James Caldwell High School is a 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, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

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 (also known as Grade 12, Senior Year, Standard 12, 12th Standard, 12th Class, or Class 12th or Class 12) is the twelfth and final Educational stage, year of Formal education, formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final ...

s in

West Caldwell West Caldwell is a township located in the West Essex area in northwestern Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located approximately west of Manhattan and northwest of Newark. As of the 2020 United States census, the townsh ...

, in Essex County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, operating as the lone secondary school of the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools, which serves students from both

Caldwell Caldwell may refer to: People * Caldwell (surname) * Caldwell (given name) * Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized First Nation in southern Ontario, Canada Places Great Britain * Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet * Caldwell, Ea ...

and West Caldwell. The school is named after

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

figure Reverend James Caldwell. The school has been accredited by the

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, also referred to as the Middle States Association or MSA, is an accreditor in the United States. Historically, it has accredited schools in the Mid-Atlantic states region of the northeas ...

Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1928.James Caldwell High School
,

Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed February 8, 2018. As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 772 students and 77.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio The student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio refers to the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers or staff in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that ...

of 10.0:1. There were 55 students (7.1% of enrollment) eligible for

free lunch A free lunch is the provision of a meal at no cost, usually as a sales enticement to attract customers and increase revenues from other business. The practice was once common in saloons and taverns in many places in the United States, with the ...

and 7 (0.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for James Caldwell High School

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...

. Accessed December 15, 2024.

History

The original Caldwell High School was built in 1910, at which time it served students from Essex Fells, Fairfield Township, Hanover Township, Livingston, North Caldwell, Roseland and

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, who attended 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 ...

s with their home school districts. It was replaced in 1925 by Grover Cleveland High School. As the high school became increasingly overcrowded, a 1957 referendum was held to consider the establishment of a regional high school district to serve all of the communities attending school in Caldwell; Caldwell and West Caldwell residents voted against the regionalization, while Essex Fells, Fairfield, North Caldwell and Roseland all voted in favor of the creation of the

West Essex Regional School District The West Essex Regional School District is a regional public school district serving students in seventh grade, seventh through twelfth grade from Essex Fells, New Jersey, Essex Fells, Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey, Fairfield, Nor ...

. In 1960, James Caldwell High School replaced Grover Cleveland High School, which was repurposed as a junior high school.

Awards and recognition

The school was the 52nd-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 New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United St ...

'' magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 46th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 45th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 57th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 43rd 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 (an increase of 26 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (86.6%) and language arts literacy (93.7%) 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

James Caldwell High School's teams, nicknamed the Chiefs and Lady Chiefs respectively,James Caldwell 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 Super Essex Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Essex County and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the

(NJSIAA). James Caldwell had been part of the

Northern Hills Conference The Northern Hills Conference, was an athletic conference of nineteen private and public high schools located in Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in Northern New Jersey. There were nineteen member Northern Hills Conference schools, split into t ...

prior to the 2010 realignment. With 595 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 486 to 758 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the National White 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 II North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 484 to 683 students. The school has had past successes in its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

programs, and has been a perennial contender in girls'

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

. The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with

West Essex High School West Essex High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in North Caldwell. The high school is part of the West Essex Regional School District, which is comprised of the constituent municipalities of Essex Fells, Fairfi ...

. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.

Football

The football team has won state sectional championships in North II Group III in 1981, in North II Group II in 1991, 1997, 1998 and 2008, the North I Group II regional title in 2021. The team won the first ever overall Group II championship in 2022. The 1981 team finished the season with an 11-0 record, marking the first time the program completed a season unbeaten, after winning the North II Group III state sectional title by scoring 17 unanswered points for a 17-6 comeback win against

Rahway High School Rahway High School is a four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Rahway, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Rahway Public Schools. The ...

in the championship game. Down 7-0 and then 14-7, the 1991 team came back to defeat Dover High School by a score of 21-14 in the championship game to win the North II Group II title and finish the season with an 11-0 mark. In 2008, the Caldwell Chiefs football team won the North II, Group II state sectional title with a 22–7 win over Governor Livingston at

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and primarily hosted sporting events and ...

, to earn the program's first state sectional title since 1998 and fifth overall. The 2021 team became the first team to finish 12-0 in school history, beating Jefferson 42-21 to win the North Group II regional title, also for the first time in program history. The 2022 team ended their season 13-0 for the first time in school history and became the first overall Group II champion. The Chiefs defeated Newton High School by a score of 35-7 to become North II Group II champs, then beat Westwood Regional High School 13-7 to win the Group II North title. The team then beat Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School by a score of 18-14 at

SHI Stadium SHI Stadium is the football stadium at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. Rutgers Scarlet Knights football, Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's lacrosse, and women's lacrosse use the venue for home games. It is located on the Busch Campu ...

to become the first ever overall Group II champions and extend their winning streak to 28 games, the longest in the state. In October 2006, James (Jamie) Bliss, a 16-year-old football player, died suddenly during a football practice.

Softball

The softball program has been under the direction of Mike Teshkoyan, who took over the program in 1987 after serving five years as an assistant coach. He was assisted by Mark Teshkoyan for 33 years. The pair has won 21 conference championships, 7 county championships, 10 sectional titles and two Group II state championships. His record is currently 746-230-2 in which is 2nd overall in the state. In 2022 the pair was inducted into Caldwell's Legends Park The softball team has won the Group II state championships in 1983 (against Gateway Regional High School in the tournament final), 1992 (vs. Northern Burlington County Regional High School) and 2005 (vs. Audubon High School). The softball team won the 2003 North II, Group II state sectional title with a 2–1 win against Pequannock Township High School. The softball team repeated as sectional champs in 2004, shutting out Hoboken High School by a score of 10–0. The team was a sectional winner for the third consecutive time in 2005 with a 2–0 win against

Governor Livingston High School Governor Livingston High School is a comprehensive four-year co-educational public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in Berkeley Heights, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and operating as t ...

in the tournament final. The team went on to win the 2005 Group II state championship with a 3–2 win against Audubon High School that came on a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning by Gina Capardi. The 2005 team finished with a record of 32-1-1, also won the county and conference championships and finished as the second-ranked team in the Star-Ledger's final top 20. Pitcher Kristen Schindler set the state record with 112 wins during her four-year career. The 2005 team finished the season with a record of 32-1-1 after winning the Group II title by a score of 3-2 against Audubon on a walk-off home run in the seventh inning of the championship game. The team won the 2007 North II, Group II state sectional championship with a 2–1 over

. The 2009 title came in a 4–3 win against Parsippany High School. The softball team has won 11 sectional titles, including six between 2003 and 2011, winning the 2011 North II, Group II sectional with an 11–7 win against Rutherford High School. The program has produced 10 NFCA All Americans: Gina Capardi and Kristen Schindler 2005, Desi Giordano 2007, Paige Johnson 2009 and 2011, Gabby Roselle 2012, Gianna Genello 2014 and 2015, Nicolette Luzzi 2018 and 2019, and Caitlin Cetrulo, Carina Whiting and Michayla Rodriguez 2021 3 Chiefs were named to the Star-Ledger's first team All State All Groups: Jen Luker 1992, Kristen Schindler 2005 and Gina Capardi 2005

Volleyball

The James Caldwell girls' volleyball team has won six state titles under Jeff and Scott Stiefbold, winning Group II titles in 2000, 2002 and 2003 (all against

Union Catholic High School Union Catholic Regional High School is a private Catholic high school located in Scotch Plains, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its motto promises to provide a "quality education in a faith-based environment." Founded in 1962 ...

in the final match), in 2004 (vs.

Pascack Valley High School Pascack Valley High School (PVHS) is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive regional state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school located in Hillsdale, New Jersey, Hillsdale in Bergen County, New Jerse ...

) and in 2009 (vs.

Tenafly High School Tenafly High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school in Tenafly in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Tenafly Public Sc ...

) and took the 2008 Group I championship with a win against Bogota High School; the six state titles are the ninth-most for any school in New Jersey. The team was the runner-up in the

Tournament of Champions A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

in 2003, with a loss to Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest, and again in 2008, after a loss in the finals to Immaculate Heart Academy.NJSIAA Girls Volleyball Group Champions

. Accessed May 1, 2023. In 2008, the Lady Chiefs volleyball won the Group I state championship over defending champion Bogota High School, a County championship and a Conference championship, finishing the season with a record of 32-1 and ranked second in the state.

Boys' tennis

The boys' tennis team had one of their most successful years in 2011, led by then senior captains, Ethan Flint (14-6 record) and Andrew Lucila. The team would finish the year with a 15-4 overall record and an 11-0 Liberty Division record, ultimately winning the division crown. It would make its way back into the sectional championship, with the previous year being their first birth since 1979. The senior class of 2012 featured a trio of four-year starters in Dylan Silver, Neil Shulman and Michael Melchione, who became the most successful senior class in the history of Essex County tennis, posting an overall team record of 52–22 over the four-year span. Individually, Neil Shulman finished with a personal record of 52–14, the most wins by a singles player in Essex County history. Michael Melchione was right behind him with a career record of 49-17 (singles and doubles) and Dylan Silver finished with a 43–21 record.

Girls' tennis

The girls tennis team won the Group II state tournament with a win against Princeton High School in the final match of the tournament,Girls Tennis Championship History: 1971–2023

, updated November 2023. Accessed September 1, 2024.

Boys' soccer

The boys soccer team won the Group III state championship in 1966, defeating Arthur L. Johnson High School in the tournament final. The boys' soccer team is led by head coach Martin Rodriguez who took over for Alan Branigan in 2021. In 2013, the boys' team advanced to the North II Group II state sectional semi-finals before falling to eventual champion Harrison High School by a score of 1–0. The team finished with a record of 13-5-4. In 2019, the boys' team advanced to the semi-finals of the Essex County Tournament for the first time since the tournament's inaugural year in 1974, defeating fourteenth state-ranked

Millburn High School Millburn High School is a four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Millburn (including its Short Hills neighborhood), in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondar ...

in the quarterfinal, eventually losing to Montclair High School 1–0 in the semi-final. After winning the Liberty division of the Super Essex Conference with a conference record of 6–1, the team made it to the North II Group II state sectional semi-finals before falling to eventual champion

Bernards High School Bernards High School is a comprehensive four-year regional public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school is part of the Somerset Hills Regional School Distr ...

by a score of 2–0. The team finished with a record of 15–7.

Girls' soccer

The girls soccer program was started by Mike Teshkoyan in 1985 and he has been the only coach in the 39-year history of the team. He has been assisted by Mark Teshkoyan since the program's inception. Teshkoyan was named by ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' was the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. It is based in Newark, New Jersey. The newspaper ceased print publication on February 2, 2025, but continues to publish a digital edition. In 2007, ''The Star-Ledger''s ...

'' as NJ's Girls' Soccer Coach of the Year in 2008 guiding the team to an 18-4-1 mark. He currently has 388 victories. The 1995 team won the Essex County Championship and finished with a 17-3-2 record. The 2003 team won the Northern Hills Conference Championship with an upset victory over perennial power Morris Catholic 3-2 and finished with a 18–5 record. The 2008 team won the North II Group II sectional title with a 2–1 win over

on the strength of a 6-5 margin in penalty kicks. The 2012 team won the North II Group II sectional title with a 2–0 win over Bernards High School and finished with a 14-7-2 record.

Wrestling

The wrestling program has won the North II Group II state sectional team championship five times, including 1983, 1985, 1986, 1990, 2011. and 2020 Blake Maffai was the 1991 state champion at 112 lbs, and in 2004, Steve Martell won the state title at 152 lbs.

