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Glen Ridge High School

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Type
  
Public high school

Principal
  
Louis A. Melchor

Faculty
  
70.2 FTEs

Phone
  
+1 973-429-8303

Color
  
White

Number of students
  
824 (2014–2015)

Established
  
1895

Asst. principal
  
Dr. Keisha Harris

Grades
  
7 - 12

District
  
Glen Ridge Public Schools

Founded
  
1895

Lowest grade
  
Seventh grade

Glen Ridge High School

Address
  
200 Ridgewood Ave, Glen Ridge, NJ 07028, USA

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Glen Ridge High School (GRHS) is a comprehensive six-year public high school serving students in seventh through twelfth grades in Glen Ridge, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Glen Ridge Public Schools. GRHS is accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education.

Contents

As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 824 students and 70.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.7:1. There were 0 students (0.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 0 (0.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

The school's standardized test scores far exceed both the state and national averages. The Class of 2013's average SAT scores were 575 on the math section, 579 on the critical reading section and 565 on writing, totaling 1719 on the three sections combined (compared to a New Jersey averages of 495 math, 521 reading and 496 writing for 1512 overall). Among students taking the SAT, 69% of students met or exceed the combined score of 1550 considered by the College Board to indicate likely college success, vs. 44% statewide. The graduation rate for the class of 2013 was 97%, with 91.2% of students passing the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 27th-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. The school had been ranked 12th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 4th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 5th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 10th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 113th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 21 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (87.9%) and language arts literacy (94.0%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 37th in New Jersey and 1,193rd nationwide. The school was ranked 452nd in Newsweek's 2009 ranking of the top 1,500 high schools in the United States and was the 10th-ranked school in New Jersey, with 2.219 AP tests taken in 2008 per graduating senior and 30% of all graduating seniors passing at least one AP exam; The school was ranked 751st nationwide in 2008. In Newsweek's 2007 ranking of the country's top 1,200 high schools, Glen Ridge High School was listed in 871st place, the 23rd-highest ranked school in New Jersey.

In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 836th in the nation among participating public high schools and 62nd among schools in New Jersey. The school was ranked 255th in the nation and 24th in New Jersey on the list of "America's Best High Schools 2012" prepared by The Daily Beast / Newsweek, with rankings based primarily on graduation rate, matriculation rate for college and number of Advanced Placement / International Baccalaureate courses taken per student, with lesser factors based on average scores on the SAT / ACT, average AP/IB scores and the number of AP/IB courses available to students.

Athletics

The Glen Ridge High School Ridgers compete in the Super Essex Conference, which consists of public and private high schools in Essex County and operates under the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 408 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North II, Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 73 to 457 students in that grade range. Prior to the NJSIAA's 2010 realignment, the school had competed in the Colonial Hills Conference which included 18 public and parochial high schools covering Essex County, Morris County and Somerset County in west Central Jersey. The mascot is the Ridger (a two-headed zebra).

Glen Ridge has a diverse athletics department. The basketball, soccer, football, and lacrosse teams are the school's largest athletic programs.

The boys' basketball team won the Group I state championship in 1944 vs. Dumont High School, in 1958 vs. Dunellen High School and in 1988 vs. Burlington Township High School.

The football team won the NJSIAA North II Group I state sectional championships in 1977, 1980 and 1982.

The girls' soccer team won the Group I state championships in 2001 (defeating Pennsville High School in the tournament final), in 2012 vs. Shore Regional High School and was co-champion in 2013 with Shore Regional. The 2007 girls soccer team won the North II, Group I state sectional championship with a 3-1 win over second-seeded North Arlington High School in the tournament final.

The school participates in a joint ice hockey program in partnership with Verona High School as the host school / lead agency, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2016-17 school year. The team competes in the NJIHL Central Conference (Essex Division). Each year the team hosts the Holiday Tournament at the Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange. The 2004-2005 season saw the team win its first conference championship.

The girls' lacrosse team won the Group I state championship in both 2011 and 2012, defeating Pingry School both years in the tournament final.

The boys' lacrosse team defeated Mountain Lakes High School to win the Group I state championship in 2011.

Glen Ridge rape case

In 1989, a group of football players from the school were involved in the sexual assault of a developmentally disabled female student, with three of the athletes convicted of sexual assault in the case. Author Bernard Lefkowitz wrote about their crime in Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb, which was later produced as Our Guys, a 1999 made-for-television movie. The case was also the basis for the Season Eight Law & Order episode "Damaged", starring Lauren Ambrose in the role of the mentally disabled student.

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:

  • Louis A. Melchor, Principal
  • Dr. Keisha Harris, Assistant Principal
  • Notable alumni

  • Tom Cruise (born 1962 as Tom Cruise Mapother), actor and director.
  • Gary Cuozzo (born 1941), former NFL quarterback.
  • Michael J. Doherty (born 1963), Member of the New Jersey Senate since 2009.
  • Joe Dubuque (born 1982), Amateur wrestler commonly referred to as "The Champ".
  • Ezra Koenig (born 1984), lead singer of Vampire Weekend.
  • Dick Zimmer (born 1944), former member of the United States House of Representatives, Republican candidate for United States Senate in 1996 and 2008.
  • References

    Glen Ridge High School Wikipedia