Ridgefield Park
Ridgefield Park is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the village's population was 12,729,Bergen County
Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the
Ridgefield Park Public Schools
The Ridgefield Park Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from the Village of Ridgefield Park, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.
As of the 20 ...
.
As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,199 students and 89.6 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 ...
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 ...
Little Ferry Public Schools
The Little Ferry Public Schools is a community public school district that serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade from Little Ferry in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, compr ...
that has been in place since 1953. The school has been accredited by the
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional educational accreditation, accreditation of public and priva ...
Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1930.
History
In 1916, Ridgefield Park High School was the subject of a groundbreaking ruling by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education, who ruled that teachers could remove their jackets while in class. A principal and teacher at the high school had been removed from his duties, based on charges against him that included 'conduct unbecoming a teacher' related to the removal of his coat while teaching one day. The charges were dismissed and the teacher was reinstated.
In March 2006, alumnus Gregory Olsen (RPHS '62), an entrepreneur who paid $20 million to become the world's third paying space tourist visited his alma mater to share his experiences in space.George, Jason "From a C Student to a Celestial Traveler" '' The New York Times'', May 16, 2004. Accessed December 24, 2011. "In 1962, with an F in trigonometry and a C average at Ridgefield Park High School in New Jersey, Gregory Olsen seemed destined for the final frontier of a steady job, evenings in front of the television and, if lucky, vacations on the Jersey Shore."
Awards, recognition and rankings
For the 2005-06 school year, Ridgefield Park High School was one of 22 schools statewide selected as Governor's School of Excellence Winners, an award given to schools that have demonstrated significant academic improvement over the previous two academic years.
A team of students was one of five finalists in the 2004 New Jersey Business Idea Competition Winners at Fairleigh Dickinson University representing the Northern Region, which covers Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren Counties. Three other RPHS teams were semi-finalists.
The school was the 209th-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 237th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 207th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 180th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 161st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 145th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 25 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (81.3%) and language arts literacy (96.7%) 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 ...
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
Big North Conference
The Big North Conference is a high school athletic conference in New Jersey. It is one of six North Jersey "super athletic conferences" created by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) in 2009. There are 41 member sc ...
, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the
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 ...
(NJISAA). Prior to the 2010 realignment, the school had competed in the Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL) American Conference, which included public and private high schools located in Bergen and
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 ...
counties. With 667 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group IV 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 Red division of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, 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 in a joint wrestling team with Bogota High School as the host school / lead agency. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.
The boys' basketball team won the Group III state championship in 1924 (defeating Glen Ridge High School in the tournament final), 1926 (vs.
Princeton High School Princeton High School may refer to:
*Princeton High School (Illinois), Princeton, Illinois
*Princeton Community High School, Princeton, Indiana
*Princeton High School (Minnesota), Princeton, Minnesota
*Princeton Junior-Senior High School, Princeton ...
), 1927 (vs. Roselle Park High School), 1934 (vs. Woodbury High School), 1944 (vs. Rahway High School), and won the Group II title in 1960 (vs. Riverside High School). The team won the 1924 state title in Class B (since recategorized as Group III) with a 31-27 overtime win against Glen Ridge in the championship game played at the Jersey City Armory. The 1926 team won the Class B (Group III) title with a 23-21 win against Princeton in the finals. A 40-25 win against Roselle Park gave the team the 1927 Class B (Group III) state title.
The baseball team won the Group III state championship in 1974 (defeating Franklin High School in the final game of the tournament) and 1977 (vs. Rancocas Valley Regional High School). The 1974 team defeated Franklin by a score of 4-1 in the Group III championship game to finish the season at 23-4. The 1977 team finished the season with a 24-9 record after winning the Group III title with a 2-1 victory against Rancocas Valley in the championship game.
