The school was the 316th-ranked publichigh 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 319th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 293rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 301st in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was also ranked 301st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.
Athletics
The East Side High School Red Raiders compete in the Super Essex Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 1,264 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 1,114 to 4,800 students in that grade range. Prior to the 2010 reorganization, the school had competed in the Watchung Conference, which consisted of public and private high schools in Essex County, Hudson County and Union County in northern New Jersey. The school offers the only ice hockey program at any Newark public high school. The school offers the city's only public high school lacrosse team. The boys indoor track team won the Group IV indoor relay state championship in 1991. The boys' basketball team won the Group IV state championship in 2002 vs. Shawnee High School, and won the Group III championship in 2013 vs. Camden High School and in 2014 vs. Ewing High School. The team has been successful in recent years under Head Coach Bryant Garvin, and Assistant Coach Anthony Tavares. From 2001-2013, Tavares and Garvin have won five Newark Public Schools Christmas Tournament Championships, three Essex County championships, four sectional titles and a two state championships. NBA guard Randy Foye played for the Red Raiders, and led them to one of their state titles. Through September 2017, the football team has a 54-game losing streak, which dates back to an October 2011 win against crosstown rival West Side High School and has included five seasons in which the team didn't win a single game.
Controversy
In June 2007, the Newark Public Schools superintendent made the decision to block out a kiss between two male students out of the high school's yearbook. New Jersey gay rights group, Garden State Equality, demanded that the superintendent publicly apologize, saying "The school district's erasure of this student and his boyfriend is a tragic metaphor of the school district trying to erase the lesbian and gay community from its schools, and we won't stand for it." By the end of June, the district changed its mind about the photo, issuing a statement in which it apologized to Jackson, stated that copies of the yearbook would be reissued and affirming that the district respects its diversity and "supports all our students, regardless of race, gender, ethnic background or sexual orientation".
