Wayne Valley High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school, in Wayne, in

Passaic County Passaic County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of Passaic County was enumerated at 524,118, an increase of 22,892 (4.6%) from t ...

, New Jersey, United States. The school serves 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 grades as one of the two secondary schools of the

Wayne Public Schools The Wayne Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Wayne, in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, in the New York City metropolitan area. As o ...

, the other being

Wayne Hills High School Wayne Hills High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school, in Wayne, in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, in the New York City metropolitan area. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades as on ...

. The school is also 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 ...

and 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 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 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 10.5:1. There were 74 students (6.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 5 (0.4% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Wayne Valley 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.

History

Before the school opened in 1952, students from Wayne had attended Pompton Lakes High School. The school was called "Wayne High School" until

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 ''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 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 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).

Sports

The Wayne Valley High School IndiansWayne Valley 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

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

. In the 2009-10 school year, the school competed in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference, which was established on an interim basis to facilitate the realignment. Prior to the realignment, the school had participated in the Northern Hills Conference'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, 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

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

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 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 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. 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 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.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, 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 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, 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 West Milford High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive community state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school that serves students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades from West Mil ...

by a score of 48-45 in a game played at John F. Kennedy High School in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.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 (born 1979), filmmaker, singer and songwriter. * Lisa Edelstein, (born 1966, class of 1984), actress who starred as Dr. Lisa Cuddy, on the Fox drama series ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

'' and the Bravo drama series '' Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce''. *

Jazmine Fenlator Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian (born August 29, 1985) is an American–Jamaican bobsledder who was one of three pilots of the U.S. Olympic Bobsled team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi before opting to compete for her father's native country of ...

, (born 1985, class of 2003), Olympian who competed for Team USA in the bobsled during the 2014 Winter Games. * John A. Ferraro (1946-2010), actor, academic, stage director and television director. * Paulie Harraka (born 1989), stock car racing driver and entrepreneur. * Gene Mayer (born 1956), former tennis player 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 manager and quantitative trader who founded PDT Partners in 1993 as part of Morgan Stanley's trading division. *

Chris Pantale Christopher Joseph Pantale (born March 22, 1990) is an American football tight end who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2013. He played college football at Boston College. Early years ...

(born 1990, class of 2008), tight end with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. *

Francesca Russo Francesca Russo (born November 27, 1995) is an American fencer. She qualified to represent Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, competing as part of the Women's Sabre team. Raised in Wayne, New Jersey, Russo attended Wayne Valley High Sc ...

(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 Arthur William Thoms, Jr. (born October 20, 1946) is a former collegiate and professional American football defensive tackle who played nine seasons in the NFL. Thoms played high school football at Brick Township High School in Brick Township, ...

(born 1947, class of 1965), former NFL

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

. *

Michael Turco Michael Turco is an American magician, known for Coming Home Red Carpet Events (supporting soldiers returning home from war). He received national exposure by appearing on the sixth season of ''America's Got Talent'' on NBC in the summer of 2011 ...

(born 1982, class of 2000), magician. Klein, Alvin
"In Person; A Young Performer With a Few Tricks of His Own"
'' The New York Times'', 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

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