Wayne Valley High School

Wayne Valley High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school, in Wayne, in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of the two secondary schools of the Wayne Public Schools, the other being Wayne Hills High School. Wayne Valley has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1954.[4] The school is also accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education. Wayne Valley's school colors are blue and white.[3]

Wayne Valley High School
Address
551 Valley Road

Wayne
,
Passaic County
,
New Jersey
07470

United States
Coordinates40.9308°N 74.2307°W / 40.9308; -74.2307
Information
TypePublic high school
Motto"The Tribe with Pride"
Established1952[1]
School districtWayne Public Schools
NCES School ID3417280[2]
PrincipalKenneth J. Palczewski
Faculty117.2 FTEs[2]
Grades9-12
Enrollment1,250 (as of 2018–19)[2]
Student to teacher ratio10.7:1[2]
Color(s)  Blue and
  white[3]
Athletics conferenceBig North Conference
Team nameIndians[3]
PublicationSmoke Signals
Websitewww.wayneschools.com/Domain/1308

As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,250 students and 117.2 classroom teachers (on a full-time equivalent basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.7:1. There were 87 students (7.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 15 (1.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[2]

History

Before the school opened in 1952, students from Wayne had attended Pompton Lakes High School.[5]

The school was called "Wayne High School" until Wayne Hills High School opened in 1966, at which time the word "Valley" was added to the original school's name in order to differentiate between the two.[6]

Awards, recognition and rankings

In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 417th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 45th among all high schools in New Jersey and 28th among the state's non-magnet schools.[7]

The school was the 91st-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.[8] The school had been ranked 64th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 63rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[9] The magazine ranked the school 46th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[10] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 122nd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 16 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (85.9%) and language arts literacy (94.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[11]

Sports

The Wayne Valley High School Indians[3] compete in the Big North Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties, which was created following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.[12] In the 2009-10 school year, the school competed in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference, which was established on an interim basis to facilitate the realignment.[13] Prior to the realignment, the school had participated in the Northern Hills Conference's Skyline Division.[14] With 987 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North I, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 786 to 1,074 students in that specific grade range.[15] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV North for football for 2018–2020.[16]

The school participates in a joint ice hockey team with Wayne Hills High School as the host school / lead agency. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[17]

The football team was awarded the sectional championship by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association in 1967, 1968 and 1970.[18] Since the playoff system was introduced in 1974, the team has won the NJSIAA North I Group III state sectional championships in 1984, 1988, 1989 and 1991, and won the North II Group IV title in 2019.[19] The 1984 team won the North I Group III title against Northern Highlands Regional High School by a score of 28-6 in the championship game to finish the season 11-0.[20] The 1988 team finished the season with 10-0-1 record after winning the North I Group III title with a 49-10 win against Ramapo High School.[21][22] The 1989 team won the North I Group III title by defeating Pascack Valley High School with a 19-14 win in the tournament final.[23] The 1991 team finished the season with a 11-0 record after defeating Wayne Valley by a score of 7-0 in front of a crowd of 10,000 to win the North I Group III state sectional championship.[24] The program won its fifth playoff championship in 2019 with a 21-17 win in the North II Group IV title game against Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan.[25] Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley have participated in an annual rivalry since 2009, which Wayne Hills leads 11-2 through the 2017 season. NJ.com listed the rivalry in the 24th spot on their 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football".[26]

The field hockey team won the North I Group IV state sectional championship in 1975 and 1979.[27]

The 2008 boys' basketball team, seeded 10th in the tournament, won the North I Group III state championship over top seed West Milford High School by a score of 48-45 in a game played at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, New Jersey.[28] This was the team's first sectional title in just over a decade.[29]

The Wayne Valley boys' track team went undefeated in the 2011 season, winning the county relays, conference and county meets. The girls' team went undefeated in the dual meet season, losing the conference meet to West Orange High School which came down to the last event, and won its fifth county title in a row.

The girls fencing team was the sabre team champion in 2012.[30]

The wrestling team won the North I Group III state sectional title in 2014 and the North I Group IV title in 2019.[31]

Incidents

On June 13, 2007, authorities found two bundles of what looked like half-sticks of dynamite in two lockers at Wayne Valley. All of the students were evacuated, and the Passaic County Sheriff's Department bomb squad extracted the devices. The devices were then detonated at the Paterson firing range. It is unknown whether the devices were intended to do harm or be used as part of a prank.[32] On June 27, 2007, five members of the class that just graduated from the school were arrested for their roles in the incident.[33]

Notable alumni

References
  1. WVHS Overview, Wayne Valley High School. Accessed November 3, 2020. "Wayne Valley High School, which opened in September 1952, is a comprehensive high school, accredited by the Middle States Association of College and Secondary Schools and the New Jersey Department of Education."
  2. School data for Wayne Valley High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
  3. Wayne Valley High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  4. Wayne Valley High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools, backed up by the Internet Archive as of February 7, 2012. Accessed March 30, 2015.
  5. Gantaifis, Nick. "Football: Legendary high school football coach Fred Keil passes away",Wayne Today, January 19, 2016. Accessed August 30, 2020. "Wayne Valley High School did not open until 1952 and prior to that Wayne students attended nearby Pompton Lakes High School."
  6. "The Hills are Alive With the Sound of Football...", The News, September 7, 1966. Accessed October 8, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "The 'old' in this case is the 'old' Wayne High School, which is now known as Wayne Valley. The 'new' is the new school, christened Wayne Hills."
  7. Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2016", Newsweek. Accessed November 11, 2016.
  8. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  9. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 19, 2012.
  10. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 21, 2011.
  11. New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 4, 2012.
  12. League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  13. League Memberships - 2009-1010, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 24, 2011. Accessed September 16, 2014.
  14. Home Page, Northern Hills Conference, backed up by the Internet Archive as of January 28, 2011. Accessed December 15, 2014.
  15. General Public School Classifications 2015-2016, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, as of December 15, 2015. Accessed December 12, 2016.
  16. NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2018–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, finalized August 2019. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  17. NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
  18. Conrad, JJ; and Iseman, Chris. "NJ HS football championships: How past finalists fared", The Record, November 27, 2016. "Although the state established the current playoff format in 1974, titles have been awarded for decades. Here are the most decorated North Jersey teams playing for a title this weekend, listed by their state championship totals:.... Wayne Valley (7): 1967, 1968, 1970, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1991"
  19. NJSIAA Football History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  20. D'Alessandro, Cava. "Wayne Valley rolls to title; Indians jump in Highlands to complete unbeaten season", The Record, December 2, 1984. Accessed January 10, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "An argument can be made that yesterday's Group 3 championship game of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association playoffs was decided on the first play from scrimmage.... From under the pile that pinned Northern Highlands quarterback Greg DiFelice to the ground, Wayne Valley tackle Jerry Phelan came out with the ball.... In a game that was turned into a three-touchdown rout by intermission, the Indians captured the sectional championship with a 28-6 victory that capped a perfect 11-0 season."
  21. "School Sports: New Jersey; Wayne Valley Routs Ramapo", The New York Times, December 4, 1988. Accessed December 17, 2020. "Unbeaten Wayne Valley scored on six of its first seven possessions and rolled to a 49-10 victory over Ramapo yesterday in the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 3 championship in Franklin Lakes."
  22. "Injury-ridden Ramapo falls to undefeated Wayne Valley", The Ridgewood News, December 8, 1988. Accessed December 18, 2020. "The 49-10 rout gave Wayne Valley its first state title since 1984 and gave coach Fred Keil his sixth championship season. He had three at DePaul, one with West Essex and now two at Wayne Valley. The Indians finished with a 10-0-1 record and the Raiders wound up 8-3."
  23. Jones, Jim. "Pascack Valley denied title", The Ridgewood News, December 7, 1989. Accessed January 10, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Pascack Valley High's Cinderella football season ended on a losing note Saturday as the Indians fell in the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group 3 final at Wayne Valley, 19-14, but it was a campaign to remember."
  24. Fox, Ron. "Wayne Valley prevails in defensive struggle", The Record, December 8, 1991. Accessed January 30, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "They play a terrific brand of football in Wayne. The burden of proof was delivered Saturday when the township' two public schools met for the State Group 3, Section 1 championship, and neither team was soundly thrashed. Wayne Valley prevailed on a second-quarter touchdown, while the only score by Wayne Hills, a 63-yard pass play with 6:20 left, was erased by a motion penalty. The 7-0 victory gave Valley its third championship in four years. The first-ever meeting between the two schools was witnessed by more than 10,000 fans."
  25. Patti, Ryan. "Football: Wayne Valley road warriors close book on 28-year state title drought", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 23, 2019. Accessed November 23, 2019. "All Wayne Valley head coach Roger Kotlarz could do was cry when he hugged his wife, Hillary, after his team’s 21-17 victory in Old Tappan on Friday night.... The fifth-seeded Indians (10-2) took down second-seeded Old Tappan (8-4) in the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 championship, capturing the school’s first state title since 1991."
  26. Stypulkoski, Matt. "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 27, 2017, updated May 15, 2019. Accessed December 1, 2020. "24-Wayne Hills vs. Wayne Valley... So much so that Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley only met three times — all in the postseason - in 39 years prior to 2009. Now, both schools meet annually.... All-time series: Wayne Hills leads, 11-2"
  27. History of the NJSIAA Field Hockey Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  28. 2008 Boys Basketball - North I, Group III, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed March 9, 2008.
  29. Zagoria, Adam. "Wayne Valley guard comes up big", The Record, March 5, 2008. Accessed March 9, 2008. "Valley (20-9) has won four consecutive road tournament games to capture its first sectional title since 1997, when the Indians beat Indian Hills, led by current Valley head coach Joe Leicht."
  30. NJSIAA History of Girls Fencing Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  31. NJSIAA Wrestling Team Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  32. Heininger, Claire; Sterling, Guy; and Heyboer, Kelly "Pyrotechnics force evacuation of school", The Star-Ledger, June 13, 2007. Accessed June 13, 2007. "Wayne Valley High School was evacuated this morning after pyrotechnic devices capable of causing "catastrophic" damage were found in the building a day before final exams were to begin, authorities said. No one was injured in the scare, which began around 9:15 a.m. when a student spotted wires protruding from his second-floor locker, authorities said. The locker, which the student had cleaned out the day before, and another nearby each contained two bundles of pyrotechnics - 16 half-sticks of the material in all, authorities said."
  33. Schweber, Nate. "5 Charged in Planting of Devices at School", The New York Times, June 28, 2007. Accessed July 1, 2007. "Five teenagers who graduated last week from Wayne Valley High School have been arrested in connection with the discovery of 16 devices with fuses in lockers at the school, forcing the evacuation of 1,400 students on the last full day of classes. The young men, three of them 18 and two 17 at the time of the evacuation, face up to 25 years in prison if found guilty, said James Wilson, chief of the arson unit for the Passaic County prosecutor.
  34. Winters, Debra. "Indie film continues production", Wayne Today, February 4, 2010. Accessed February 21, 2011. "Both Della Valle and Beatty are graduates from Wayne Valley High School just a year apart in classes of 1996 and 1997."
  35. Rohan, Virginia. "North Jersey-bred and talented too", The Record, June 18, 2007. Accessed June 25, 2007. "Lisa Edelstein: Class of 1984, Wayne Valley High School"
  36. Push to Sochi: Jazmine Fenlator, USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. Accessed March 30, 2015. "I was recruited by Rider based off of [sic] my track and field accomplishments at Wayne Valley High School and potential in the sport with further elite development."
  37. Levin, Jay. "Stage, TV director John Ferraro, 64, Wayne Valley grad", The Record, December 21, 2010, backed up by the Internet Archive as of September 22, 2012. Accessed October 8, 2018. "Mr. Ferraro graduated from Wayne Valley High School and received a bachelor of fine arts degree from New York University."
  38. Sullivan, William J. "Harraka balances college with racing in NASCAR's minor league", The Star-Ledger, October 26, 2008. Accessed November 5, 2017. "As a junior at Wayne Valley High School, Harraka took honors courses and kept his GPA above 4.0; he also drove to rookie of the year honors in the Whelen Series. He moved to North Carolina for his senior year, during which he earned his diploma while interning in the engineering department of Joe Gibbs Racing."
  39. Best Boys Tennis Team of the Century, The Star-Ledger. Accessed December 10, 2007.
  40. Staff. "This crossword puzzle writer and poker champ generating 20% returns; Peter Muller founded Morgan Stanley's successful PDT quant unit; dubbed 'brilliant' by Clifford Asness", InvestmentNews, July 7, 2011. Accessed July 21, 2017. "The family moved into a shingled ranch house in the New Jersey suburb of Wayne, 21 miles (34 kilometers) west of New York. At Wayne Valley High School, Muller was named one of two class mathematicians."
  41. Hubbard, Daniel. "N.Y. Jets Sign Wayne Valley Alumnus; Chris Pantale, who played tight end at Boston College, was signed by the Jets as a undrafted free agent Saturday night.", WaynePatch, April 28, 2013. Accessed April 29, 2013. "Chris Pantale, an alumni[sic] of Wayne Valley High School, was signed by the New York Jets on Saturday night following the third and final day of the National Football League's annual draft, bleacherreport.com reported."
  42. Art Thoms player profile Archived February 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, database Football. Accessed August 11, 2007.
  43. Art Thoms Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Oakland Raiders. Accessed August 11, 2007. "I started playing football in high school. It was the freshman team at Wayne High School in Wayne, N.J. I played two years there and then my family moved to Brickjohn [sic], NJ. I played the last two years of high school ball there."
  44. Klein, Alvin. "In Person; A Young Performer With a Few Tricks of His Own", The New York Times, March 15, 1998. Accessed October 24, 2012. "The not-so-simple stuff that Michael, 16, a sophomore at Wayne Valley High School, uses in school involves video and computer equipment for his electives, advanced television production and graphic arts."
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