Nickname controversy

James Caldwell's mascot, the Chief, places the school among those involved in the

Native American mascot controversy Since the 1960s, the issue of Native American and First Nations names and images being used by sports teams as mascots has been the subject of increasing public controversy in the United States and Canada. This has been a period of rising I ...

, concurrent with a national trend of removing Native American nicknames from college sports teams. Support has been mounting in both Caldwell and West Caldwell in recent years to change a number of customs associated with the school's team nicknames, such as the war chant and the tomahawk chop, or to get rid of the Chief's nickname altogether.

Extracurricular activities

In September 2005, six student editors and reporters of the high school's newspaper, ''The Caldron'', reached a settlement with the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District, through the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

, forbidding most censorship by the high school principal and allowing an article about sexual mores to be published.

In popular culture

Most scenes of ''

Welcome to the Dollhouse ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' is a 1995 American coming-of-age black comedy film written and directed by Todd Solondz. An independent film, it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and launched the careers of Solondz and H ...

'' were filmed at James Caldwell High School, including the cafeteria, hallways, classrooms, the bathroom, and the principal's office.

Administration

The school's principal is Jim Devlin. His core administration team includes two vice principals.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of James Caldwell High School (and its predecessor, Grover Cleveland High School) include: * Brian Bergen (born 1979), politician who represents the 25th Legislative District in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

* Whitey Campbell (1926-2015, class of 1944), head baseball coach at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

in 1958 and from 1960 to 1962 * Tom Courtney (1933–2023),

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who won two gold medals at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

* Neale Godfrey (born 1951), author, whose books deal with money, life skills and value issues * John B. MacChesney (1929–2021), scientist who was pioneer in

optical communication Optical communication, also known as optical telecommunication, is communication at a distance using light to carry information. It can be performed visually or by using electronic devices. The earliest basic forms of optical communication date ...

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

Tommy Page Thomas Alden Page (May 24, 1970– March 3, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1990 hit single "I'll Be Your Everything (Tommy Page song), I'll Be Your Everything" and was later a music industry executive. Page collabor ...

(1970-2017, class of 1988), singer best known for his 1990 song " I'll Be Your Everything" * Elizabeth Parr-Johnston (born 1939), Canadian business woman * Michael Tracey (born 1988, class of 2006), independent journalist who covers

American politics In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal republic, federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches Separation of powers, share powers: United States Congress, C ...

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

and America's

culture war A culture war is a form of cultural conflict (metaphorical " war") between different social groups who struggle to politically impose their own ideology (moral beliefs, humane virtues, and religious practices) upon mainstream society, or upon ...

* Martin Wenick (1939–2020), employee of the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

who served as head of the National Council for Soviet Jewry *

Thea White Thea Ruth White ( Zitzner; June 16, 1940 – July 30, 2021) was an American voice actress best known for her work as Muriel Bagge in the animated television series '' Courage the Cowardly Dog''. Early life White was born in Newark, New Jersey on ...

(1940–2021),

voice actress Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

best known for her work as Muriel Bagge in the animated TV show ''

Courage the Cowardly Dog ''Courage the Cowardly Dog'' is an American animated comedy horror television series created by John R. Dilworth for Cartoon Network. It was produced by Dilworth's animation studio, Stretch Films. The eponymous character is an anxious dog who li ...

'' * Richard Zirk (1936-2014, class of 1954), heavyweight weightlifter who won a silver medal at the 1961 World ChampionshipsCurrent JCHS Hall of Fame Inductees
James Caldwell High School, modified April 9, 2018. Accessed March 28, 2019. "Richard Zirk 1954 1997"

References

External links

James Caldwell High SchoolCaldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools
*
School Data for the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools

{{Authority control Caldwell, New Jersey West Caldwell, New Jersey Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools Public high schools in Essex County, New Jersey The Caldwells, New Jersey