Landis Intermediate School

Landis Intermediate School is a public middle school that serves grades 7-8 in Vineland, in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States, as part of the Vineland Public Schools. It opened as the Vineland High School in 1928 and was designed by James Oscar Betelle. As the population of Vineland grew and the Vineland High School got overcrowded, it became necessary to construct a new high school. With the construction of the Vineland Senior High School South in 1963 (and the further construction of the Vineland Senior High School North in 1976) the Vineland High School got degraded to the Landis Intermediate School.As of the 2008-09 school year, the school had an enrollment of 503 students and 48.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 10.3.The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 3, 1995 (as building #95000181).AdministrationMembers of the school's administration are: Melanie Beck, PrincipalControversy surrounding Principal KohautIn March, 2009 Assistant Principal Richard Panas charged that Principal Donald Kohaut had been covering up the number of violent incidents at the school, claiming that at least 80 incidents of violence had not been reported to the state as required by state law. The New Jersey State Department of Education launched a probe into the conditions at the school due to Panas' claims. The probe discovered that while school officials did not properly report the incidents, the failure to do so was due to a lack of communication and was not deliberate. In May, 2009 Kohaut came under fire for physically removing two pages containing the poem Diary Of An Abusive Stepfather from the book Paint Me Like I Am after a student's parent complained. Kohaut answered criticism about his vandalizing the book instead of just removing it by saying that he wanted students to still be able to read the other poems included in the book.