Madison High School (New Jersey)


Madison High School is a four-year public high school serving students in ninth to twelfth grades in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Madison Public Schools. The school is located in the borough of Madison, and a portion of its property extends into the neighboring borough of Florham Park. Students from Harding Township attend the school as part of a sending/receiving relationship.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 879 students and 69.6 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 12.6:1. There were 56 students eligible for free lunch and 18 eligible for reduced-cost lunch. Over 90% of the district's graduates move on to a four-year college, with half of those attending highly competitive schools.

History

In May 1974, the Harding Township School District was given permission by the State Commissioner of Education to end their sending / receiving relationship with the Morris School District at Morristown High School and begin sending their students to Madison High School starting with the 1975–76 school year, ruling that the withdrawal of the mostly white students from Harding Township would not "cause a disproportionate change in the racial composition of Morristown High School".

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 32nd-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 6th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 15th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 35th in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2008 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools and was ranked 48th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 66th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics and language arts literacy components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 38th in New Jersey and 1,208th nationwide.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 296th in the nation among participating public high schools and 24th among schools in New Jersey.
In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 115th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 22nd among all high schools in New Jersey and ninth among the state's non-magnet schools.

Academic offerings

Madison High School offers four world languages, in addition to a full array of academic majors in English, History, Mathematics and Science. A selection of Studio Art courses are also offered. Among the Advanced Placement courses offered are AP English Literature and Composition, AP English Language and Composition, AP US History, AP United States Government and Politics, AP Psychology, AP Human Geography, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Spanish, AP French, AP Italian, AP Chinese, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Environmental Science, AP Studio Art, and AP Music Theory.

Extracurricular activities

The school offers the Personal Development Program in addition to the Peer Group Connections Program, a freshman orientation, and guidance program led by upperclassmen. The music program includes an orchestra, concert band, chorus, jazz band and chorus, guitar ensemble, show band, marching band and musical theater.

Athletics

The Madison High School Dodgers compete in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association including football, basketball, and field hockey. With 634 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 2009 realignment, the school had participated in the Suburban Division of the Northern Hills Conference.
Madison High School offers dozens of clubs and 23 interscholastic sports, most notably including its field hockey and boys' lacrosse teams. Madison is one of the very few schools in the division to have a synthetic turf field. The Sportexe "PowerBlade" turf was completed on September 22, 2006, and publicly unveiled the following day in a varsity football game against their division rival Delbarton School.
The boys' baseball team won the North II Group II state sectional championship in 1963 and the North II Group III state sectional championship in 1968. The team won the North II, Group II sectional championship in 2012, defeating Bernards High School by a score of 5–2 in the tournament final.
The football team won the NJSIAA North II Group II state sectional championship in 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and won the North II Group I title in 1998. In 2010, the Madison football team won the North II Group II state sectional title with a 28–21 win against James Caldwell High School, ending the season with a 12–0 record and earning the program's sixth sectional title. In 2011, the Madison football team again won the North II Group II state sectional title with a 47–7 win against Summit High School, ending the season with a 12–0 record and earning the program's seventh sectional title. In 2012, the team won their third consecutive state championship, beating Mountain Lakes High School by a score of 13–0 in a game played at Kean University, finishing the season with a 12–0 record and marking their 37th consecutive victory. In 2015, the team won the North II Group II sectional title with a 27–6 win against Rutherford High School, the fourth title under head coach Chris Kubik and the program's ninth state title. In 2016, the program won its tenth sectional title and its second consecutive championship, winning the North II Group II state sectional title with a 13–7 win against Lenape Valley Regional High School in the tournament final.
The boys' soccer team were Group II co-champions in 1982 after a tie in the tournament final against West Deptford High School. The team won the Group I state championships in 1994 against A.P. Schalick High School and won the 1996 title over Riverside High School.
The girls' track team won the Group II indoor relay state championship in 1985 and 2008.
The girls' field hockey team won the North Jersey II Group II state sectional championships in 1990, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007; won the North II Group I titles in 1994 and 1997; won the North I Group I titles in 1995, 2000 and 2006; and won the North I Group II sectional titles in 2009 and 2014. The team won the Group I state championship in 1995, and the Group II titles in 1997, 2003 and 2009. In 2003, the field hockey team won the Group II state championship with a 5–1 win over Pequannock Township High School in the semifinals and a 2–1 win against Allentown High School in the tournament's final match. In 2007, the field hockey team won the North II, Group II state sectional championship with a 4–2 win over Hackettstown High School in the tournament final. In 2009, the field hockey team finished the season ranked 4th in the state by The Star-Ledger, having won the North II, Group II state sectional championship, the Morris County Championship, the NJAC Conference Championship, and, most notably, the Group II state championship with a 3–1 win against Bishop Eustace Preparatory School. In 2015, under coach Ann Marie Davies, the field hockey team won the NJAC title, Morris County Tournament, North II Group II state sectional title, and the Group II state title with a 5–0 win against Wall High School. The field hockey team won the 2015 Morris County Tournament with a 2–1 win against West Morris Mendham High School in the tournament final, winning the team's fifth consecutive county title and their 21st overall.
In 2010, the girls' volleyball team came in second place in the Morris County Tournament after losing a close game against West Morris. They won the Group I South sectional finals against Secaucus High School, but lost to Bogota High School in two sets in the Group I state finals, ending their season with a 24–4 record.
In 2012, the boys' winter track team coached by Dr. Mark Ladolcetta won the North II Group I sectional title.
In 2012, Madison discontinued their high school cheerleading program.
In 2015, the boys' ice hockey team won their first ever Haas Cup and finished with a record 27 wins and 2 losses.

