Fort Lee High School


Fort Lee High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade, located in Fort Lee, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Fort Lee School District. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1931.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,012 students and 76.6 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 13.2:1. There were 141 students eligible for free lunch and 61 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

History

Fort Lee High School was established in 1916. It was relocated to its current location in 1928. A new wing was added in 1964. New classrooms were constructed in 1968. The school was completely renovated in the 1980s.

2009 transcript scandal

On March 3, 2009, a scandal concerning the transcript records of the students was alleged. The transcripts of students from 2003 to the current senior class were reported by Raymond Bandlow, the superintendent of schools, to have been tampered with. The Fort Lee Board of Education began its investigation of the scandal on March 4, 2009, and attempted to ascertain as to who exactly was involved after it was reported that in some instances, grades were changed, and in others low grades were deleted. Students of the class of 2009 expressed their discontent and anger regarding the scandal, as these allegations could jeopardize their chances of being admitted to colleges.

Awards, recognition and rankings

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 52nd in New Jersey and 1,611th nationwide. In 2006, the school was ranked 217th out of the top 1000 High Schools in the United States by Newsweek magazine.
The school was the 81st-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 97th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 72nd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 75th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 99th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 137th 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.
Fort Lee High School was ranked 55th out of 426 schools in New Jersey by U.S. News & World Report on its 2018 listing of "Best High Schools". It was in the 89th percentile in the New Jersey Department of Education ranking.

Athletics

The Fort Lee High School Bridgemen compete in the Big North Conference which includes schools in Northern New Jersey and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 726 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 2010 realignment, the team participated in the Bergen County Scholastic League American Conference, made up of private and public high schools located in Bergen County and Hudson County.
The boys' basketball team won the Group I state championship in 1947 and 1949.
In 2011, Nancie Sophias set the school record for the 800m that had been set in 1977 and became the high school's first woman to qualify for the NJSIAA State Track Meet of Champions in the event.
The varsity boys tennis team was top-seeded in the North II, Group II state sectional tournament, but lost in the semifinals 3-2 to James Caldwell High School.

Clubs

List of Fort Lee High School Clubs.Fort Lee High School 2018-2019 Agenda

Art Honor Society

An Art Honor Society where artists can develop their crafts.

Band

The Fort Lee High School Band performs multiple concerts every year. They have both Regular and Honors Chorus. They compete at Marching band Competitions in New Jersey and play at football games in the fall.

Chorus

The Fort Lee High School Chorus performs multiple concerts every year. They have both Regular and Honors Chorus.

Debate

The Fort Lee High School Debate Team competes in the BCDL at both the JV and Varsity levels.

Fort-Lee-Der

The Fort-Lee-Der student newspaper is an award-winning newspaper based out of Fort Lee High School.

International Thespian Society

The International Thespian Society runs and organizes the many branches of Fort Lee high School Theatre.

Orchestra

Theatre

The Fort Lee High School Theatre has many branches, some of which are performance based and some of which are service-based.

Notable faculty