The football team won the NJSIAA North I Group III state sectional championships in both 1975 and 1976, and won the North I Group II state titles in 1995 and 1996. The 1975 team finished the season with a 10-0-1 record after winning the North I Group III sectional title after defeating Northern Highlands Regional High School by a score of 10-8 in the championship game. The school has maintained a rivalry with Cliffside Park High School since the two schools first played each other, which was listed by ''
The Record
The Record may refer to:
Music
* ''The Record'' (album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear
* The Records, an English power pop band
* '' Their Greatest Hits: The Record'', a 2001 greatest-hits album by the pop-music group Bee Ge ...
'' as one of the best in Bergen and Passaic counties; though the first game between the two schools was earlier, from 1950 through the 2017 season, Ridgefield Park is ahead with a 38-20-2 record in games between the two schools.
The girls fencing team was the overall team champion in 1978.
The cross country team won both the Big North Division Championship and the County Group C Championship in the 2011 fall cross country season. The team hadn't won a division championship since 1985 and had never won a county championship title. The team finished off their 2011 season with an undefeated dual meet record and several championship titles, including the Group 1-2 Maroon Invitational, the program's first invitational championship.
Popular culture
13 of the 17 students featured in the 1978 documentary film '' Scared Straight!'' were from Ridgefield Park High School. Over 300 students, nearly a quarter of the school's enrollment, had voluntarily participated in the program at Rahway State Prison (now formally known as East Jersey State Prison), in which the students were given a hard look at the "physical and psychological brutality of prison life." The program was credited with contributing to a sharp drop in teen-aged crime in Ridgefield Park from 1976 to 1978.
Ridgefield Park High School was featured on TruTV's '' The Principal's Office'' in 2009.
Administration
The school's principal is Melissa M. Cavins. Her core administrative team includes the assistant principal, director of athletics and two deans of students.Principal Ridgefield Park Junior / Senior High School. Accessed December 27, 2022.
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
Leonard W. Hatton Jr.
Leonard William Hatton Jr. (August 17, 1956 – September 11, 2001) was an American special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was killed in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City when he enter ...
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
John Huchra
John Peter Huchra ( ; December 23, 1948 – October 8, 2010) was an American astronomer and professor. He was the Vice Provost for Research Policy at Harvard University and a Professor of Astronomy at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Sm ...
Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
*Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
*Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
Louis F. Kosco
Louis F. Kosco (born June 5, 1932) is an American Republican Party politician who served in both the New Jersey General Assembly and the New Jersey Senate.
Biography
Born in Hackensack, Kosco grew up in Ridgefield Park, where he attended Lin ...
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, ...
.
*
Robert A. Lewis
Robert Alvin Lewis (October 18, 1917 – June 18, 1983) was a United States Army Air Forces officer serving in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. He was the co-pilot and aircraft commander of the '' Enola Gay'', the B-29 Superfortress bom ...
(1918-1983), co-pilot of the
Enola Gay
The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it be ...
, the plane which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
* Steve Lonegan (born 1956), former mayor of Bogota, New Jersey from 1995-2007.
*
Dick Messner
Richard Messner (18 December 1907 – February 1972) was an American band leader. He led a sweet-styled dance orchestra bearing his name from about 1938 to about 1942. He flourished as a dance band pianist from about 1923 to about 1942.
Caree ...
(1907–1972), bandleader who led a sweet-styled dance orchestra bearing his name from about 1938 to about 1942.
* Johnny Messner (1909-1986, class of 1928),
bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...
,
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing rid ...
Hatch Rosdahl
Harrison Lynn Rosdahl (August 24, 1941 – June 15, 2004) was an American football defensive lineman who played three seasons in the American Football League with the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs. He was drafted by the San Diego Charge ...
(1941-2004), professional football player.
* Daniel Ruch (born 1983), assistant
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
coach with
Virginia Wesleyan
Virginia Wesleyan University (VWU) is a private university in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The university is nonsectarian but historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church. It enrolls 1,607 students annually in undergraduate and graduate ...
Buddy Valastro
Bartolo "Buddy" Valastro Jr. (born March 3, 1977) is an American baker and reality television personality of Italian heritage. He is the owner of Carlo's Bakery, as well as the face of Buddy V's Ristorante. Valastro is best known as the star of ...
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 ...