Spring musical

Madison High School added a musical to its list of extracurriculars in 1961. Recent productions include Bright Star, Footloose, Oklahoma!, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Bye Bye Birdie, The Music Man, The Wizard of Oz, , and, as its 50th annual spring musical, 42nd Street, in 2010, under the direction of former choir director Caryn Elefante.

Fall drama

Madison High School staged a Fall Drama/Comedy Production for the first time in 1978. These productions include Barefoot in the Park, Arsenic and Old Lace, Don't Drink the Water, Shubert Alley, Blithe Spirit, See How They Run, The Murder Room, You Can't Take it With You, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Don't Drink the Water, The Odd Couple-Female Version, Play On!, Morning at Seven, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Night of January 16th, The Odd Couple-Male and Female Version, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Murder is Announced, The Miracle Worker, The Enchanted April, Exit the Body, The Importance of Being Earnest, I Remember Mama, Our Town, The Mousetrap, The Odd Couple-Male and Female Version, Twelve Angry Men, Murder at the Vicarage, Father of the Bride, Play On!, The Crucible, You Can't Take It With You, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Odd Couple, "The Real Inspector Hound", and "Midsummer Jersey". The productions were under the direction of Julie Harding, an English teacher at the school until 2012. Megan Niper is currently the director of these productions, with assistance from Doug Oswin, also an English teacher at the school.

Madison Marching Dodgers

In 2009, Madison High School revived its marching band, which hadn't performed since its departure almost 25 years earlier. Russ Batsch, the band director, is the head of the marching band along with a staff composed of his former students, who are mainly volunteers. In 2010, the Marching Dodgers embarked upon their first competitive season. The Marching Dodger Band placed 1st in each regular season competition, taking home awards for High Music and High Visual, and placed 1st at the Championship Competition held at West Essex High School. The Marching Dodger Band went on to win 2nd place in Class 2A of the Tournament of Bands at the Atlantic Coast Championships out of almost 135 other bands on the East Coast within their region. In their 2011 season, they won every competition they entered. In their 2012 season, the Marching Dodgers competed as a part of the chapter 2 open class, in Tournament of Bands. In their 2016 season, their field show, called "Cityscape", won 9th place in the Group 3 Open Atlantic Coast Championships.

Plagiarism scandal

During Madison High School's 2008 graduation ceremony, School Board President Melissa Elias gave a commencement address plagiarized from a graduation address delivered by Anna Quindlen at Mount Holyoke College in 1999. Before Elias' resignation, the Madison School Board released a statement declaring that "the board does not condone nor tolerate plagiarism within the Madison School community and expects all members of our community to adhere to the highest ethical standards."

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are: