High Point Regional High School is a comprehensive four-year

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 ''Öffentlichkei ...

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 ...

located in Wantage Township,

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 (with a

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

postal address), which is the sole high school in its

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

. The district educates students in

ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...

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 from municipalities in Sussex County, specifically the constituent districts of Wantage Township, Sussex Borough, Branchville Borough, Frankford Township, and Lafayette Township, with students from Montague Township attending as part of a

sending/receiving relationship A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts hav ...

. The high school was established in 1963 and is located in Wantage Township. The school is accredited by the

New Jersey Department of Education The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...

. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 812 students and 72.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...

of 11.2:1. There were 90 students (11.1% 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 the ...

and 29 (3.6% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for High Point Regional High School District

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...

. Accessed December 1, 2022. The district is classified by the

as being in

District Factor Group {{refimprove, date=February 2013 Membership in a District Factor Group (DFG) is an indicator of the socioeconomic status of citizens in school districts of New Jersey. DFGs were first developed by the New Jersey Department of Education in 1975 for ...

"DE", the fifth-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common

socioeconomic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...

characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.

History

Prior to the establishment of the regional high school, students from Branchville, Frankford Township and Lafayette Township had attended Newton High School as part of

s, while those from Sussex and Wantage Township had attended Sussex High School. Created in 1963 as a district, the school opened in September 1966. Starting in September 2014, high school students from

Montague Township School District The Montague Township School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Montague Township, in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020–21 s ...

began attending High Point Regional High School, as part of a sending/receiving relationship under which incoming ninth graders began attending the High Point district while existing students attended

Port Jervis High School Port Jervis High School (PJHS or "Port") is a public high school in Deerpark, New York, with a Port Jervis postal address. A part of Port Jervis City School District, it is on U.S. Route 209, sharing a property with Anna S. Kuhl Elementary School ...

Port Jervis, New York Port Jervis is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, United States, north of the Delaware Water Gap. Its population was 8,775 at the 2020 census. The communities of Deerpark, ...

until they graduated. The Montague district began seeking to annul the relationship with High Point Regional and resume sending students to Port Jervis. The Montague district chose to switch back to Port Jervis because Port Jervis offered a lower tuition than High Point; High Point charged $16,368 per student to Montague. All six members of the Montague district voted, in October 2019, to switch back to Port Jervis. The High Point district sought to block this request on the grounds it and its students would be financially impacted. The Montague district stated that the districts signed an agreement in 2018 that would allow Montague to leave at will.Kennedy, Mike
"2 New Jersey districts in legal dispute over sending students to New York high school The Montague district wants to send its high school students to a school in Port Jervis, N.Y., but the High Point district wants them to keep attending its high school."
''

American School & University ''American School & University'' (''AS&U'') is a magazine Produced by Endeavor Business Media that describes operations of educational facilities, including design and construction of new school buildings, maintenance and renovation of existing one ...

'', December 7, 2020. Accessed April 15, 2021. "NJ.com reports that the Montague school board’s lawsuit against the High Point Regional district in Wantage is the latest development in a decades-old debate involving Port Jervis High School, the New York school where the K-8 Montague district enrolled its students until 2014." By December 2020 , the districts were in a legal dispute.Jennings, Rob
"2 N.J. school districts in court fight over sending students to N.Y."
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 ...

, December 6, 2020. Accessed April 15, 2021. "The Montague school board’s lawsuit against the High Point Regional district in Wantage is the latest development in a decades-old debate involving Port Jervis High School, the New York school where the K-8 district enrolled students for 85 years ending in 2014." The High Point agreement is scheduled to end in 2024. The Montague district began seeking to annul the relationship with High Point Regional and resume sending students to Port Jervis. In February 2018 all seven members of the Montague board approved a symbolic resolution to not renew its ties with High Point. Eric Obernauer of the ''

New Jersey Herald The ''New Jersey Herald'' is a newspaper published six days (Sunday-Friday) every week. Its headquarters are in Newton, New Jersey. It is the only daily newspaper published in Sussex County, New Jersey and one of the oldest in the state. It has a ...

'' stated that the Montague-High Point relationship was "frosty" and "icy". The Montague district chose to switch back to Port Jervis because Port Jervis offered a lower tuition than High Point; High Point charged $16,368 per student to Montague. All six members of the Montague district voted, in October 2019, to switch back to Port Jervis. to switch back to Port Jervis. The High Point district sought to block this request on the grounds it and its students would be financially impacted. The Montague district stated that the districts signed an agreement in 2018 that would allow Montague to leave at will. By December 2020 the districts were in a legal dispute. The High Point agreement is scheduled to end in 2024. By 2021 the new Montague board sought to dismiss lawsuits against High Point. Obernauer stated "dissatisfaction with how the Montague district is being run and legal fees spent trying to resume the longstanding relationship with Port Jervis, coupled with a growing acceptance of the High Point relationship, appear to have changed public sentiment."

