Ramsey High School (New Jersey)

Ramsey High School, established in 1909, is a four-year comprehensive community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Ramsey, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Ramsey Public School District. Students from Saddle River attend the district's middle school and then have the option of attending either Ramsey High School or Northern Highlands Regional High School as part of sending/receiving relationships with each of the respective districts.[3][4][5][6]


Ramsey High School
Location
Ramsey High School
Ramsey High School
Ramsey High School
256 East Main Street
Ramsey, NJ 07446

United States
Coordinates41.05774°N 74.136609°W / 41.05774; -74.136609
Information
TypePublic high school
Established1909
School districtRamsey Public School District
NCES School ID3413590[1]
PrincipalDr. Michael J. Thumm
Faculty83.3 FTEs[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment838 (as of 2017-18)[1]
Student to teacher ratio10.1:1[1]
Color(s)     Blue and
     gold[2]
Athletics conferenceBig North Conference
Team nameRams[2]
RivalMahwah High School
WebsiteSchool website

As of the 2017-18 school year, the school had an enrollment of 838 students and 83.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.1:1. There were 35 students (4.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 10 (1.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

Ramsey High School is accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education.

History

The first class to graduate from Ramsey was the class of 1908, and they went to school in the current Borough Hall. After that, students went to John Y. Dater School, which was a regional K-12 school at the time. The first Ramsey High School was constructed in 1912, with the first commencement held in June 1913. An addition was constructed in 1923. By 1935, additional space was needed, and a new building was proposed to take advantage of funding available through the New Deal-era Public Works Administration. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new building were held on January 16, 1936, and the "New Ramsey High School" was dedicated in 1937.

With baby boomers filling the school beyond capacity, the school informed its sending districts of Franklin Lakes and Wyckoff that it would no longer accept students from those two communities at the high school beyond the 1956-57 school year, with the two communities joining Oakland to form the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District, which opened its doors in 1957 at Ramapo High School.[7]

Awards, Recognition, and Rankings

The school was the 22nd-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.[8] The school had been ranked 30th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 33rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[9] The magazine ranked the school 13th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[10] The school was ranked 27th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.[11] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 29th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 14 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (93.2%) and language arts literacy (99.1%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[12]

In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 805th in the nation among participating public high schools and 58th among schools in New Jersey.[13]

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 61st in New Jersey and 1,743rd nationwide.[14] Ramsey High School was recognized by Newsweek magazine as one of the top 500 high schools in the nation.

In 2010, on New Jersey's High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), 97.2% of 2010 graduates scored at the proficient or advanced proficient level on the math section, while 98.6% of Ramsey High School students scored at the proficient or advanced proficient levels on the language arts sections of the test. 93% of Ramsey High School's 2010 graduating class took the SAT. Student scores exceeded state averages, with those taking the exam averaging 563 on the math section (vs. 520 for all test takers in New Jersey), 576 on the verbal section (vs. 515) and scored 515 on the essay portion of the exam (vs. 515 statewide).[15]

Programs and curriculum

Programs at Ramsey High School include the following:

  • College preparatory program (math, science, language arts, and social studies)
  • Foreign languages (French, German, Latin, Spanish, on four and five levels, as well as two levels of Chinese in 2009)
  • Honors courses
  • Advanced Placement courses are available in AP Calculus, AP Statistics, and AP Computer Science; AP English Literature and Composition and AP English Language and Composition; AP Physics, AP Chemistry, and AP Biology; AP United States History and AP United States Government; AP Spanish Language, AP French Language, AP German Language, and AP Latin Literature; and AP Music Theory
  • Courses designed to address the needs of students with learning disabilities
  • Elective program (fine arts, practical arts, technology education, and business education)
  • Wireless mobile laptop technology along with a CAD lab and large and small computer labs, all connected to the internet
  • A library-media center with 27,000 print volumes along with internet connectivity at 24 research stations
  • A full complement of musical, athletic, artistic, literary, social, cultural, and service activities
  • Student government, leadership, character education, peer mediation, and various volunteer activities
  • A Japanese exchange program established with Fukui Prefecture in Japan
  • Musical programs include, the Ramsey High School Big Blue Marching Band, a world class High School Jazz Band, Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Winter Percussion, and Winter Guard.
  • A German Exchange program established with students in the Karlsruhe area of Germany.

Diploma requirements

In order to graduate with a diploma, students must complete 120 credits consisting of 4 years of English / Language Arts; 1 year of Physical Education, Health, and Safety for each year of enrollment; 2 years of United States History; 1 year of World History / Cultures; 3 years of Mathematics; 3 years of Science; 2 years of World Language; 5 credits of Fine Arts and 5 credits of Practical Arts. Cross-content workplace readiness skills, which are integrated into content areas in grades 9-12. All students, unless specifically exempted, must pass the Eleventh Grade HSPA as required by the State of New Jersey. All students must also take a state mandated Biology test when they take biology (freshman year for honors students and sophomore year for CP and MCP students).

Extracurricular activities

Marching Band

Ramsey High School's Big Blue marching band was the 2005 Musical Arts Conference NJ State Champion and the 2005 Tournament of Bands Chapter 10 Group 4 Champion. The band also won 7th place in Group 4 at the Atlantic Coast Championship held in Hersheypark Stadium in November 2011.[16] The band is under the direction of Clifford Bialkin. In 2015, Big Blue won 5th place at the Atlantic Coast Championships. The band was invited to play in the 2015-2016 New Year's Day Parade in Rome, Italy. The band represented the state of New Jersey in the 2017 Memorial Day parade in Washington, D.C.

Athletics

The Ramsey High School Rams[2] compete in the Big North Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[17] With 628 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North I, Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 495 to 762 students in that grade range.[18] Prior to the 2010 realignment, the school participated in the North Bergen Interscholastic Athletic League (NBIL/NBIAL).[19] Most sports have both a Varsity and a Junior Varsity team, and many sports have Freshmen teams. (Inclusion of "boys"/"girls" designates two distinct teams, even if both practice together.)

Teams marked with an asterisk (*), although technically separate teams that compete and score independently of each other, usually practice and compete alongside the opposite sex's team of the same sport. Sports offered include:[2]

  • Fall sports teams: Football, Soccer (boys), Soccer (girls), Cross country (boys), Cross country (girls), Field hockey, Tennis (girls), Volleyball (girls), Cheerleading and Marching Band
  • Winter sports teams: Basketball (boys), Basketball (girls), Bowling (boys)*, Bowling (girls)*, Track (boys)*, Track (girls)*, Ice hockey, Swimming (boys)*, Swimming (girls)* Wrestling, Winter percussion, Winter guard, Fencing (individual)
  • Spring sports teams: Baseball (boys), Softball (girls), Track (boys)*, Track (girls)*, Golf (boys)*, Golf (girls)*, Tennis (boys), Lacrosse (boys) and Lacrosse (girls)

The school has won the following state championships:[20]

The 2007 boys' soccer team won the North I, Group II state sectional championship with a 5-0 win over Tenafly High School in the tournament final.[36] The team moved on to win the Group II state championship, the first ever by the program, with a 3-1 win over Cinnaminson High School.[37][38]

In 2002, the Rams football team went 11-1 capturing the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North I Group II state championship for the first time in school history, with a 7-6 win over Hoboken High School.[39] In 2009 the Rams football team went 10-2 and won their second NJSIAA North I Group II football championship with a 36-10 victory over River Dell High School.[40]

Winter Guard

The winter guard, nicknamed “Velocity”, competes in the MAIN circuit, and they won first place in 2018.

Notable alumni

Fallen heroes

In a five-year span, three Ramsey High School graduates who were serving in the United States Armed Forces were killed while serving: Corporal Michael Jankiewicz (Class of 2006), Staff Sgt. Eric Christian (Class of 1993), and Staff Sgt. Timothy McGill (Class of 2001).[53]

Administration

The principal is Dr. Michael J. Thumm.[54]

gollark: Objects are just base-256 bigints also.
gollark: Strings are just base-256 bigints.
gollark: This is due to the rotation of certain tellerium icosahedra rotating in 7-dimensional sub-ubqvian ultraspace.
gollark: No, I blame you.
gollark: Incorrect. Chaos theory is sometimes used to analyze memetics, but it's not a subfield of chaos theory any more than the weather is.

References
  1. School data for Ramsey High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
  2. Ramsey High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 24, 2015.
  3. Staff. "Tuition to rise $219 under new contract", Town Journal, November 19, 2009. Accessed August 22, 2011. "With no high school in the borough, Saddle River students have the option of enrolling in either Ramsey High School or Northern Highlands. The new deal replaces the previous agreement that covered 1998 to 2008."
  4. Ramsey Public Schools 2015 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 1, 2016. "In addition to serving the residents of Ramsey, the District educates the students of Saddle River in grades 6-12 through a send-receive relationship."
  5. Ramsey Schools Overview, Saddle River School District. Accessed April 12, 2011. "Following graduation from Fifth grade, students enter Eric Smith Middle School in Ramsey, New Jersey. Upon graduation from Eighth grade students may attend Ramsey High School."
  6. Northern Highlands High School Overview, Saddle River School District. Accessed April 12, 2011. "Northern Highlands High School is located in Allendale New Jersey and is one of the two high schools Saddle River students may elect to attend."
  7. Staff. "ENROLLMENTS TAX SCHOOLS IN BERGEN; Auxiliary Rooms Are Being Converted for Classes and Construction Is Pushed", The New York Times, September 4, 1954. Accessed December 24, 2013. "How soon this plant will be ready is problematical, but there is pressure in the fact that Wyckoff and Franklin Lakes students will not be accepted at Ramsey High School after the fall of 1956."
  8. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  9. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed October 9, 2012.
  10. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed August 22, 2011.
  11. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  12. New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed February 25, 2012.
  13. Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 9, 2013.
  14. Mathews, Jay. "The High School Challenge 2011: Ramsey High School", The Washington Post. Accessed September 10, 2011.
  15. Ramsey High School 2010 School Report Card, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 11, 2011.
  16. Atlantic Coast Group 4 Championship @ Hershey Park Stadium - Sunday November 06, 2011, Tournament of Bands and again, in 7th place, in 2012. Accessed April 25, 2012.
  17. League & Conference Affiliations 2016-2017, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 10, 2017.
  18. General Public School Classifications 2015-2016, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, as of December 15, 2015. Accessed December 12, 2016 23, 2014.
  19. 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 November 23, 2014.
  20. State Championship Teams, Ramsey High School. Accessed September 21, 2015.
  21. Public Past State Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 19, 2017.
  22. History of the NJSIAA Field Hockey Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 21, 2017.
  23. 2016 NJSIAA Group Cross Country Championships Program, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 19, 2017.
  24. Mills, Ed. "H.S. softball: Ramsey wins Group 2 state title, delivers on preseason pact", The Record (Bergen County), June 6, 2015. Accessed September 21, 2015. "Sparked by key hits from Novak and Triglia, and another sterling effort from pitcher Katie Olson, Ramsey defeated Robbinsville, 3-0, to claim the Group 2 championship Friday at Kean University's Cougar Field. It was the Rams' first state softball championship since they won the Group 3 final over Cumberland Regional in 1991 and third in the history of the school."
