Ridgefield Memorial High School

Ridgefield Memorial High School is a comprehensive community four-year public high school located in Ridgefield, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Ridgefield School District.

As of the 2012-13 school year, the school had an enrollment of 568 students and 53.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.73:1. There were 88 students (15.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 34 (6.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.^[1]

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 magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.^[2] 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.^[3] The magazine ranked the school 135th in 2008 out of 316 schools.^[4] The school was ranked 97th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.^[5] 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 (HSPA).^[6]

Extracurricular activities

The school's publications are The Crown monthly newspaper and Serendipity literary and arts magazine.

The Marching Royals Marching Band, under the direction of K-12 Music Supervisor Matt Tracey and high school band director, has won numerous 1st place and superior performance awards in its history since 1987. It is the largest Group I marching band in the state of New Jersey. The Marching Band, Jazz, and Percussion Ensemble travel annually to competitions across the nation. The Royals music program has placed nationally in every category. 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 band had the highest score of the competition season regardless of school size or classification.

The Ridgefield Choirs, led by Tom Voorhis, have consistently placed the most students in Bergen County Chorus and Northern New Jersey Region Choir for the past seven years. They have averaged 17 students in the New Jersey All State Chorus and in that time have sent four students to the last two All Eastern Choruses. Their four choirs (Concert Choir, Men's Choir, Women's Choir, and the Royal Chorale) have received first place rankings, superior ratings and overall choral champion awards consistently at all of their competitions. Mr. Voorhis was the 2009 New Jersey All State Choir director and has conducted both region and county chorus numerous times at the middle school and high school level. The Ridgefield music program has sent graduates to The Juilliard School as well as Mason Gross School of the Arts.

The Academic Decathlon team has consistently gone to the state competition for the past 14 years (longer than other schools in NJ), and has received numerous awards and medals, including in the 2002–03 season, which saw them represent New Jersey in the National Finals in Phoenix, Arizona.^[7]

The school's Robotics team has been around since 2006, and are known as P=I²*Rates (Pirates.)

Athletics

The Ridgefield Memorial High School Royals compete in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference (NJIC), made up of private and public high schools located in Bergen County, Passaic County and Hudson County, following a 2010 reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).^[8] With 448 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2014-15 school year as North II, Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 61 to 478 students in that grade range.^[9] Prior to realignment that took effect in the fall of 2010, Ridgefield was a member of the Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL).^[10] The school has 23 varsity sports programs.

The Royals golf team has been a strong presence since its creation in 2006, winning five consecutive league titles from 2006-2010. The Royals boys' Cross Country team also won a league title during the 2009 fall season. In 2012 and 2014, the baseball team won the North 1 Group 1 State Title, and advanced to the 2014 state finals; losing to Shore Regional High School. The Royals football team has sent players to Division I football programs such as Temple University and the United States Naval Academy.

Fall: Football, Cheerleading, Soccer(Boys/Girls), Cross Country (Boys/Girls), Tennis(Girls), Volleyball

Winter: Basketball (Boys/Girls), Indoor Track (Boys/Girls), Wrestling, Bowling (Boys/Girls), Competition Cheer Leading

Spring: Baseball, Softball, Tennis (Boys), Golf (Boys/Girls), Outdoor Track (Boys/Girls)

The Football, Soccer, and Track events are all held at Willis Field.

Notable alumni

• Tim Bogert (born 1944), Bass guitar player who has played in bands such as Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and Beck, Bogert & Appice (with guitarist Jeff Beck).
• Anthony R. Suarez (born 1967), Mayor of Ridgefield since 2004.^[11]
• Al Vandeweghe (1920–2014), professional football player for the All-America Football Conference's Buffalo Bisons in 1946.^[12]
• Jake Zychick (born 1989), political activist and founder of the Reform Party of New Jersey.
• Greg Hansen (born 1947), Author of "Automating Business Process Reengineering", (Prentice Hall), Councilman 1971-1974

Administration

Core members of the school's administration include:^[13]

• Dr. Tamika DePass, Principal
• Michael Lennox, Assistant Principal
• Lauretta Crawford, Vice Principal

References

External links

• Ridgefield High School web pages
• Ridgefield School District
• Ridgefield School District's 2012–13 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Ridgefield School District, National Center for Education Statistics

Coordinates: 40°49′52″N 74°00′01″W / 40.831176°N 74.000388°W / 40.831176; -74.000388

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