Awards, recognition and rankings

For the 1997–98 school year, High Point Regional High School received the

National Blue Ribbon Award The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

from the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

, the highest honor that an American school can achieve. The school was the 142nd-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in ''

New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey. The magazine was started in 1976. It is based in Morristown. In addition to articles of general interest, the publication fe ...

'' magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 88th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 125th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 157th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 151st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. The school was recently ranked first of 53 schools in the state in the "DE"

by ''

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 wh ...

'' and second in the DFG by ''

'' magazine. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 124th out of 389 public high schools statewide in its 2012 rankings (an increase of 7 positions from the 2011 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (88.6%) and language arts literacy (95.2%) components of the

High School Proficiency Assessment The High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA, pronounced "hess-pah" (/ˈhɛspə/) or sometimes just "H-S-P-A") was a standardized test that was administered by the New Jersey Department of Education to all New Jersey public high school students in ...

(HSPA). From the New Jersey Department of Education's "Violence, Vandalism, and Substance Abuse in the Schools" report for 2012–2013, Patch released a list of the "9 Most Violent School Districts in New Jersey", with High Point Regional High School ranking number 5, preceded by Camden County Vocational School. These numbers brought much surprise to both students and parents in the district, considering the school's strong efforts to combat bullying with the "Students Against Being Bullied" organization founded by one of High Point's own students.

Curriculum and achievement

The graduating class of 2011 had

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

scores on par with state and national averages, including an average

Critical Reading score of 498 (compared to state and national averages of 495 and 501, respectively), an average Math score of 520 (compared to state and national averages of 514 and 516, respectively), and an average Writing score of 500 (compared to state and national averages of 497 and 492, respectively). In the 2013–14 school year, High Point Regional High School ranked sixth in Sussex County out of nine other public high schools in SAT scores. High Point Regional High School offers classes including music, theater, media, technology, art, graphic design, web design, computer applications, retail marketing, sales, engineering, and architecture.

Athletics

The High Point WildcatsHigh Point Regional High School

New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports. State championsh ...

. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the

Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference The Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) is a sports league that includes 39 public and private high schools from Morris County, Sussex County and Warren County, New Jersey, that operates under the auspices of the New Jersey State Intersch ...

a high school athletic conference comprised of public and private schools in

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

, Sussex and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

counties, which operates under the auspices of the

(NJSIAA), the statewide organization for high school sports. Until the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had participated in the

Sussex County Interscholastic League The Sussex County Interscholastic League (SCIL) was a high school athletic conference located in Sussex County and Morris County, New Jersey. The league was formed in 1976 when a number of new high schools opened up in the previous year. The f ...

, which included public and private high schools located in Sussex County and northern Morris County. With 673 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 486 to 758 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the American White division of the

North Jersey Super Football Conference The North Jersey Super Football Conference is a football-only athletic league of high schools in New Jersey. The 115-team league was formed in 2016. History The NJSFC consists of nearly all of the football playing members of four conferences that w ...

, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group II North for football for 2018–2020. The school participates as the host school / lead agency for joint ice hockey, boys lacrosse and boys / girls swimming teams with Wallkill Valley Regional High School. These co-op programs operate under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year. The wrestling team won the North I Group III state sectional championship in 1986–1997, 2001–2003, 2005–2008, 2010 and 2011, and the North II Group II title in 2012-2014 and 2017–2020. The team won the Group III state title in 2008 and 2011, and the Group II title in 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2020 The wrestling team won the Group III state wrestling championship in 2008 against

Sayreville War Memorial High School Sayreville War Memorial High School (SWMHS) is a four-year state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school located in the Parlin, New Jersey, Parlin section of Sayreville, New Jersey, Sayreville, in Middlesex County, N ...

