Harrison High School (New Jersey)


Harrison High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in Harrison, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Harrison Public Schools. Students from East Newark attend Harrison High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the East Newark School District, though the East Newark district has sought to switch to sending students to Kearny High School, citing potential cost savings.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 692 students and 54.0 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 12.8:1. There were 477 students eligible for free lunch and 107 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

History

In 2000, the then Harrison High School building was used as the location of an open casting call by HBO for the series The Sopranos, which brought 15,000-plus TV star hopefuls to the town, doubling the town's population and bringing traffic to a standstill.
In September 2013, Harrison High School was recognized with the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, one of 286 in the country to receive the award that year.

Awards, recognition and rankings

In September 2013, Harrison High School was recognized by the United States Department of Education as an Exemplary Improving School, as part of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.
The school was the 289th-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 205th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 213th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 216th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 227th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 285th out of 367 public high schools statewide in its 2009-10 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.

Athletics

The Harrison High School Blue Tide compete as a member of the Meadowlands Division of the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 528 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 508 to 770 students in that grade range. Prior to the NJSIAA's 2010 realignment, the school had participated in the Bergen County Scholastic League.
Interscholastic sports played at Harrison High School include:
The boys soccer team holds the United States high school record with 25 state championships.
It won the 2006 North II, Group I state sectional championship with a 2-1 win against Glen Ridge High School, then won the Group I state championship with a 2-0 win over Waldwick High School in the semifinals and a 6-0 win against Metuchen High School in the finals. The 2007 team repeated as North II, Group I state sectional championship with a 3-1 win over Jonathan Dayton High School in the tournament final. The 2007 team won the Group I state championship with a 2-1 win over Arthur P. Schalick High School, the team's 23rd state championship. The 2008 team won the Group I state championship with a 2-1 win over South River High School.
The boys' volleyball team won the West Jersey Volleyball League, Hudson County, and NJSIAA North II state sectional championships in 2015 and repeated the feat again in 2016.
The boys' bowling team won the overall state championship in 1959.
The boys' basketball team won the Group I state championship in 1960 ; the girls' basketball team won the Group III state championship in 1991.
The football team won the North I Group II state sectional championship in 1986.

The new Harrison High School

The new Harrison High School opened its doors in September 2007 for the 2007-08 academic year. The new school, located on the former site of Clayton Container, initiated construction in January 2005 and lasted over two years, with the bulk of its electrical work completed in the summer of 2007. A new athletic complex constructed adjacent to the school building was completed in September 2006, which includes a football/soccer field, baseball diamond, softball diamond, track around the fields, and three tennis courts. Spaces for the high school include thirty general classrooms, four special education classrooms, two classrooms for small group instruction, two gymnasiums, a dance/aerobics studio, instrumental/vocal music room, cafeteria, auditorium, media center, science labs, three computer rooms, and faculty spaces. The building has three floors. The first floor consists of the main office, the nurse's office, the gymnasiums, and the main places. The classrooms are located on the second and third floors. There is a period scheduling of classes. The building formerly known as Harrison High School opened as the new Washington Middle School in September 2007 for students in grades 6-8.

Notable alumni