Manhasset Secondary School, also referred to as Manhasset Junior/Senior High School or simply Manhasset High School, is a six-year comprehensive public middle and high school in Manhasset, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. The 7–12 school is the only secondary school in the Manhasset Union Free School District.
As for the 2024-25 school year, the school had a total enrollment of 1,579 students, with 136.6 classroom teachers on FTE basis for a student-teacher ratio of 11.55:1. 114 students (7.6%) were eligible for free lunch while 9 (0.6%) were eligible for reduced-price lunch.
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History
Though the Manhasset school district gained the authority to operate a high school in 1866, a high school program would not begin until the 1920–21 school year, with the first classes being taught at the Plandome Road School (already in use at that time as an elementary school); two students were graduated from the inaugural class of 1921. Manhasset students were previously authorized to study at Flushing High School or in Great Neck per inter-district agreements. After a plot near the Plandome Road School was acquired from the Thompson family in 1934, the current Manhasset High School building, a Works Progress Administration project, began construction in 1935, with the John H. Eisele Company winning the bid for the contract to execute the school's Tudor revival created by architectural firm Tooker & Marsh with associate architect Roger H. Bullard. The building's first year in use was 1935–36, while it was still under construction; students in the 9th grade and below remained at the Plandome Road School for that academic year. The new building was completed in December 1936, with a dedication ceremony taking place on November 19, 1936. A quickly-growing school population created a need for expansion, and the building has been extended multiple times, with the first new addition coming in 1941.
Geography
Manhasset High School is situated on a hill directly to the east of the opening of Manhasset Bay, in the western part of the Manhasset School District. The school is located near the Manhasset train station, Manhasset Valley Park and the site of the former Plandome Road School (now Mary Jane Davies Green).
Academics and rankings
Manhasset High School has a 98% four-year graduation rate according to 2017–2021 data, coming in significantly ahead of the New York state average of 86%. In Manhasset's cohort of student entering in 2017, 86% of students were graduated in 2021 with a Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation, 10% with a regular Regents Diploma and 1% with a Local Diploma. 2% remained enrolled for a fifth year while one student dropped out without a diploma. 26 Advanced Placement (AP) courses were offered at Manhasset in 2020–21, with 522 students sitting for 1,406 exams in that school year, including approximately 75% of 12th grade students. 94% of class of 2021 graduates enrolled in a four-year college, 3% entered a two-year college, the military or another postgraduate program, and 3% did not continue their education beyond high school. Manhasset High School was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in 2019.
In the U.S. News & World Report 2022 ranking of U.S. high schools, Manhasset High School was ranked 215th nationally, 24th in New York state, 35th in the New York City metropolitan area and 78th on the ranking of STEM schools. In Niche's 2022 rankings, Manhasset High School placed 69th in the ranking of best public high schools nationwide, 11th in its ranking of public high schools in New York state, 18th in the New York City metropolitan area and 4th in Nassau County.
Athletics
Manhasset High School participates in interscholastic athletic competitions as a member of NYSPHSAA Section VIII, competing against other schools from Nassau County. School sports in Nassau County are divided into three seasons (fall, winter and spring); Manhasset High School currently competes in the following sports:
In addition to the varsity sports offered, there are two club sports, crew and ice hockey.
Manhasset was the first high school on Long Island to introduce lacrosse at the team's founding in 1932. The sport would grow in popularity in the area over the coming decades, with Long Island overtaking Maryland as the top region for high school lacrosse in the United States by the 1960s. Many top college lacrosse players have been recruited from Long Island high schools, including Manhasset. Manhasset High School's chief historical rival in lacrosse is Garden City High School, against whom Manhasset's games are termed the Woodstick Classic, of which at least one has been played each season since 1935, except in 2020 (when the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Mascot controversy
The varsity sports teams at Manhasset High School are known as the Indians. The name dates back to at least 1939, when it was used to refer to Manhasset sports teams in the Tower yearbook. In the prior edition of The Tower, the school's athletic teams are only referred to as "The Orange and Blue", an appellation also used for them in 1939 alongside "Indians". At this point in time, no visual "Indians" name or related iconography appeared on team uniforms, at least as worn in contemporary yearbooks. The 1952 yearbook does not show indications of the team name on any of the team uniforms, but features many stereotypical cartoons throughout. By 1969, a visual depiction of a Plains headdress featured on at least some of the team uniforms. The Manhasset High School class of 1997 gave as a graduation gift to the school a life-sized wooden statue of a man in a Plains headdress (in the style of a cigar store Indian), which was placed in one of the school's central corridors.
In 2001, New York State Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills advised public schools in New York to stop using Indian mascots and team names. However, citing a desire to seek local remedies for problems before giving orders, Mills did not require any particular course of action, issuing a mere suggestion. After consultation with a local focus group, the Manhasset UFSD chose not to make any changes.
As of 2020, Manhasset teams used a mixture of an "M with a feather" logo and an "Indian head" logo, usually rendered as a color variant of the Washington Redskins logo. In 2020, a petition demanding that Manhasset cease to use the "Indians" name and mascot was created on Change.org by Manhasset resident and Manhasset High School alumna Jo Trigg, garnering over 3,000 signatures. At the request of the school district, which sought to measure input originating from local residents only, the Manhasset Justice Initiative (MJI), a local social justice activism group, created a similar petition with signing restricted to Manhasset-affiliated individuals. Montaukett activist Sadanyah FlowingWater and Shinnecock tribe member Jeremy Dennis called for the school to end its use of the "Indian" mascot. With the school facing criticism regarding its team name and mascot, then-Superintendent Vincent Butera discussed the team mascot with MJI activists as well as FlowingWater and a Navajo nation member. FlowingWater asked the district to "seriously consider" removing the mascot at that time, citing the logo's similarity with that of the Washington Redskins. Butera announced that a public hearing would be held on the issue at the October 22, 2020 school board meeting. Butera also promised that the school would abandon the Redskins-like logo in favor of the "M with a feather", saying, "The fact is the Redskin depiction is offensive, it's offensive for a number of reasons. There's much more consensus on that [than on changing the team name]. Any depiction of Indians as Redskins is offensive."
Performing and fine arts
Students must pass at least one class in the arts in order to receive a Regents Diploma from Manhasset High School. Manhasset Secondary School has many offerings, both curricular and extracurricular, in the musical, theatrical and visual arts.
There are four separate curricular instrumental ensembles (Concert Orchestra, Symphonic Orchestra, Concert Band and Symphonic Wind Ensemble) and three curricular choral groups (Symphonic Choir, Women's Choir and Men's Choir), as well as keyboard and music theory classes on offer. In addition, Manhasset has five extracurricular vocal ensembles: Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Select Ensemble, Kinsmen (an extracurricular men's choir), the Long Island Sounds and the Shirley Tempos (two a cappella groups). Manhasset's musical ensembles compete and regularly win awards at NYSSMA Majors and other competitions. Manhasset music students are regularly among the selectees for NMEA All-County, NYSSMA All-State and NAfME All-Eastern and All-National honor ensembles.
The theatre program at Manhasset High School stages two major productions each school year: a fall musical and a spring straight play, as well as additional shows performed by the repertory companies and other groups. The school offers a "Theatre in Action" course for credit as well as three levels of repertory company performance courses.
In fine art, Manhasset High School offers 23 possible course options, including AP Studio Art and AP Art History. Manhasset's fine art classes include drawing, painting, architectural drawing, computer graphics, photography and 3D design.
Notable alumni
Danny Barnes, former Major League Baseball (MLB) player and current coach
Ted Bessell, actor
Jim Brown, former National Football League (NFL) player, member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame
John C. Coffee, Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at Columbia Law School
John Gagliardi, former professional lacrosse player
Nancy E. Gary, physician, government policy advisor and medical school professor and dean
Dan Gurney, professional racecar driver
Ken Howard, actor
Theo Katzman, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer
Barbara Prey, watercolor painter
Stephen A. Lesser, architect who worked on the Faneuil Hall Marketplace
Ira Sorkin, attorney, best known for defending Bernard Madoff