Parsippany Hills High School

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 58th-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 23rd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 50th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 87th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was also ranked 87th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. PHHS was ranked #7 out of 98 schools in the 2010 "FG" District Factor Group (socioeconomic measure). Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 151st out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 30 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (83.6%) and language arts literacy (93.4%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

Academics

Parsippany Hills High School offers the basic math, science, English, and history courses, but also has a wide range of elective courses ranging from human development to choir to marketing. Parsippany Hills also offers its students a wide range of Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

96.8% of Parsippany Hills teachers hold a master's degree or doctorate in the field that they teach in. Parsippany Hills also has a student-to-faculty ratio of 10.6 students per every faculty member.

Parsippany Hills students can connect to the Internet, with most school computers having Internet connections. Most wall-mounted televisions in the school are equipped with cable television.

In order to graduate from Parsippany Hills High School, a student must take at least 24 credits of courses, where one credit equals a one period full-year class. A student must take four years of English, three years of mathematics, three years of science, three years of social sciences, one year of a career development course, one year of a foreign language, and one year of a visual and performing arts elective. In addition, all students must pass the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) in their junior or senior year.

Parsippany Hills High School uses the standard four marking period year, which are known as quarters. Two quarters make up one semester. The school does not use any form of block days in order to schedule classes. Rather, the classes are scheduled into an 8-period day, where periods last for about forty minutes each with four minutes in between classes.

Arts

Parsippany Hills offers a wide range of artistic classes, from drawing to ceramics. Parsippany Hills has a large drama club, known unofficially as the Parsippany Hills Players. Past productions have included The Odd Couple: Female Version, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, Picnic, Zombie Prom, The Importance of Being Earnest, Bye Bye Birdie, Aida, and Seussical. In the spring 2007 production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the Parsippany Hills Players saw a record audience.

The marching band, in circuit from June to November, has taken a total of six Northern USSBA States Championship titles ('94, '97,'04, '06, '07, '08) and three state championship titles ('02, '04, '08). In both 2004 and 2008, PHHSMB captured two championship titles. At the All-state championships in 2006, they tied with long-standing rivals Verona High School, but won more captions than any other band. At the state championship competition in 2007, PHHSMB placed second (out of 17). A week later, the band finished first with a score of 94.85 and took first place in every caption except for color guard. In 2008, PHHSMB finally went an undefeated season for the first time in over 20 years, winning both titles of State Champions and Northern States Champions.

In 2016, the PHHS Marching Band, under the direction of Mr. Michael Iapicca and Mr. Mike Ryan, led by Drum Majors Alexei Sepe and Meghan Wald, won the Tournament of Bands Group 3A Chapter 10 New York Metropolitan Regional Championships, taking all captions (Best Music, Best Visual, Best Percussion, Best Color Guard) with a score of 92.785 at Union HS.

Athletic

The Parsippany Hills High School Vikings participate in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 770 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North II, Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 608 to 770 students in that grade range. Prior to the NJSIAA's 2010 realignment, the school had competed as part of the Iron Hills Conference, which was made up of public and private high schools in Essex County, Morris County and Union County.

Sports offered at Parsippany Hills include tennis, football, soccer, cross country running, field hockey, cricket, volleyball, and cheerleading in the fall, swimming, basketball, ice hockey, wrestling, track, and cheerleading in the winter, and baseball, softball, tennis, and golf in the spring.

The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey program program with Parsippany High School, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2017-18 school year.

Parsippany Hills entered the 2006-07 wrestling season with no losing seasons, dating back to the school's founding in 1969. Recent notable achievements include the 2005-06 District IX championship and the 2003-04 Iron Hills Conference Championship (first since 1989). Individually, Parsippany Hills recently saw their streak of state place winners end at school record six straight years and has placed someone in the State's top 8 in nine of the last ten years. Recent State place winners include Evan Galipeau, Paul Galipeau, John Hesse and Chris Madia.

The 2007 boys' soccer team won the North II, Group III state sectional championship. In the semi-finals the team defeated heavily favorite Millburn High School 4-0 in Millburn to advance to the championship round. Then the team defeated West Morris Mendham High School with a 2-1 overtime win over to win the championship.

In 2007, the competition cheerleading squad captured the American National Championship in a competition in Baltimore, Maryland.

The football team won the North II Group III state championship in 2014. After four losses in the championship game of a sectional round, the team defeated Cranford High School by a score of 20-13 in the tournament final to win the school's first sectional title.

Parsippany Hills High School's primary rivals are Parsippany High School and in football, Wayne Hills High School. Rivalries have also been seen between the Vikings and Morris Hills High School and Morris Knolls High School during crucial football, basketball, and baseball games. Hanover Park High School is Parsippany Hills' rival in wrestling.

Parsippany Hills does not support random drug testing of participants in extracurricular activities.

Student council

Parsippany Hills High School has an active student council, which consists of an executive board, with ten members, one non-voting student Board of Education representative, one state officer, and a general assembly with two representatives from each homeroom. The student council general assemble convenes twice a month, with one meeting during the school day and the other in the evening.

Extracurricular activities

Parsippany Hills offers many after-school activities, from Academic Decathlon, Junior State of America, FCCLA, DECA, Key Club, Habitat for Humanity to FBLA, along with a steering committee for each grade, which functions as a smaller student council for that grade along with two faculty advisors. Other clubs include the Peerleaders' Activities Council, Animal Lovers Club, Garden Club, Math Team, ERASE Club and the Yearbook Club (Aegis). Parsippany Hills also has National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor Society, and International Thespian Society chapters.

New addition

The 2008-2009 school year saw the opening of the new "N-Wing" in the back of the school, which is a two-floor offshoot of the main "D-wing." The N-wing is equipped with whiteboards and each classroom is equipped with a ceiling-mounted projector.

Incident

Jenna Leahey, an English teacher and field hockey coach, was arrested in June 2013 for sexual relations with a 16-year-old student in a relationship that extended for six months. She was held in jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

On March 31, a judge ruled that the text messages, which were considered explicit, were admissible in court. These show the texts between the former student and the teacher. These text messages were sent from February 2013 until June of the same year.

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:

Notable graduates