Hackensack High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Hackensack, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Hackensack Public Schools. Hackensack High School serves students from the Bergen County, New Jersey, communities of Hackensack, South Hackensack (80 students in 2011–12), and Rochelle Park (120 students).
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,813 students and 137.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.2:1. There were 1,029 students (56.8% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 126 (6.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
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History
In March 2020, the Maywood Public Schools received approval from the New Jersey Department of Education to end the relationship it had established with Hackensack in 1969 and began transitioning incoming ninth graders to Henry P. Becton Regional High School starting with the 2020–21 school year.
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 242nd-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 206th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 198th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 184th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 203rd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 266th out of 367 public high schools statewide in its 2009–10 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 (HSPA).
History
Hackensack High School's graduates date from the 1880s, and include Warren Terhune and William J. Snow. The district's first formal high school program began in 1894, with the first building for Hackensack High School constructed in 1897 at First and High streets. The cornerstone for its present location at First and Beech Streets in Hackensack was laid on December 2, 1916. The new building opened to students in March 1918. By 1920, twenty-two Bergen County towns sent their students to Hackensack High School. New wings were built in the 1950s. The 1966 expansion of Hackensack High School encompassed neighboring Beech Street School and extended a two-story bridge over First Street and in 1967 the Beech Street elementary school became the "east wing" of the high school as it stands today.
Students from Emerson had attended the high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Emerson School District that was ended with the completion of Emerson Junior-Senior High School in March 1963. Those students already enrolled in Hackensack completed their attendance in Hackensack through their graduation.
Students from Maywood began attending Hackensack High School in September 1966, after the district ended a longstanding sending relationship under which students attended Bogota High School.
Sports
The Hackensack High School Comets compete in the Big North Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). In the 2009–10 school year the school's athletic teams competed in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference, a conference established on an interim basis to facilitate realignment. Hackensack had been a founding member of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League. Hackensack High and Ridgewood High School were the only founding members of the NNJIL to remain in the league, though Hackensack was the only school to remain continuously in the league. With 1,431 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,060 to 5,049 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Freedom Red division of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 893 to 1,315 students. Since the 1912 visit of Halley's Comet, Hackensack's athletic teams have been known as the Comets; the teams were known as the "Colts" before 1912.
The school participates with Lyndhurst High School in a joint ice hockey team in which Paramus High School is the host school / lead agency. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.
The boys' basketball team won the Group III state title in 1945 vs. North Plainfield High School and in 1952 vs. Princeton High School. On February 6, 1925, the Hackensack Comets boys' basketball team won 39–35 against the Passaic High School, ending that school's 159-game winning streak. The ball commemorating this feat is kept in the trophy case in the gym named for that team's captain, Howard Bollerman Sr. (later principal of Hackensack High School). The 1945 team won the state title with a 44–22 win in the championship game played at the Elizabeth Armory against North Plainfield, a team described as "a weak sister in the tourney. Chet Forte led the 1952 team to the Group III title with a 74–59 win against Princeton in the championship game.
The boys soccer team won the Group III state championship in 1949 (awarded by NJSIAA), 1950 (co-champion with Edison High School) and 1954 (awarded by NJSIAA), and won the Group IV title in 1960 (vs. Irvington High School), 1968 (co-champion with Ewing High School), 1969 (as co-champion with Steinert High School) and 1970 (co-champion with Steinert). The 1969 team finished the season with a record of 17–2–1 after the Group IV title game against Steinert ended in a 1–1 tie, making the two teams co-champions.
Demographics
In 2017, the graduating class numbered 429, with 46% being Hispanic, 27% being black, 20% being white, and 7% being Asian. Rodrigo Torrejon of The Journal News characterized the school's student body as being "diverse."
School song
The alma mater of Hackensack High School was written by W. Demarest and B. Pratt of the Class of 1918. It is to the tune of the alma mater of New York University, Palisades (used by permission).
Administration
The principal is James Montesano. His core administration team includes four assistant principals.
Notable alumni
Janet Aulisio, artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games and on the covers of books and magazines
Brendan A. Burns (1895–1986), U.S. Army major general
Hector Luis Bustamante (born 1972, class of 1990), actor.
Barbie Ferreira (born 1996), model and actress.
Chet Forte (1935–1996, class of 1953), television sports pioneer.
Mike Fratello (born 1947, class of 1965), former NBA coach who starred at Hackensack High School as a student and who returned for his first job as an assistant coach after graduating from college.
Navarro Gray (born 1979, class of 1997), lawyer best known for his accomplishments in the entertainment industry, including representing Fetty Wap.
Chet Hanulak (1933–2021, class of 1950), former Cleveland Browns running back.
Melina Matsoukas (born 1981), music video, film, commercial, and television director.
E. Frederic Morrow (1909–1994, class of 1924), the first African American to hold an executive position at the White House, when he served President Dwight Eisenhower as Administrative Officer for Special Projects from 1955 to 1961.
Herman Neilson (1907–1978), college football, college basketball and tennis coach
Danny Oquendo (born 1987), wide receiver who played for the Maryland Terrapins.
Nellie Morrow Parker (1902–1998), the first African American school teacher in Bergen County, New Jersey, and the namesake of Nellie K. Parker Elementary School.