Type Public high school Faculty 113.0 FTEs Motto "The Tribe with Pride" Colors White, Blue | Established 1952 Principal Kenneth J. Palczewski Phone +1 973-633-3067 Founded 1952 Lowest grade Ninth grade | |
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Asst. principals David DrozjockBrian FaehndrichJennifer GrimbilasKeith J. ParianTimothy Rymer Profiles | ||
Wayne Valley High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school, in Wayne, in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of the two secondary schools of the Wayne Public Schools, the other being Wayne Hills High School. Wayne Valley has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1954. The school is also accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education. Wayne Valley's school colors are blue and white, and Wayne Valley is the home of the Indians, "The Tribe with Pride", and is known for its "tradition of excellence".
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As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,332 students and 113.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.8:1. There were 92 students (6.9% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 29 (2.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
Awards, recognition and rankings
In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 417th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 45th among all high schools in New Jersey and 28th among the state's non-magnet schools.
The school was the 91st-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 64th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 63rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 46th in 2008 out of 316 schools. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 122nd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 16 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (85.9%) and language arts literacy (94.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
Sports
The Wayne Valley High School Indians compete in the Big North Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. In the 2009-10 school year, the school competed in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference, which was established on an interim basis to facilitate the realignment. Prior to the realignment, the school had participated in the Northern Hills Conference's Skyline Division. With 987 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North I, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 786 to 1,074 students in that grade range.
Wayne Valley has installed turf fields to be used by the football, lacrosse, field hockey, and soccer teams. The fields were installed as part of an interlocal agreement with the Township of Wayne.
The field hockey team won the North I Group IV state sectional championship in 1975 and 1979.
The baseball team won the Passaic County championship in 1981, 1986, 1988, 2010 and 2015. The team won the 2010 title over West Milford High School by a 5-4 score. Tolerico's two-run homer tied the game and pinch-hitter Chris Edie's bases-loaded walk forced home senior third baseman Pete Savastano with what emerged as the game-winning run. The Indians' three-run seventh capped a dramatic comeback from a 4-0 deficit entering the sixth and earned Wayne Valley its first PCT baseball championship since 1988 and the fourth time the team has earned the county title.
The football team won the NJSIAA North I Group III state sectional championships in 1982, 1988–89 and 1991. The team made it to the North I Group III playoffs in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. In 2005, the Indians were second seeded behind Wayne Hills High School and beat Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest 12-3 in the first round, falling in the 2nd round to 3rd seeded Parsippany Hills High School 27-7. They went into the 2006 playoff 3rd seeded, losing in the first round to Passaic Valley Regional High School, 49-20. In the 2007 playoffs, they were once again the 2nd seed behind their cross-town rival, Wayne Hills High School. They made it to the finals, beating Passaic Valley Regional High School 46-23 in the first round and Paramus High School 20-7 in the semifinals. They faced Wayne Hills High School in the finals, for an all-Wayne Championship game, falling 27-7 to Wayne Hills in the North I Group III state sectional championship game played at Giants Stadium. The loss was the sole blemish on an 11-1 season.
The boys' golf team won the Passaic County Tournament in 2004-2007, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014.
In 2007, the boys' basketball team played in the North I, Group III state championship, falling to Passaic Valley Regional High School by 60-48, in a game played at Passaic County Technical Institute. The boys' basketball team, seeded 10th in the tournament, won the North I Group III state championship on March 4, 2008 over top seed West Milford High School by a score of 48-45 in a game played at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, New Jersey. This was the team's first sectional title in just over a decade.
The Wayne Valley boys' track team went undefeated in the 2011 season, winning the county relays, conference and county meets. The girls' team went undefeated in the dual meet season, losing the conference meet to West Orange High School which came down to the last event, and won its fifth county title in a row.
The wrestling team won the North I Group III state sectional title in 2014.
Incidents
On June 13, 2007, authorities found two bundles of what looked like half-sticks of dynamite in two lockers at Wayne Valley. All of the students were evacuated, and the Passaic County Sheriff's Department bomb squad extracted the devices. The devices were then detonated at the Paterson firing range. It is unknown whether the devices were intended to do harm or be used as part of a prank, and police are still investigating. On June 27, 2007, five members of the class that just graduated from the school were arrested for their roles in the incident, and face up to 25 years in jail if convicted on all charges filed.
Administration
Core members of the schools administration are: