The school was the 320th-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 252nd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 295th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 247th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 300th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school as 362nd out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 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.
History
The high school was opened in 1975 as a response to the overcrowded student population at John F. Kennedy, then the only high school in Willingboro, located just down the road on Kennedy Way. For a short time, residents were having a difficult time in deciding what to call the new Willingboro high school; some sought to name the new high school "J.F. Kennedy High School – East" while others debated on naming the school, "Robert F. Kennedy" after President Kennedy's brother, the former US Attorney General during his administration, Robert. A vote was taken and it was decided that the only appropriate name would be what the school is called today, "Willingboro High School." The school colors are navy blue, scarlet and white – which are the slight opposite of the school's former sister school, J.F.K.. The mascot is the "Chimera", a mythological monster with the head of a lion and body of a goat and the tail of a serpent, opposite of the former sister school, which was a "Gryphon, which had the head of an eagle and the body of a lion." The two schools were merged at the start of the 1989–90 school year, with all students attending what is now Willingboro High School.
Athletics
The Willingboro High School Chimeras compete in the Patriot Division of the Burlington County Scholastic League sports association, which operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association and consists of public and non-public high schools covering Burlington County, Mercer County and Ocean County in central New Jersey With 614 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as Central Jersey, Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 498 to 750 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Liberty Division of the 95-team West Jersey Football League superconference and was classified by the NJSIAA as South Jersey Group II for football for 2017-18. The girls' basketball team won the Group IV state championship in 1978 vs. Columbia High School and won Group III titles in 2000 vs. Orange High School, in 2002 vs. Malcolm X Shabazz High School and in 2007 vs. South Plainfield High School. The team won the 2007 Group III state championship, defeating South Plainfield by a score of 53–46 in the tournament championship for the title. The team won the South, Group III state sectional championship in 2000 with a 47–35 win against Pemberton Township High School. In 1976 and 1978, the girls field hockey team won the Group IV state championship.
Administration
The school's principal is Kimberly Ash. Her core administration team includes four assistant principals.
