Ridgefield Memorial High School

Ridgefield Memorial High School
Location
555 Walnut Avenue
Ridgefield, New Jersey 07657
Information
Type Public high school
Established 1957
School district Ridgefield School District
Principal Tamika S. DePass
Vice principal Lauretta Crawford
Asst. Principal Michael Lennox
Faculty 53.0 (on FTE basis)[1]
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 568[1] (as of 2012-13)
Student to teacher ratio 10.73:1[1]
Color(s) Blue and White          
Athletics conference North Jersey Interscholastic Conference
Team name Royals
Rivals Palisades Park High School
Newspaper The Crown
Website School website

Ridgefield Memorial High School is a comprehensive community four-year public high school located in Ridgefield, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Ridgefield School District.

As of the 2012-13 school year, the school had an enrollment of 568 students and 53.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.73:1. There were 88 students (15.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 34 (6.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 176th-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.[2] The school had been ranked 96th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 112th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[3] The magazine ranked the school 135th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[4] The school was ranked 97th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[5] Schooldigger.com ranked the school 127th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 130 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (86.3%) and language arts literacy (93.8%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[6]

Extracurricular activities

The school's publications are The Crown monthly newspaper and Serendipity literary and arts magazine.

The Marching Royals Marching Band, under the direction of K-12 Music Supervisor Matt Tracey and high school band director, has won numerous 1st place and superior performance awards in its history since 1987. It is the largest Group I marching band in the state of New Jersey. The Marching Band, Jazz, and Percussion Ensemble travel annually to competitions across the nation. The Royals music program has placed nationally in every category. The band participates annually in the NCAA Men's college basketball tournament "Coaches vs. Cancer" at Madison Square Garden and at the NCAA Men's college basketball tournament "Legends Classic" at the IZOD center in the Meadowlands sports complex. The band has performed for Michael Jordan's basketball classic (also held at Madison Square Garden). In 2009, the Marching Royals were the Grand National Marching champion at the Orlando All-star music festival. The band had the highest score of the competition season regardless of school size or classification.

The Ridgefield Choirs, led by Tom Voorhis, have consistently placed the most students in Bergen County Chorus and Northern New Jersey Region Choir for the past seven years. They have averaged 17 students in the New Jersey All State Chorus and in that time have sent four students to the last two All Eastern Choruses. Their four choirs (Concert Choir, Men's Choir, Women's Choir, and the Royal Chorale) have received first place rankings, superior ratings and overall choral champion awards consistently at all of their competitions. Mr. Voorhis was the 2009 New Jersey All State Choir director and has conducted both region and county chorus numerous times at the middle school and high school level. The Ridgefield music program has sent graduates to The Juilliard School as well as Mason Gross School of the Arts.

The Academic Decathlon team has consistently gone to the state competition for the past 14 years (longer than other schools in NJ), and has received numerous awards and medals, including in the 2002–03 season, which saw them represent New Jersey in the National Finals in Phoenix, Arizona.[7]

The school's Robotics team has been around since 2006, and are known as P=I2*Rates (Pirates.)

Athletics

The Ridgefield Memorial High School Royals compete in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference (NJIC), made up of private and public high schools located in Bergen County, Passaic County and Hudson County, following a 2010 reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[8] With 448 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2014-15 school year as North II, Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 61 to 478 students in that grade range.[9] Prior to realignment that took effect in the fall of 2010, Ridgefield was a member of the Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL).[10] The school has 23 varsity sports programs.

The Royals golf team has been a strong presence since its creation in 2006, winning five consecutive league titles from 2006-2010. The Royals boys' Cross Country team also won a league title during the 2009 fall season. In 2012 and 2014, the baseball team won the North 1 Group 1 State Title, and advanced to the 2014 state finals; losing to Shore Regional High School. The Royals football team has sent players to Division I football programs such as Temple University and the United States Naval Academy.

Fall: Football, Cheerleading, Soccer(Boys/Girls), Cross Country (Boys/Girls), Tennis(Girls), Volleyball

Winter: Basketball (Boys/Girls), Indoor Track (Boys/Girls), Wrestling, Bowling (Boys/Girls), Competition Cheer Leading

Spring: Baseball, Softball, Tennis (Boys), Golf (Boys/Girls), Outdoor Track (Boys/Girls)

The Football, Soccer, and Track events are all held at Willis Field.

For the 2015 season, the school will only field a JV football team, after only 13 players participated in a fall football camp. The school will forfeit all of its varsity games, repeating what was done in the 2011 season after the team had lost its first three games. The future of the varsity football program is unclear, but the NJSIAA offers schools the option of creating a co-op program with another school.[11][12]

Notable alumni

Administration

Core members of the school's administration include:[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 School Data for Ridgefield Memorial High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed March 29, 2015.
  2. ↑ Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  3. ↑ Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed December 2, 2012.
  4. ↑ Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 31, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  6. ↑ New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 4, 2012.
  7. ↑ Academic Decathlon, Ridgefield Education Association, March 21, 2011. Accessed July 23, 2011.
  8. ↑ League Memberships – 2014-2015, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 13, 2014.
  9. ↑ 2014-2015 Public Schools Group Classification: ShopRite Cup–Basketball–Baseball–Softball for North II, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, as of July 8, 2014. Accessed October 13, 2014.
  10. ↑ New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association League Memberships – 2009-2010, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 24, 2011. Accessed October 13, 2014.
  11. ↑ Cooper, Darren. "Cooper on H.S. football: Ridgefield will play only a JV schedule", The Record (Bergen County), August 27, 2015. Accessed October 1, 2015. "Ridgefield Royals football will be back. But the news that the program is dropping down to the junior varsity level for 2015 comes at a time when people question whether football is worth it anymore.... This is not the first time Ridgefield has been down this road. In 2011, the Royals lost their first three games, then forfeited the rest of them.... The Royals reportedly had only 13 players come out for fall football camp."
  12. ↑ Dahler, Don. "High schools drop football over deaths, injuries and lack of interest" (Archive). CBS News. September 30, 2015. Accessed October 1, 2015. "Like schools in Camden, Maine, and Ridgefield, New Jersey, Maplewood had a hard time finding enough players, due to injuries and lack of interest."
  13. ↑ Anthony Suarez, Borough of Ridgefield. Accessed October 13, 2014. "Anthony is a product of the town's school system, graduating from Ridgefield Memorial High School, and Saint Peter's College in Jersey City."
  14. ↑ Alfred Bernard Vandeweghe obituary. dignitymemorial.com. Accessed March 24, 2014.
  15. ↑ 2013-2014 Parent & Student Handbook, Ridgefield Memorial High School. Accessed October 13, 2014.

External links

Coordinates: 40°49′52″N 74°00′01″W / 40.831176°N 74.000388°W / 40.831176; -74.000388

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