Paramus High School is an American four-year comprehensive

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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

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 ...

, located in

Paramus Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

, in

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.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 Delawa ...

, United States, serving 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 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 the lone secondary school of the Paramus Public Schools. 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 accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atl ...

Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 2006. As of the 2020–21 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,191 students and 106.9 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 11.1:1. There were 58 students (4.9% 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 18 (1.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Paramus 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 financ ...

. Accessed February 15, 2022. Paramus High School offers a wide range of course offerings to its students, including

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

courses available in 26 subjects.

History

Historically, Paramus shared many municipal services with the township of Rochelle Park, including schooling. In 1922, the school situation was the hot topic of discussion. Residents felt that the schools were too far away and wanted to make sure that their children were safe when they went to school. It was because of this that Paramus decided to become a borough of its own, and it built the high school on Spring Valley Road in 1957. The school's 50th anniversary was celebrated in 2007.

Awards, recognition and rankings

For the 1988–89 school year, Paramus High School was awarded the

National Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures ...

Award of Excellence by the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Departmen ...

, the highest award an American school can receive. The school was the 57th-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 111th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 98th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 77th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 45th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 124th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 44 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (83.3%) and language arts literacy (97.0%) 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). In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', the school was ranked 50th in New Jersey and 1,527th nationwide. In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' ranked the school 705th in the nation among participating public high schools and 54th among schools in New Jersey.

Athletics

The Paramus High School SpartansParamus 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 ...

, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69, ...

counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the

. The school had participated in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference in 2009–10. Until the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had participated in Division A of the

Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League The Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League, abbreviated NNJIL, was a former athletic conference located in Bergen County, Passaic County and Essex County, New Jersey. The NNJIL was separated into three divisions, according to the classificatio ...

, which included high schools located in Bergen,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

and Passaic counties, and was separated into three divisions based on NJSIAA size classification. With 894 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 Patriot 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 III North for football for 2018–2020. The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with

Hackensack High School Hackensack High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Hackensack Public Schools. Hackensack High School serves students from the Bergen County, New Je ...

and Lyndhurst High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year. The Paramus High School sports program has had much success over the years, most notably in baseball, volleyball, and wrestling. The ice hockey team ended a 12-year drought with a league title, league championship, and also a holiday tournament championship in the 2011–12 season. The baseball program has won more than 800 games since its inception in 1960, which includes four state championships, a county championship, and 13 league championships. Many players have gone on to graduate and continue to play baseball at the collegiate level, several of which played at the NCAA Division 1 level or professionally. Former head coach Joe Cervino, who managed the team for 30 seasons from 1982 to 2011, was one of the most successful coaches in Bergen County history, one of only four coaches to win more than 500 games. The boys track team won the Group IV spring track state championship in 1965. The girls' volleyball team has won seven state championships, winning the Division A title in 1981 against Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, taking the Group IV title in 1982 against

, and earning Group III titles in 1988 (vs.

Ramsey High School Ramsey High School, established in 1909, is a four-year comprehensive community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Ramsey, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary s ...

), 1989 (vs. Old Tappan), 1994 (vs. River Dell Regional High School), 1995 (vs. Lakeland Regional High School) and 2005 (vs. Ramapo High School). The program's seven state titles are tied for eighth in the state. The 1981 team won the inaugural NJSIAA state title, winning the Group III-IV championship in two games (15–8 and 15–11) against finals opponent Northern Valley / Old Tappan. The 1982 team won the Group IV state title against Hackensack in two games (15-6 and 15–12). The 1994 girls' volleyball team finished the season with a record of 22–2, winning the league and Group III state title, but lost to

Paramus Catholic High School Paramus Catholic High School is a co-educational Roman Catholic high school located in Paramus in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school, founded in 1965, under Archbishop Thomas A. Boland, and Superintendent of Schools, M ...

in the Bergen County tournament. The 1995 team won the Group III title for a second consecutive year, and took the Bergen County title with a win over Paramus Catholic. The team won the Tournament of Champions in 2005, defeating

Secaucus High School Secaucus High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Secaucus, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Secaucus Board o ...

in the tournament finals with a two-game sweep by scores of 25-22 and 25–23. The wrestling team won the North I Group IV state sectional championship in 1982, 1985, 1998 and 1999, and won the North I Group III title in 1993, 2012, 2015 and 2016. The ice hockey team won the Handchen Cup in 2000 with a 6–4 win against Brick Memorial High School in the championship game at the South Mountain Arena.

Administration

The school's principal is Raymond Kiem. His core administration team includes two assistant principals.

Notable alumni

Notable Paramus High school alumni include: * Joe Benigno (born 1953), sports talk show co-host on

WFAN (AM) WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while ...

. * Stacey Dash (born 1967, class of 1985), actress best known for her role in the movie ''

Clueless ''Clueless'' is a 1995 American coming-of-age teen comedy film written and directed by Amy Heckerling. It stars Alicia Silverstone with supporting roles by Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy and Paul Rudd. It was produced by Scott Rudin and Robert ...

'' and its

television spinoff A spin-off in television is a new series containing characters or settings that originated in a previous series, but with a different focus, tone, or theme. For example, the series '' Frasier'' was a spin-off of the earlier series ''Cheers'': t ...

. *

Spero Dedes Spero is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anthony Spero (1929-2008), American criminal * David Spero (born 1951), American DJ and music manager * Deborah Spero, American law enforcement official * Donald Spero (born 1939), Amer ...

(born 1979), sportscaster. *

Bill DeMott William Charles DeMott II (born November 10, 1966) is an American retired professional wrestler and road agent and trainer. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Hugh Morrus and World Wrestling Federatio ...

(born 1966, class of 1983), retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

and road agent best known for his appearances with

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

as Hugh Morrus and World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment under his real name. * Mark Fields (born 1961, class of 1979), Executive Vice President,

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

and President, The Americas. *

Dean Friedman Dean Friedman (born May 23, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter who plays piano, keyboard, guitar and other instruments, including the harmonica. Although considered a one-hit wonder in the US, he has had multiple singles chart in other terr ...

(born 1955), musician with the one-hit wonder " Ariel", a top-20 tune in 1977. * Matt Ghaffari (born 1961, class of 1979), 1996 Olympic silver-medal wrestler.Robbins, Liz
"Olympics; Wrestler Two Victories From Dream"
''

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 ...

'', June 24, 2000. Accessed February 5, 2013. "To advance, Ghaffari had to pull out a trick he first used two decades ago at Paramus High School in New Jersey." *

Jamie Gold Jamie M. Gold (born August 25, 1969) is an American television producer, talent agent, poker player, and younger brother of Doug Gold, who is based in Malibu, California. He is known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event ...

(born 1969, class of 1987), won the

2006 World Series of Poker The 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 25, 2006 with satellite events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29. 40 more events in various ...

Main Event. * Victoria Herrmann, polar

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and climate change communicator. * Lloyd Levin (born 1958, class of 1976), film producer and executive. * John Robertson (born 1993, class of 2011), quarterback for the

Villanova Wildcats football The Villanova Wildcats football program represents Villanova University in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, known as Division I-AA until 2006). The Wildcats compete in the Colonial Athletic Association for football only. ...

team who won the 2014 Walter Payton Award. * Steven H. Temares (born 1958, class of 1976), CEO of

Bed Bath & Beyond Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an American chain of domestic merchandise retail stores. The chain operates many stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971. It is counted among the Fortune 5 ...

. * Elaine Zayak (born 1965), figure skater who was the 1982 World champion and 1981 U.S. national champion.

Notable faculty

Bill Pascrell William James Pascrell Jr. (born January 25, 1937) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative for , having served in this position since January 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and a native of Paterson, New Jersey, Pascrel ...

(born 1937), Congressman who taught at the school for 12 years. *

Frank L. Ryerson Frank Layton Ryerson (3 July 1905 in Paterson, New Jersey – 15 May 1995 in Clearwater, Florida) was an American trumpeter, composer, arranger and educator. ''ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, Third edition,'' compiled for the American Society of Com ...

(1905–1995), music director and trumpeter who wrote the alma mater lyrics, sung to the tune "Aura Lee"."Ryerson Guest Conductor at Final Village Band Concert"
''Paterson News'', August 12, 1966. Accessed August 19, 2020, via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

. "Ryerson, a native of Paterson, has written a number of song hits and has appeared In Hollywood films. He is now band director of Paramus High School."

References

External links

* *
School Data for the Paramus Public Schools

ParamusRunning.com - Paramus High School Cross Country and Track & Field Teams Website
{{Authority control Paramus, New Jersey 1957 establishments in New Jersey Educational institutions established in 1957 Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools Public high schools in Bergen County, New Jersey