Ridgefield Memorial High School is a comprehensive community 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 Ridgefield, in

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.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, serving 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 as the lone secondary school of the Ridgefield School District. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 489 students and 45.1 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 10.9:1. There were 89 students (18.2% 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 16 (3.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Ridgefield Memorial High School

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.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 176th-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 96th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 112th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 135th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 97th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 127th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 130 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (86.3%) and language arts literacy (93.8%) 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).

Extracurricular activities

The school's publications are ''The Crown'' monthly newspaper, the ''Serendipity'' literary and arts magazine and ''Epilogue'' yearbook. The Marching Royals Marching Band, under the direction of K-12 Music Supervisor Matt Tracey and high school band director is the largest Group I marching band in the state of New Jersey. The band participates annually in the NCAA Men's college basketball tournament "Coaches vs. Cancer" at Madison Square Garden and at the NCAA Men's college basketball tournament "Legends Classic" at the IZOD center in the Meadowlands sports complex. The band has performed for Michael Jordan's basketball classic (also held at Madison Square Garden). In 2009, the Marching Royals were the Grand National Marching champion at the Orlando All-star music festival. The Ridgefield Choirs are led by Tom Voorhis. The

Academic Decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective multiple choice tests, tw ...

team has consistently gone to the state competition for the past 14 years, and has received awards and medals, including in the 2002–03 season, which saw them represent New Jersey in the National Finals in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

Athletics

The Ridgefield Memorial High School RoyalsRidgefield Memorial 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. participate in the

North Jersey Interscholastic Conference The North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, or NJIC, is a high school athletic conference located in New Jersey. It is one of the so-called "super conferences" created by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) as a pa ...

, which is comprised of small-enrollment schools in Bergen,

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

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 ...

and

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,7 ...

counties, and was created following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the

(NJSIAA). Prior to the realignment that took effect in 2010, Ridgefield was a member of the

Bergen County Scholastic League The Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL) was a New Jersey high school sports association under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). The conference consisted of thirty public and parochials high ...

(BCSL). With 387 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range. The school has 22 varsity sports programs. Interscholastic sports offered at the school include: *Fall: Cross Country (Boys/Girls), Cheerleading, Soccer(Boys/Girls), Tennis(Girls), Volleyball *Winter: Basketball (Boys/Girls), Indoor Track (Boys/Girls), Competition Cheer Leading *Spring: Baseball, Softball, Outdoor Track (Boys/Girls), Tennis (Boys), Golf (Boys/Girls) The football, soccer and track events are all held at Willis Field. The Royals golf team won five consecutive league titles from 2006-2010. The Royals boys' cross country team also won a league title during the 2009 fall season. The baseball team won the North II Group I state sectional championships in 2012 with a 6-4 win against

Dunellen High School Dunellen High School (DHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Dunellen in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Dunell ...

. The team won the North I, Group I title in 2014 with a 2-1 win against Cedar Grove High School in the tournament final. For the 2015 season, the school only fielded a JV football team, after only 13 players participated in a fall football camp. The school will forfeit all of its varsity games, repeating what was done in the 2011 season after the team had lost its first three games. The future of the varsity football program is unclear, but the NJSIAA offers schools the option of creating a co-op program with another school.

Administration

The school's principal is Janet Seabold. Her administration team includes the vice principal and assistant principal.

Notable alumni

Joseph Lagana Joseph A. Lagana (born December 15, 1978) is an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party politician who has represented the New Jersey's 38th legislative district, 38th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate since 2018. ...

(born 1978), politician who has represented the 38th Legislative District in the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

since 2018. *

Chris Lema Christopher Lema (born August 5, 1996) is an American soccer player who most recently played as a midfielder for USL Championship side San Antonio FC. Career Youth Lema grew up in Ridgefield, New Jersey and played soccer at Ridgefield Memori ...

(born 1995),

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

San Antonio FC San Antonio FC is a professional soccer club based in San Antonio, Texas. It competes in the USL Championship, the second-highest level of the United States soccer league system, as a member of the Western Conference. History San Antonio F ...

. * Anthony R. Suarez (born 1967), Mayor of Ridgefield since 2004. *

Al Vandeweghe Alfred Bernard Vandeweghe (October 25, 1920 – February 2, 2014)

(1920–2014), professional football player for the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

in 1946.Alfred Bernard Vandeweghe obituary
dignitymemorial.com. Accessed March 24, 2014.

References

External links

Ridgefield High School web pagesRidgefield School District
*
School Data for the Ridgefield School District

{{Authority control Ridgefield, New Jersey 1957 establishments in New Jersey Educational institutions established in 1957 Public high schools in Bergen County, New Jersey