, marking the school's second team state championship overall in all sports and its first ever in wrestling. They had won the SCIL League numerous times, including the last year of its existence in 2009. In 2009, the wrestling team was ruled ineligible to participate in the NJSIAA state tournament, as 65% of its matches had been against teams from New Jersey schools, less than the required 70% threshold. High Point captured its first back-to-back Group II championship wins in 2013 and 2014. High Point found themselves down 21-6 after seven bouts in 2013 against

Long Branch High School Long Branch High School is a comprehensive high school, comprehensive, four-year community state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school that serves students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades in the city o ...

and won the title with a four-bout pinning spree before holding on to win by a 33-30 margin. The 2014 team defeated

Hanover Park High School Hanover Park High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from East Hanover Township and Florham Park, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as one of the tw ...

with four consecutive pins to win the Group II title, after trailing 33–10 with four bouts left in the match. The field hockey team won the North I Group III state sectional title in 1988, 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2002; the team won the Group III state championship in 1988, defeating

Red Bank Regional High School Red Bank Regional High School (often abbreviated RBR) is a comprehensive regional four-year public high school and school district that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from the boroughs of Little Silver, Red Bank and Shrewsbur ...

in the championship game. The team won the North I Group III sectional title in 2002 with a 4–0 shutout against

West Morris Central High School West Morris Central High School (WMCHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey, United States. It is one of two high schools in ...

in the tournament final. The softball team won the Group III state championship in 2012 (defeating runner-up

Kingsway Regional High School Kingsway Regional High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grade from five communities in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Kingsway Regional Sc ...

in the finals) and in Group II in 2014 (vs. Robbinsville High School) In 2012, the softball team defeated Kingsway Regional High School to win the Group III state championship by a score of 1–0 in 11 innings. The 2014 team finished with a record of 28-2 after winning the Group II title with a 2–1 win against Robbinsville in the championship game.

Arts

High Point offers a variety of different classes that are involved in the arts, including but not limited to: Choral, Concert Choir, Concert Band, Piano Lab, and Theatre. Each class offers different levels, depending on how many years the student has been enrolled in that particular class. These classes present their findings of the course through concerts, which are open to the public twice a year, once in the Winter and again in the Spring. This department also offers extra curricular activities such as: Chambers Choir, Fall Dramas, Spring Musicals, and Marching Band. The Marching Band as well as the Chambers Choir has been known to compete in several different competitions.

Student body

In February 2020, there were 891 students, with 84 being from Montague Township. The report "Montague Township School District High School Route Evaluation" stated that 85 Montague Township students went to High Point Regional.
Archive
- Formerly on the

site.

Transportation

Due to safety concerns with the initial bus route from Montague to High Point High, a new bus route was proposed. Montague Township uses two school buses to send students from that township to High Point Regional.

Academic achievement

In the 2011–2012 school year its graduation rate was 95%.

Notable alumni

* Nick Boyle (born 1993, class of 2011), tight end for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

* Nicholas D'Agostino (born 1989), motivational speaker * Members of the band

Folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

Parker Space Parker Space (born December 4, 1968) is an American Republican Party politician, and owner of Space Farms Zoo and Museum. Space has served in the New Jersey General Assembly since March 2013, where he represents the 24th Legislative Distric ...

(born 1968, class of 1987), politician and owner of

Space Farms Zoo and Museum Space Farms Zoo and Museum is a roadside zoo and historical museum located at 218 Route 519, in the Beemerville section of Wantage Township in Sussex County, New Jersey, in the United States. It is currently owned by New Jersey Assemblyman ...

, who has served in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...

since March 2013, where he represents the 24th Legislative District. *

David Zabriskie David Zabriskie (born January 12, 1979) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from the United States, who competed as a professional between 1999 and 2013. His main strength is individual time trials and his career highlights include stage ...

(born 1986), retired amateur wrestler and current wrestling coach.

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are: *Scott D. Ripley, Superintendent *James Minkewicz, Business Administrator / Board Secretary *Jon Tallamy, Principal

Board of education

The district's

board of education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

, comprised of nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district. Seats on the board are allocated based on the population of the constituent municipalities, with four seats assigned to Wantage Township, two to Frankford Township, and one each to Branchville, Lafayette Township and Sussex.High Point Regional Board of Education Bylaw 0141 - Board Member Number and Term
High Point Regional High School. Accessed March 31, 2020. "The Board of Education shall consist of nine members, proportioned as follows: Wantage - four; Frankford - two; Sussex - one; Lafayette - one; Branchville - one. The term of a Board member shall be three years."

References

External links

High Point Regional High School
*
High Point Regional School District

{{Authority control 1966 establishments in New Jersey Educational institutions established in 1966 New Jersey District Factor Group DE Public high schools in Sussex County, New Jersey School districts in Sussex County, New Jersey Branchville, New Jersey Frankford Township, New Jersey Lafayette Township, New Jersey Montague Township, New Jersey Sussex, New Jersey Wantage Township, New Jersey