Paramus_High_School

Paramus High School

Paramus High School

High school in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States

Paramus High School is an American four-year comprehensive public high school, located in Paramus, 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 Paramus Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 2006.[3]

Quick Facts Address, Coordinates ...

As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,148 students and 105.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.9:1. There were 104 students (9.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 32 (2.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

Paramus High School offers a wide range of course offerings to its students, including Advanced Placement courses available in 26 subjects.[4]

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 built the high school on Spring Valley Road in 1957.[5] The school's 50th anniversary was celebrated in 2007.[6]

Awards, recognition and rankings

For the 1988–89 school year, Paramus High School was awarded the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[7] the highest award an American school can receive.[8][9]

The school was the 57th-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.[10] 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.[11] The magazine ranked the school 77th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[12] The school was ranked 45th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.[13]

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 (HSPA).[14]

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 50th in New Jersey and 1,527th nationwide.[15]

In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 705th in the nation among participating public high schools and 54th among schools in New Jersey.[16]

Athletics

The Paramus High School Spartans[17] compete in the Big North Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.[18] The school had participated in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference in 2009–10.[19] Until the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had participated in Division A of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League, which included high schools located in Bergen, Essex and Passaic counties, and was separated into three divisions based on NJSIAA size classification.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22][23] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III North for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 680 to 884 students.[24]

The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with Hackensack High School and Lyndhurst High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[25]

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.[26] 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.[27]

The boys track team won the Group IV spring / outdoor track state championship in 1965.[28]

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 Hackensack High School, and earning Group III titles in 1988 (vs. Ramsey High School), 1989 (vs. Old Tappan), 1994 (vs. River Dell High School), 1995 (vs. Lakeland Regional High School) and 2005 (vs. Ramapo High School). The program's seven state titles are tied for seventh in the state.[29] 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.[30] The 1982 team won the Group IV state title against Hackensack in two games (15-6 and 15–12).[31] 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 in the Bergen County tournament.[32] 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.[33] The team won the Tournament of Champions in 2005, defeating Secaucus High School in the tournament finals with a two-game sweep by scores of 25-22 and 25–23.[34]

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.[35]

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.[36][37]

Administration

The school's principal is Raymond Kiem. His core administration team includes two assistant principals.[38]

Notable alumni

See also: Category:Paramus High School alumni

Notable Paramus High school alumni include:

Notable faculty

  • Bill Pascrell (born 1937), Congressman who taught at the school for 12 years.[52]
  • Frank L. Ryerson (1905–1995), music director and trumpeter who wrote the alma mater lyrics, sung to the tune "Aura Lee".[53]

References

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    School data for Paramus High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed February 1, 2024.
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    Co-Curricular Handbook 2021 – 2022 Archived May 30, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, Paramus High School. Accessed May 30, 2022.
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    Paramus High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools, backed up by the Internet Archive as of March 30, 2012. Accessed March 28, 2015.
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    Program of Studies 2019-2020 Archived July 20, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, Paramus High School. Accessed July 19, 2019.
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    PHS Renovation Update Archived September 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Paramus High School. Accessed June 30, 2011. "The new main office and fitness center are a welcome addition to the high school which was originally built in 1957."
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    Fabrikant, Mel. "Mayor & Council Meeting 3-27-07" Archived May 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, The Paramus Post, March 28, 2007. Accessed April 11, 2012. "Further into the future will be the 50th anniversary of Paramus High School kicking off with a Football Game under the lights at 7 PM versus Barringer High School."
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    "CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department", Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
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    "Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test", The Washington Post. September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
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    Farrell, Brian. "Coach Cervino reflects on 500 wins", NorthJersey.com/sports, April 28, 2010. Accessed August 23, 2011. "'It's not about me; it's about the team and the program and all the quality athletes that I've been fortunate to coach at Paramus High School,' says Joe Cervino, now among only five head baseball coaches in Bergen County history to have achieved 500 wins in a career."
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    Henning, Rich. "Tenafly, Paramus roll to State titles" Archived October 2, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, The Record, November 22, 1981. Accessed March 17, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Paramus defeated Old Tappan, 15-8, 15-11, to win the Group 3-4 championship. The victory completed a triple crown of sorts for the undefeated Spartans. They also won the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League and Bergen County championships."
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