal is to have a well-rounded academic and elective program of studies so that all students can find their passion and be the best version of themselves prior to graduation and before moving on to post-secondary education, the military, trade schools, or the work force.

Your child’s counselor is one of the single most important people at the high school. They will guide your child from dealing with the challenges of their freshman year up to their junior and senior year in assisting them with making that all important and life-changing career choice of study and what college or university should they choose and whether they should stay local, study further away, or even abroad. There are so many options and possible career paths. Let us help. We are here to assist and also take a special interest and pride in your child’s future.

At the same time, the high school years should be a time where your child challenges themselves academically. If they are curious and show a high level of interest in a particular subject area they should consider taking an Advanced Placement (AP) course which is a college level course taught over the course of a school year as opposed to it being taught in 16 weeks in college. AP classes will allow for your child to experience the expectations of college level coursework. These courses end in a College Board examination and if they score high enough they may even earn course credit at a college or university. These courses do have prerequisites and if they seem too challenging, your child could also consider an honors or regents level course. We now also offer Career and Technical Education Programs of Study in Law Enforcement, Computer Repair, Medical Assisting, Construction Trades, Early Childhood Development and, for the 2022-2023 school year, Cosmetology*.  These are two-and-a-half period (over two-year) programs that will help your child get a “jumpstart” on their careers while at high school. *Cosmetology will be a three-period (over two year) program. The goal is for your child to keep “upping their game” each year to challenge themselves and show growth as they make their way through each grade level and course.

As you can imagine, with 2500 students with approximately 19-20,000 course requests combined, we dedicate a lot of resources that include the assistance of many individuals in offering these courses of study. This process starts with the planning of the Program of Studies for the following year in December and concludes with a final master schedule in June so that when your child returns to school in September our teachers are ready and waiting. This immense undertaking would not be possible without the input and expertise from our Teachers, Directors, Principals, Assistant Principals, Counselors, District Office Administration, and most importantly your children. It is through their course requests and interests that we develop our classes and the periods to deliver instruction in the hope of educating them to the best of our ability and for them to learn to the best of their ability.

We are very proud that over the years that your children, our students, through the education they have received at Patchogue-Medford have propelled them to attend the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the world; enlisting in the military to defend our freedoms in one of the most noblest of ways; enrolled in a trade school to earn specialized training in a career; or have gone directly into the workforce to be the very best they can be as a productive and contributing member of society. All of their success started out very similar; with the opening of the Program of Studies and daring to dare great dreams, challenging themselves, and enrolling in those courses as a means of fulfilling those career goals and life aspirations to be taken to the next level.

Sincerely,

Dr. Randy E. Rusielewicz
Principal