  25. Cooper, Darren. "Ramsey softball wins Group 2 title in dramatic fashion", The Record (Bergen County), June 1, 2019. Accessed October 19, 2019. "Cunningham’s single in the bottom of the seventh inning scored her sister Sophie to give Ramsey a 2-1 win over Bordentown in the Group 2 final Saturday at Kean University. It was a thrilling finish for the Rams who had lost in the Group 2 final the past two seasons."
  26. History of the NJSIAA Softball Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed April 25, 2012.
  27. NJSIAA GIRLS VOLLEYBALL GROUP CHAMPIONS, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed April 25, 2012.
  28. 2015 Soccer Championships Program, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, as of December 15, 2015. Accessed January 19, 2017.
  29. Girls Soccer - 2011 NJSIAA Tournament - Group 2 Championship, NJ.com. Accessed September 24, 2015.
  30. Narducci, Marc. "Delran Loses In State Soccer Final The Bears Controlled Most Of The Play In The Group 2 Girls' Title Game, But Ramsey Got The Only Goal.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 19, 2000. Accessed September 11, 2011. "Despite controlling play throughout, Delran suffered a 1-0 defeat to Ramsey in the state Group 2 championship game at the College of New Jersey."
  31. Morris, Tim. "Colonials bid for a title is thwarted in double OT Borough falls 2-1 to Ramsey", News Transcript, November 21, 2011. Accessed September 11, 2011. "That the Colonials' state title bid ended agonizingly in a double-overtime loss to Ramsey, 2-1, Saturday at The College of New Jersey, hardly diminished what the Colonials had achieved."
  32. Moroney, Murphy. "Boys golf: Complete sectional results, 2015", NJ Advance Media, May 11, 2015. Accessed September 21, 2015. "GROUP 2: ROCKLEIGH GOLF CLUB, ROCKLEIGH - TEAMS: 1-Ramsey 295 (Chris Kopack 69, Robert Beers 75, Christian Incardona 75) 2-Ramapo 295 (Matt Collins 75, Stephen Schwab 77, Andrew Scher 79, Ian Lee 79)."
  33. 2007 Boys Soccer - Public Semis/Finals, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed February 27, 2008.
  34. Staff. "Public B Finals: Ramsey 2, Kinnelon 02009 NJSIAA High School Hockey Championships", New Jersey Devils, March 21, 2009. Accessed September 11, 2011. "Ramsey's Matt Braun made 40 saves Saturday to shut out Kinnelon, 2-0, in the Public B title game at Prudential Center.... In its first trip to the New Jersey Devils/NJSIAA Championships presented by Chase, Ramsey became the first Bergen County school to capture a state title."
  35. Goldberg, Jeff. NJSIAA Football Playoff Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 22, 2015.
  36. 2007 Boys Soccer - North I, Group II, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 13, 2007.
  37. 2007 Boys Soccer - Public Semis/Finals, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 24, 2007.
  38. Schutta, Gregory. "Ramsey savors first state championship", The Record (Bergen County), November 18, 2007. Accessed November 24, 2007.
  39. Hague, Jim. "Red Wings suffer heartbreaking loss: Drop a 7-6 decision to Ramsey in Group II finale", The Hudson Reporter, December 13, 2002. Accessed September 11, 2011. "The final outcome was not even imaginable. It was supposed to be destiny that Hoboken would win the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group II state football championship last Sunday. Everything had fallen into place for the Red Wings.... However, that's not what happened. Sometimes, destiny plays funny tricks on even the surest of events. Sometimes, things don't go quite according to plan. Ramsey pulled off the unthinkable and shocked the Red Wings, 7-6."
  40. Kinney, Mike. "Ramsey 36, River Dell 10", The Star-Ledger, December 4, 2009. Accessed September 11, 2011. "Paced by the brilliant running of senior halfback Zach Donnarumma, Ramsey shook off a long TD run by River Dell on the game's second play, rolling to a 36-10 victory last night for the NJSIAA/Gatorade North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 championship before a crowd of 8,018 at Giants Stadium."
  41. Jim Alexander, The HistoryMakers. Accessed July 3, 2018. "Photographer Jim Alexander was born to contractor David Alexander and Frances James Alexander on August 7, 1935 in Waldwick, New Jersey. He attended Waldwick Public School and Ramsey High School."
  42. Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, 1973, p. 428. J. A. Fitzgeraldm 1973. Accessed August 14, 2019. "Richard W. De Korte (Rep., Franklin Lakes) - Assemblyman De Korte was born in Paterson, March 27, 1936. He graduated from Ramsey High School, Amherst College, B.A. ; University of Chicago Law School, J.D."
  43. Mazzola, Jessica. "Lumineers featured on The Colbert Report; Band talks about moving from Ramsey to Brooklyn to Colorado.", Ramsey Patch, July 31, 2013. Accessed October 19, 2017. "Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites, both Ramsey High School grads, answered questions on the show about how the band started out, and why they chose to move to Colorado."
  44. Carrera, Catherine. "Ramsey's 'Lumineer' mom shares proud moment", Ramsey Suburban News, February 14, 2013. Accessed October 19, 2017. "Jeremiah graduated from Ramsey High School in 2001 [sic] and from William Paterson University in 2009."
  45. Staff. "Dr. John G. Hewson Obituary", The Times (Trenton), July 8, 2012. Accessed December 20, 2013. "Born on Sept. 7, 1924 in Waldwick, NJ, to the late Garrett Lloyd and Bertha Hewson, Dr. Hewson was a graduate of Ramsey High School in Ramsey, NJ, and later attended Muhlenberg, Bucknell and Temple universities as part of the V-12 program during World War II."
  46. Mike Laga, Baseball Almanac. Accessed October 19, 2017.
  47. Genzlinger, Neil (December 13, 2019). "William McFeely, Pulitzer-Winning Historian, Dies as 89". The New York Times.
  48. Rohan, Virginia. "Bergen County native's 'Dirt' character reaps what he sows", The Record (Bergen County), January 1, 2007, backed up by the Internet Archive as of December 25, 2007. Accessed October 19, 2017. "Nordling was born 3,000 miles from the craziness, at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, and grew up mostly in Washington Township (in the only house on the town's Times Square).When he was 15, the family moved to Saddle River, and Nordling transferred to Ramsey High School, where he became a soccer star."
  49. Dazio, Stefanie. "Saddle River's Caroline Pennell advances to next round of The Voice", The Record (Bergen County), November 25, 2013. Accessed June 27, 2016. "Ramsey High School held a viewing party of senior Caroline Pennell's performance on The Voice last week."
  50. Idec, Keith. "UFC: Ramsey native Jimmie Rivera on the UFC stage at Prudential", The Record (Bergen County), January 29, 2016. Accessed July 3, 2018. "Jimmie Rivera couldn’t have more at stake Saturday night. The former Ramsey High School wrestler’s UFC bantamweight bout at Prudential Center will be televised live on free TV."
  51. Aberback, Brian. "Ramsey's Lumineers Receive Grammy Nods; Acoustic Folk-Pop Band nominated for Best New Artist and Best Americana Album has roots in the borough", Ramsey Patch, December 21, 2012. Accessed October 19, 2017. "'As musicians, you can't concern yourselves with awards and things that are out of your control,' Schultz, a 2001 Ramsey High School grad said.... Schultz said he did not know Jeremiah Fraites well in high school but the two became good friends and songwriting partners after Schultz returned to Ramsey from college."
  52. Wood, Patrick. "George Verwer and the birth of OM", Operation Mobilisation, October 30, 2016. Accessed October 19, 2017. "In Wyckoff, New Jersey, in 1953 George was 14 years old, high-spirited, and showing promise as a natural-born leader at Ramsey High School when Mrs. Clapp's son first gave him a copy of John's Gospel."
  53. Carrera, Catherine. "Ramsey honors fallen Staff Sgt. Timothy Raymond McGill with homecoming", Ramsey Suburban News, October 3, 2013. Accessed November 24, 2015. "'I sure hope this is the last procession we have to do,' Botta said, referring to memorial processions the borough has witnessed for fallen Marine Staff Sgt. Eric D. Christian, 39, and Army Ranger Michael Jankiewicz, 23, both graduates of the high school also killed while serving in Afghanistan."
  54. Principal's Page, Ramsey High School. Accessed October 19, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.