Wayne Valley 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 ''Öffentlichk ...
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 ...
, in
Wayne, in
Passaic County,
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. The school serves students in
ninth 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 one of the two secondary schools of the
Wayne Public Schools, the other being
Wayne Hills High School. The school is also accredited by the
New Jersey Department of Education and has been accredited by the
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1954. Wayne Valley's school colors are blue and white.
[
As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,204 students and 115.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.5:1. There were 74 students (6.1% 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 th ...
and 5 (0.4% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[School data for Wayne Valley High School]
National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 1, 2022.
History
Before the school opened in 1952, students from Wayne had attended Pompton Lakes High School
Pompton Lakes High School (PLHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the borough of Pompton Lakes in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Pompton Lakes School District. The sch ...
.
The school was called "Wayne High School" until Wayne Hills High School opened in September 1966, at which time the word "Valley" was added to the original school's name in order to differentiate between the two.
Awards, recognition and rankings
In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 417th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 45th among all high schools in New Jersey and 28th among the state's non-magnet schools.
The school was the 91st-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in '' New Jersey Monthly'' magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 64th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 63rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 46th in 2008 out of 316 schools. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 122nd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 16 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (85.9%) and language arts literacy (94.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
Sports
The Wayne Valley High School Indians[Wayne Valley High School]
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the Big North Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
and Passaic counties, which was created following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. In the 2009-10 school year, the school competed in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference The North Jersey Tri-County Conference was a high school athletic conference in New Jersey, created by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) as a holding conference. The NJTCC consisted of 45 public and non-public school ...
, which was established on an interim basis to facilitate the realignment. Prior to the realignment, the school had participated in the Northern Hills Conference The Northern Hills Conference, was an athletic conference of nineteen private and public high schools located in Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in Northern New Jersey.
There were nineteen member Northern Hills Conference schools, split into t ...
's Skyline Division. With 994 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Freedom Red 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 IV North for football for 2022–2024.
The school participates in a joint ice hockey team with Wayne Hills 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 football team was awarded the sectional championship by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association in 1967, 1968 and 1970. Since the playoff system was introduced in 1974, the team has won the NJSIAA North I Group III state sectional championships in 1984, 1988, 1989 and 1991, and won the North II Group IV title in 2019. The 1984 team won the North I Group III title against Northern Highlands Regional High School
Northern Highlands Regional High School (NHRHS) is a regional public high school and school district in Allendale, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Allendale, Ho-Ho-K ...
by a score of 28-6 in the championship game to finish the season 11-0. The 1988 team finished the season with 10-0-1 record after winning the North I Group III title with a 49-10 win against Ramapo High School. The 1989 team won the North I Group III title by defeating Pascack Valley High School
Pascack Valley High School (PVHS) is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located in Hillsdale in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of two secondary schools in th ...
with a 19-14 win in the tournament final. The 1991 team finished the season with a 11-0 record after defeating Wayne Valley by a score of 7-0 in front of a crowd of 10,000 to win the North I Group III state sectional championship. The program won its fifth playoff championship in 2019 with a 21-17 win in the North II Group IV title game against Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan
Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan is a comprehensive four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from the suburban communities of Harrington Park, Northvale, Norwood and Old Tappan in Berge ...
. Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley have participated in an annual rivalry since 2009, which Wayne Hills leads 11-2 through the 2017 season. 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 ...
listed the rivalry in the 24th spot on their 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football".
The field hockey team won the North I Group IV state sectional championship in 1975 and 1979.
The varsity baseball team won the Passaic County Tournament championships in 1981, 1986, 1988, 2010, 2015 and 2019[ A single in the bottom of the seventh of the 2016 PCT championship game gave the team the title with a 4-3 win against ]Pompton Lakes High School
Pompton Lakes High School (PLHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the borough of Pompton Lakes in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Pompton Lakes School District. The sch ...
.[Perez, Braulio]
"Wayne Valley captures its first Passaic County title since 2010 with Chris McClurg's walk-off single (photos)"
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 ...
, May 11, 2015, updated August 24, 2019. Accessed February 27, 2021. "Wayne Valley senior Chris McClurg was patiently waiting for his shot.... And sure enough, McClurg did just that, hitting a walk-off RBI-single to score Joe Namendorf to win the Passaic County Tournament championship against Pompton Lakes on Monday night." The team won the PCT title in 2019, defeating Passaic Valley Regional High School
Passaic Valley Regional High School is the name of both a public school district and regional high school for students in ninth through twelfth grades from a district comprising Little Falls, Totowa and Woodland Park, three communities in P ...
by a 2-1 score in the finals.["Controversial call looms as Wayne Valley walks off in PCT final (PHOTOS/VIDEO)"]
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 ...
, May 16, 2019, updated August 22, 2019. Accessed February 27, 2021. "Wayne Valley stormed left fielder Zach Byle in the shallow right field. His two-out hit had just capped off a bottom of the seventh rally that propelled the Indians to a 2-1 win over Passaic Valley in the Passaic County Tournament final, but the celebration was cut short by a livid Passaic Valley coaching staff arguing with the game's three umpires."
The 2008 boys' basketball team, seeded 10th in the tournament, won the North I Group III state championship over top seed West Milford High School by a score of 48-45 in a game played at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, New Jersey. This was the team's first sectional title in just over a decade.
The Wayne Valley boys' track team went undefeated in the 2011 season, winning the county relays, conference and county meets. The girls' team went undefeated in the dual meet season, losing the conference meet to West Orange High School which came down to the last event, and won its fifth county title in a row.
The girls fencing team was the sabre team champion in 2012.
The wrestling team won the North I Group III state sectional title in 2014 and the North I Group IV title in 2019.
Incidents
On June 13, 2007, authorities found two bundles of what looked like half-sticks of dynamite in two lockers at Wayne Valley. All of the students were evacuated, and the Passaic County Sheriff's Department bomb squad extracted the devices. The devices were then detonated at the Paterson firing range. It is unknown whether the devices were intended to do harm or be used as part of a prank. On June 27, 2007, five members of the class that just graduated from the school were arrested for their roles in the incident.
Notable alumni
* Jay Della Valle
Jay Della Valle (born August 19, 1979) best known for his documentary '' The Glorious Mustache Challenge'', and for his role as Sue in the Independent Feature Film, " Mount Joy"- is an American filmmaker, recording artist, singer and songwriter. ...
(born 1979), filmmaker, singer and songwriter.
* Lisa Edelstein Lisa or LISA may refer to:
People
People with the mononym
* Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam
* Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer
* Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...
, (born 1966, class of 1984), actress who starred as Dr. Lisa Cuddy, on the Fox drama series '' House'' and the Bravo drama series ''Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce
''Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce'' (also known as ''Girlfriends' Guide to Freedom'' in season 3, ''Girlfriends' Guide to Bossing Up'' in season 4, and ''Girlfriends' Guide to Ever After'' in season 5) is an American comedy-drama television series ...
''.
* Jazmine Fenlator, (born 1985, class of 2003), Olympian who competed for Team USA in the bobsled during the 2014 Winter Games.
* John A. Ferraro
John A. Ferraro (April 5, 1946 – December 7, 2010) was an American actor, academic, stage director and television director. His credits as a director included ''Sesame Street'', as well as Broadway and off-Broadway plays.
Ferraro was born in Pa ...
(1946-2010), actor, academic, stage director and television director.
* Paulie Harraka
Paul Peter "Paulie" Harraka (born September 15, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver and entrepreneur. He is a graduate of Duke University and a former representative of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program.
Personal life ...
(born 1989), stock car racing driver and entrepreneur.
* Gene Mayer
Gene Mayer (born May 11, 1956) is a former tennis player from the United States who won 14 professional singles titles during his career.
Mayer was born in Flushing, Queens, New York. He grew up in Wayne, New Jersey, and played tennis at Wayn ...
(born 1956), former tennis player
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...
from the United States who won fourteen singles titles during his career. At Wayne Valley, he went unbeaten in his two years on the tennis team.
* Pete Muller, hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...
manager and quantitative trader who founded PDT Partners
PDT Partners (Process Driven Trading Partners) is a hedge fund company, led by quantitative trader Peter Muller, that was founded in 1993 as part of Morgan Stanley's trading division and spun out as an independent business in 2012. It has offices ...
in 1993 as part of Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
's trading division.
* Chris Pantale (born 1990, class of 2008), tight end with the New York Jets.
* Francesca Russo (born 1995), fencer who represented Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
, competing as part of the Women's Sabre team.
* Art Thoms (born 1947, class of 1965), former NFL defensive tackle.
* Michael Turco (born 1982, class of 2000), magician.[ Klein, Alvin]
"In Person; A Young Performer With a Few Tricks of His Own"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', March 15, 1998. Accessed October 24, 2012. "The not-so-simple stuff that Michael, 16, a sophomore at Wayne Valley High School, uses in school involves video and computer equipment for his electives, advanced television production and graphic arts."
References
External links
Wayne Valley High School website
*
Data for Wayne Valley High School
National Center for Education Statistics
publicschoolreview.com review
{{Authority control
Wayne, New Jersey
1952 establishments in New Jersey
Educational institutions established in 1952
Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools
Public high schools in Passaic County, New Jersey