Mahwah High School | |
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Location | |
50 Ridge Road Mahwah, NJ 07430 |
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Information | |
Type | Public high school |
Established | 1959 |
School district | Mahwah Township Public Schools |
Principal | John P. Pascale |
Asst. Principal | Linda Bohny |
Faculty | 76 (on FTE basis)[1] |
Enrollment | 1,019 (as of 2009-10) |
Student to teacher ratio | 13.41[1] |
Campus | Suburban |
Color(s) | Columbia Blue Black |
Athletics conference | Big North Conference |
Nickname | Thunderbirds |
Website | School website |
Mahwah High School (MHS) is the four-year comprehensive public high school serving students from Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, operating as the only high school of the Mahwah Township Public Schools. The school is accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education and has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1962.[2]
As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,019 students and 76 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.41.[1]
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The school was the 56th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 68th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[3] The school was ranked 46th in the magazine's 2006 rankings.[4]
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 70th in New Jersey and 2,033rd nationwide.[5]
Construction on the $3.25 million campus-style facility began in August 1958, with 13 buildings spread out over 20 acres of the 62 acre property to accommodate 600 students from Mahwah and Allendale. Delays in starting the work meant that the initial set of classrooms would not be available until November 1958, with completion of the 1,200-student capacity facility due for February 1959. Before the buildings opened, the district rented space from Ramsey High School, with Allendale and Mahwah students who had already started in the Ramsey district remaining there until graduation. With the opening of the high school, the Mahwah district's elementary schools were changed from K-8 to K-6, with the new high school serving students in grades 7-12.[6]
In May 1963, voters in Allendale and Upper Saddle River approved a referendum to create Northern Highlands Regional High School, with the expenditure of $3.65 million to build a facility on a 40-acre site, with plans to complete the building in time to start classes in September 1965.[7] The Northern Highland school building, completed at a cost of $4 million, was dedicated in February 1966.[8]
The first all-Mahwah graduating class was in 1967.
The present school building was constructed in 1984 with three floors on the site of the original school, with an addition completed in "March 2005" (along with the expansion of Ramapo Ridge Middle School), according to a plaque in the new wing.[9]
In Fall 2009, the Freshman Advisory, a full year freshman transition program, was implemented. Freshman Advisory is a required course for all freshman students, and it is taught by upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) and supervised by the high school faculty. The following topics are addressed: study and organizational skills, time management, coping skills, peer pressure, Habits of Mind, and college/post-secondary planning.[10]
Mahwah High School offers 18 Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which include AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science, AP Economics (includes one semester of macroeconomics and one semester of microeconomics), AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP European History, AP French, AP Music Theory, AP Physics, AP Psychology, AP Spanish, AP Statistics, AP Studio Art, AP Psychology and AP US History. In the 2009-10 school year, 128 students participated in Mahwah High School's AP course offerings, taking a total of 258 examinations that year of which 87% achieved a grade of 3 or higher.[11]
In September 2007, Mahwah High School instituted a "rotating-drop schedule." Under the "rotating-drop schedule," students attend three 55-minute classes before and after lunch, for a total of six classes per day. The "rotating-drop schedule" has created a "unit lunch" - a 43-minute period in which all students eat lunch.
Mahwah's athletic and other teams are called the "Thunderbirds". Mahwah High School now competes in the Big North Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.[12] Prior to the 2010 realignment, Mahwah was one of the member schools of the Bergen County Scholastic League, competing in the American Division.
Sports listed with an asterisk (*), although they are technically two teams that compete and score separately, usually practice and have their events with each other.
On May 9, 2010, the boys varsity lacrosse team defeated Bergen Catholic High School in the BCCA Lacrosse Championship 10-6 to win a county title in only its second year of varsity existence.[13]
On November 20, 2010, the girls varsity soccer team defeated Arthur L. Johnson High School in the NJSIAA Group II state finals, with a final score of 3-1.[14] The team had made it to the 2009 NJSIAA Group II State Finals, before losing 2-1 in overtime to Haddonfield Memorial High School.[15]
The following are some of the extra-curricular activities offered at Mahwah High School:
Additionally, freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior class activities are offered.
The Mock Trial Team is one of the most successful public schools in the county winning two Bergen County titles, in both 2008 and 2011.[16] They also made an appearance in a third final, when they lost to Bergen Catholic High School in 2010.
Core members of the school's administration are:[17]
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