Whippany Park High School
Whippany Park High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Hanover Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as one of the two secondary schools of the Hanover Park Regional High School District. The other school in the district, Hanover Park High School, serves students from East Hanover and Florham Park. The school is located in the Whippany section of Hanover Township.
As of the 2017-18 school year, the school had an enrollment of 658 students and 60.8 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 10.8:1. There were 12 students eligible for free lunch and 13 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
Awards, recognition and rankings
Whippany Park High School was the 46th-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 38th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 42nd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 45th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 54th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 102nd 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 its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 429th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 48th among all high schools in New Jersey and 31st among the state's non-magnet schools.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 625th in the nation among participating public high schools and 49th among schools in New Jersey.
Athletics
The Whippany Park High School Wildcats compete in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference which is composed of public and parochial high schools covering Morris County, Sussex County, and Warren County, operating under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 542 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 reorganization, the school had competed in the Colonial Hills Conference.The school participates in joint boys' and girls golf, lacrosse and boys' and girls' swimming programs with Hanover Park High School as the host school / lead agency, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2016-17 school year.
The boys' soccer team won the 1988 Group I state title with a 1-0 win over Haddonfield High School in double overtime and was co-champion with Arthur P. Schalick High School after a scoreless tie in 2001. The boys soccer team won the 2003 NJSIAA Group I Sectional Championship with a 2-1 win over Bernards High School. The boys soccer team won the 2006 NJSIAA North II Group II Sectional Championship with a 1-0 victory over Cliffside Park High School. On their way to the sectional final they defeated and shut out Harrison High School who was previously undefeated and ranked 3rd in the state at the time. The team went on to become North Jersey Group II champs with a 2-0 victory over Newton High School. They lost in the Group II finals by a score of 1-0 to Haddonfield High School who finished the season ranked 18th in the state.
The 2004 girls' soccer team won the North II, Group I sectional championship with a 3-0 win against Lyndhurst High School in the tournament final. The 2004 team moved on to win the NJSIAA Group I state championship with a pair of shutout victories, defeating Butler High School 1-0 in the semifinals and Arthur P. Schalick High School 1-0 to win the championship.
Whippany Park is also well known for its softball program. They won the Morris County Championship back to back in 2006 and 2007 and hold the record for most Morris County tournament championships with 9. Whippany Park softball also holds the state record for consecutive victories with 75, a mark set by the teams which played from 1989 and 1991.
In 2007 the boys' cross country team won the Group I State Sectional Title. In 2007 the boys track team finished as Co-Champs in the North II Group I Sectional Finals for Spring Track. In 2008 the boys track team were the North II Group I Section Champions. In 2008 the boys Spring Track team was the North II Group I Section Champions.
Whippany Park's 2008 wrestling team went 16-5 in the season and won their first ever state sectional championship, beating county-ranked Parsippany High School and won the North Jersey Section II Group I sectional championship. The team brought six members to the regions that year and had one fourth-place finisher.
The Whippany Park hockey team won back-to-back Haas Cup Championships in 2004 and 2005. In 2010-11 and 2011–12, the team won back-to-back Haas Cup Championships once again. In February 2016, Park hockey won the Haas Cup for the seventh time since 2000, beating Vernon Township High School by a score of 4-2 in a game played in front of 3,500 people at Mennen Arena.
In 1980, the football team won their first New Jersey North Section II, Group II state football championship, beating Madison High School 10-9. The victory culminated a 10-1 record for the season, in which the team beat two other state champions that year, Delbarton School 21-13 and Glen Ridge High School 17-6.
The girls field hockey team won the North II Group II state sectional title in 1980 and the North II Group I title in 1981.
The boys track team won the 2004 Group I indoor relay championship.
The baseball team won back to back conference championships, and won the North II Group I Sectional Championship in 2010 with a 6-5 win over High Tech High School. After winning the Group I semifinal against Emerson High School, the team lost in the Group I State Finals to Pitman High School 5-0, finishing the season with a record of 20-4.
The softball team were North II Group I sectional champions in 2010 with a 13-2 win against Hoboken High School. In 2011, the team won the North II Group I title with an 8-0 shutout in the championship game against New Providence High School, but lost to New Egypt High School in the Group I State finals by a score of 9-2.
Tom Wilson, a former Whippany Park High School soccer, basketball, and softball coach had more than 1,373 combined wins and is the holder of the Morris County record for girls basketball wins. He was featured in NJ.com's "The Top 99 New Jersey High School Coaches of All Time."
Administration
Core members of the school's administration are:- Christopher N. Kelly, Principal
Notable alumni
- Rosemarie DeWitt, actress.
- Dan Frischman, actor.
- Brian Saxton, tight end who played in the NFL for the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons.
Notable faculty
- Joe Righetti, former NFL defensive tackle who played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns.