Park Ridge High School is a six-year comprehensive community

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 ...

with an integrated two-year

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

located in the borough of Park Ridge 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

seventh Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season e ...

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 Park Ridge Public Schools. The school is 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 ...

. The school is located on the corner of Park Avenue and Pascack Road in the center of Park Ridge. The school is one of the three public schools in the town of Park Ridge, along with East Brook Elementary School and West Ridge Elementary School, which both serve grades K-6. Park Ridge High School's building has two sections: the "main" building of three floors and the "A-wing" of two. The main building contains a multipurpose venue known as the "little theater," which hosts arts events such as the annual Middle School Variety Show, including seasonal theatrical productions. The A-wing branches off into two gymnasiums through its lower floor. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 548 students and 59.4 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 9.2:1. There were 26 students (4.7% 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 none eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Park Ridge 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 December 1, 2022. Park Ridge offers several

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 ...

(AP) classes, run by the

College Board The College Board is an American nonprofit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a ...

. Average SAT scores for the class of 2013-14 were 528 in Critical reading, 559 in Mathematics and 546 on the Writing component for a composite score of 1633, compared to statewide averages of 496 / 521 / 497 respectively, and a composite score of 1514. There were 59.0% of students who met the standard of a 1550 composite score on the SAT, which

research shows to be indicative of college success, vs. 44.6% statewide.

History

A previous high school building completed in 1900 burnt to the ground in June 1920. The current school building was completed in September 1922, having been designed to be resistant to fire and offering four times the capacity of the earlier structure. Until the opening of

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 t ...

in 1955, students from Hillsdale, Montvale and Woodcliff Lake had attended Park Ridge High School as part of

sending/receiving relationship A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts hav ...

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 37th-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 14th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 18th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 31st in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 40th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 167th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 77 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (79.0%) and language arts literacy (95.8%) 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).

Athletics

Park Ridge High School OwlsPark Ridge 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. participate in the Patriot Division of the

North Jersey Interscholastic Conference The North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, or NJIC, is a high school athletic conference located in New Jersey. It is one of the so-called "super conferences" created by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) as a pa ...

, which is comprised of small-enrollment schools in Bergen, Hudson,

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

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

(NJSIAA). Prior to the realignment that took effect at the start of the 2010-11 school year, Park Ridge was a member of the

Bergen County Scholastic League The Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL) was a New Jersey high school sports association under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). The conference consisted of thirty public and parochials high ...

(BCSL). With 262 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I North for football for 2018–2020. Park Ridge High School hosts several sports in statewide competition, including

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, baseball, and many others. Park Ridge has done very well athletically in past years, especially with girls' sports, wrestling, and the track & field program. The school's athletic complex consists of several acres of open fields and a full sized high school football infield, surrounded by a recently constructed running track. The official fight song of the Owls is "Ridgers". The school participates as the host school / lead agency for joint cooperative boys / girls bowling, cross country running. boys / girls golf and boys lacrosse teams with Emerson Jr./Sr. High School, while Emerson is the host school for girls lacrosse and wrestling teams. These co-op programs operate under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year. The 1966 boys' basketball team finished the season with a 23-2 record after winning the Group I state championship by defeating Williamstown High School by a score of 64-62 on a late basket score in the final minute of the tournament final. The boys cross country running team won the Group I state championship in 1973. The baseball team won the Group I state title in 1977 (vs.

Florence Township Memorial High School Florence Township Memorial High School is a comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Florence Township, in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondar ...

) and 2009 (vs.

David Brearley High School David Brearley High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Kenilworth in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Ken ...

). The 1977 team finished the season with a 24-3 record after winning the Group I title with a 1-0 victory in 13 innings against Florence Township in the championship game. The team won the 2009 Group I state championships, defeating

County Prep High School County Prep High School is a full-time public magnet high school for students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Hudson County Schools of Technology. As ...

10–0 in the semi-final round, and taking the title with a 4–2 win over David Brearley in the championship game. The girls volleyball team won the Group I state championship in 1983 (vs.

Bogota High School Bogota High School (formally known as Bogota Jr./Sr. High School) is a comprehensive public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grade from Bogota, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone seco ...

) and 1985 (vs.

Wallington High School Wallington Jr./Sr. High School is a six-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades from Wallington, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary schoo ...

