Hasbrouck Heights High School


Hasbrouck Heights High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Hasbrouck Heights and Teterboro in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone high school of the Hasbrouck Heights School District.
The district serves students from Teterboro, a non-operating district that was merged into the Hasbrouck Heights School District following its dissolution on July 1, 2010.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 548 students and 46.0 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 11.9:1. There were 71 students eligible for free lunch and 20 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 138th-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 72nd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 107th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 82nd in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 92nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 49th 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.

Athletics

The Hasbrouck Heights Aviators compete as a member of the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference in the Meadowlands Division, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 430 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North I, Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 187 to 490 students in that grade range. Prior to realignment that took effect in the fall of 2010, Hasbrouck Heights was a part of the Bergen County Scholastic League. The team nickname is the Aviators.

Baseball

The baseball team won the North I, Group I state sectional championship in 2007, topping Verona High School by a score of 7-4 in the tournament final.

Girls' basketball

In March 2015, the girls' basketball team won the North I, Group I state sectional championship with a 40-27 victory against Wood-Ridge High School in the tournament final, the first state title for any of the school's basketball teams.

Football

The football team was awarded the sectional championship by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association in 1952, 1954, 1955, 1962, 1964, 1968, 1969 and 1972. Since the playoff system was introduced in 1974, the team has won the NJSIAA North I Group I state sectional championship in 1975, 1976, 1994, 2007, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
In 1975, the Heights team went 10-0-1 and won the North I, Group I state sectional championship by defeating Ridgefield Memorial High School 22-6 in the first year that the state held playoffs. They were also the BCSL National champions that season. The 1976, the 11-0 Heights Aviators repeated as North I, Group I sectional champions by defeating Mahwah High School in the finals and were the league champions of the BCSL National. In 1994, the Heights team went 10-1 and won the North I, Group I state sectional championship by defeating North Arlington High School by a score of 14-6 at the tournament final at Giants Stadium. In 2007, the team won the North I, Group I state sectional championship with a 26-16 win over New Milford High School, in a game played at Giants Stadium. The team went 12-0 while also capturing the BCSL Olympic league championship. Depken Field was resurfaced with field turf.
The team won the North I, Group I state sectional title in 2016 with a 30-12 win against New Milford High School in the tournament final.
In 2017, the team won its second consecutive North I, Group I state sectional title—its sixth overall in the playoff era—with a 39-14 win against sixth-seeded Pompton Lakes High School in the final game of the playoffs, played at Kean University.
The team won the North Group I bowl game in 2018 with a 41-7 win against Butler High School.
Hasbrouck Heights High School has won a total of 19 Group I state sectional championships and two Group II state sectional championships since 1920 when the team played in Franklin School. In 1969, the Aviators went undefeated and were ranked #1 in the state of NJ and finished in the top 10 nationally.
The Hasbrouck Heights football Aviators natural rival by geographic location are the Wood-Ridge High School Blue Devils. The two programs had one of the state's longest Thanksgiving Day rivalry games dating back at least 60 years, and lasting until a final game in the series in 2009, after which realignment prevented a continuation of the match-up. Hasbrouck Heights has won the vast majority of the games and had a 21-year Thanksgiving Day game winning streak.

Girls' soccer

The joint Hasbrouck Heights/Wood-Ridge High School soccer team won the North I Group II state sectional championship in 2008 with a 2-0 win against Glen Rock High School.

Tennis

In 1968, the men's tennis team had a perfect 17-0 record. They won the BCSL title and became the only men's sports team to go undefeated for an entire season.
In 2013, the top-ranked boys' tennis team beat Cedar Grove High School by 3-2 to claim the North I Group I state sectional title.

Wrestling

The recreation level wrestling program was established in the 1970s. In 1976, heavyweight Bill Spindler became the school's first NJSIAA state champion, pinning each of his opponents on his way to the gold medal.
The Aviators captured their first North Jersey Group I state sectional championship in 1989 after a one-sided victory over defending champion Waldwick High School. The team was back-to-back champions in 1990, and won again in 1993 and 1995. For their accomplishments, the 1989 team was elected to the Hasbrouck Heights Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.
In 2001, Morgan Horner won the 189 lb. weight class at the NJSIAA championships defeating the defending champion. This accomplishment earned Horner the award for the championship's Most Outstanding Wrestler.
The 2006 team won the state North II, Group I sectional title. The 2007 team repeated as North II, Group I state sectional championship with a 46-16 win vs. Madison High School.

Girls' track & field

The spring track program won state sectional championships in 1994, 1998.

Boys' track & field

The boys' outdoor team won State Sectional Titles in 1970, 1994, 2006, and have finished 2nd in the state group championships in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010. The 2010 boys' 4 × 400 team won the league, county group, state sectional, and state group championships, setting new meet records in the county and state sectional.
The boys' track team won the 2011 Group I indoor relay championships.

Extracurricular activities

''Pilot's Log''

The high school publishes Pilot's Log, an award-winning student newspaper. At the 2006 National Scholastic Press Association Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Pilot's Log earned the highest accolade of "best in show" for newspapers with 13-16 pages, from all high schools, regardless of size. The newspaper staff also won a National Pacemaker Award for the publication, one of 26 high school publications nationwide to be recognized, unofficially known as the "Pulitzer Prizes of student journalism".

Theatrical performances

Every school year, a selected performance is created by students under the supervision of the school's communications teacher Erin Schneeweiss. A different play is performed every year.

Music

The school holds a concert three times during the school year in which the concert band and jazz band, directed by Joseph Ascolese, perform. The marching band, also directed by Ascolese, recently came in first place in Best Music as well as Best Effect during the 2012 USSBA Competition.

Administration

The principal is Linda Simmons.
On March 22, 2014, superintendent of schools Dr. Mark Porto resigned for "personal reasons". Porto, who was under contract with the Hasbrouck Heights school system until June 30, 2018, earned $157,500 and was to be paid through September 19, 2014.

Notable alumni