James J. Ferris High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades located in Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, operated as part of the Jersey City Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1940. The school is named for James J. Ferris, a civil engineer and politician in Jersey City best known for supervising the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad Harsimus Stem Embankment and the concrete foundation of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse. As of the 2017-18 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,327 students and 105.5 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 12.6:1. There were 889 students eligible for free lunch and 45 eligible for reduced-cost lunch. Ferris offers specialized learning centers focusing on Finance, Hospitality & Tourism, Management / Office Procedures, Marketing and International Studies. Students in the Finance Magnet are high achievers from all over the city. The magnet offers courses in Accounting, Economics, Banking, Financial Planning, Intro to Finance, Computers Business Applications 1&2. Juniors in this magnet attend Shadowing programs once a month at the Hyatt or Pershing LLC. During the student's senior year, they have an opportunity to take a paid internship co-op program at Merrill Lynch, Hyatt, Pershing, Bank of Tokyo, or the Board of Education.
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 299th-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 270th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 320th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 280th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 284th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 341st 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 James J. Ferris High School Bulldogs compete in the Hudson County Interscholastic League, which includes private and parochial high schools in Hudson County and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 905 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North II, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 778 to 1,062 students in that grade range. The boys' track team won the Group III state indoor relay championships in 1973.