). The 1983 team finished the season with a record of 21-2 after winning the Group I title by defeating Bogota in two games (15-10 and 15-13) in the final match of the tournament. The 1985 team win won the Group IV title against Wallington 15-10 and 15-4 in the tournament final. The football team won the NJSIAA North I Group I state sectional championship in 1995 and in North II Group I in 2019. In 2019, the Owls finished the season with a 10-1 record after defeating

Hasbrouck Heights High School Hasbrouck Heights High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Hasbrouck Heights and Teterboro in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone high school ...

in the tournament final to win the NJSIAA North II Group I state sectional championship by a score of 21-14, marking their first championship in 24 years. The team won the 2019 Group I North regional title with a 28-21 win against

Boonton High School Boonton High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Boonton, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Boonton Public Schools. The school ...

. In 2006, Park Ridge boys' spring track went undefeated on their way to a BCSL Olympic championship, their first in 30 years. The girls' team lost only once, and also proceeded to win a championship. In 2007, the girls' soccer team won the North I, Group I state sectional championship with a 2-0 win over

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 ...

in the tournament final, marking the first sectional title in team history. In 2008, the boys' winter track team won their first state sectional meet. Wrestling coach Stan Woods set a New Jersey record with his 602nd win in 2011 in a meet against

Nutley High School Nutley High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the Township of Nutley, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Nutley Public Scho ...

Administration

The school's principal is Troy Lederman. His core administration team includes the assistant principal.

Noted alumni

Jedh Colby Barker Jedh Colby Barker (June 20, 1945 – September 21, 1967) was a United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War in September 1967. While participating in Operation Kingfi ...

(1945–1967; class of 1964), awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

. * Karen Duffy (born 1961; class of 1979),

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

personality, and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

.Lauro, Patricia Winters
"Communities; A Mob Town, And Proud of It"
''

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 ...

'', November 24, 2002. Accessed March 6, 2012. "For a tiny town, Park Ridge has its share of famous people. Karen Duffy, a model, MTV vee-jay and author of 'Model Patient: My Life as an Incurable Wiseass' (HarperCollins, $24), was raised in the borough and graduated in 1979 with Mr. Gandolfini." *

Edith Margaret Faulstich Edith Margaret Faulstich (May 22, 1907 – September 4, 1972) of New Jersey and New York City, was a philatelist and philatelic journalist who specialized in postal history and postal covers. She encouraged the development of that field in phila ...

(1907–1972),

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...

and philatelic journalist who specialized in

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is at ...

and postal covers. *

Kevin Herget Kevin R. Herget (born April 3, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Cincinnati Reds organization. He made his MLB debut with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2022. Career St. Louis Cardinals/Cleveland Indians Born in Teaneck, New Jer ...

(born 1991), professional baseball pitcher for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

James Gandolfini James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. (; September 18, 1961 – June 19, 2013) was an American actor. For his role as Tony Soprano, the Italian-American Mafia crime boss in HBO's television series ''The Sopranos'', he won three Emmy Awards, five Screen ...

(1961–2013; class of 1979), star of the HBO TV show, ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

''. *

The Roches The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey. Career In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry" ...

, folk singers. *

Travis Stever Travis Stever (born November 25, 1978) is an American musician who is best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria. Coheed and Cambria Travis Stever is a founding member of Coheed and Cambria. The ...

(born 1978, class of 1997), lead guitarist of

Coheed and Cambria Coheed and Cambria are an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. The band consists of Claudio Sanchez (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Travis Stever (guitars, vocals), Josh Eppard (drums, keyboards, backing vocals), ...

."Owls' marked men welcome challenge"
''

The Record The Record may refer to: Music * ''The Record'' (album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear * The Records, an English power pop band * '' Their Greatest Hits: The Record'', a 2001 greatest-hits album by the pop-music group Bee G ...

'', September 19, 1996. Accessed December 31, 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, ...

. "Mioli is searching for a nucleus among the following: seniors Tom Driscoll (5-11, 180), Travis Stever (5-10, 185), and Jim Babcock (5-10, 180); juniors David Hughes (5-7, 165), Ben Wingate (6-1, 205), John Halperin (5-9, 180); and sophomore Brett Rogers (5-8, 170)."

References

External links

Park Ridge High SchoolPark Ridge High School
*
School Data for the Park Ridge Public Schools

{{Authority control Park Ridge, New Jersey Public high schools in Bergen County, New Jersey Public middle schools in New Jersey