Passaic Valley Regional High School is the name of both a public school district and regional high school for students in ninth through twelfth grades from a district comprised of Little Falls, Totowa and Woodland Park, three communities in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The high school is the only facility in the Passaic Valley Regional High School District.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,060 students and 85.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.4:1. There were 283 students (26.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 83 (7.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
The district had been classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "FG", the fourth highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.
The Passaic Valley board of education consists of nine members, with three members elected from each municipality. The board generally meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month during the school year and once a month during the summer.
Contents
History
Overcrowding at Paterson Central High School led the three constituent municipalities in 1938 to begin discussions for the formation of a regional school district that would serve an estimated 600 students at a cost that would be comparable to the amounts paid in tuition for the sending/receiving relationships with the Paterson Public Schools and more cost effective than building high schools in each community.
Constructed at a cost of $500,000 (equivalent to $11.5 million in 2025), nearly half of which was covered by a grant from the Public Works Administration, the school was designed to handle an enrollment of 650 to as many as 800, and was opened to students in September 1940. The school mascot, the Hornet, was derived by vote of the first class from the Green Hornet radio series popular in the 1940s, as were the school colors of green and white.
Awards, recognition and rankings
As of 2019, the school is ranked 233rd out of 415 New Jersey public high schools. The school was the 225th-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 202nd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 144th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 170th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 166th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 192nd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 4 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the two components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), mathematics (79.1%) and language arts literacy (92.3%).
Academics
Passaic Valley Regional High School offers the following Advanced Placement courses: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus AB, English Literature & Composition, English Language & Composition, United States History, Spanish, United States Government & Politics, and Environmental Science. The school also offers the following courses as honors: Anatomy and Physiology, English, United States History, World History, Algebra I, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, Geometry, Italian, French, Spanish, Business Practice Firm, Biology and Chemistry.
The school also is part of the Fairleigh Dickinson University Middle College Program where students may choose to obtain college credits for selected courses including Anatomy & Physiology Honors and Holocaust & Genocide.
Extracurricular activities
Passaic Valley participates in "24 Hours Around the World" in which students teleconference with other nations for 24 hours.
Passaic Valley's Drama Department is a part of the North Jersey Metro Cappies, a student critic program that introduces students to the world of theater journalism. They run a summer program where students in grades 9-12 all around the NJ/NY area can work together on a performance.
On March 1, 2019, Passaic Valley celebrated its 74th annual Girl's Show where girls within the school, separated into two teams, compete in the following categories: Exercise, Cheer, Dance, Relays and Novelties, and Posters.
Athletics
The Passaic Valley Regional High School Hornets compete in the Independence Division of 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. 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. Prior to the realignment, the school had participated in the Skyline Division of the Northern Hills Conference, which included schools in Essex, Morris and Passaic counties. With 930 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Patriot Blue 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 III North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 700 to 884 students. Passaic Valley's school colors are green and white.
The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with Cedar Grove High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.
The boys cross country running team won the Group III state championship in 1961 and the Group IV title in 1962.
The boys' bowling team won the overall state championship in 1973.
The football team won the North I Group IV state championships in 1975, 1979, 1980 and 1986. The 1975 team finished with an 11-0 record after winning the North I Group IV state sectional title with a 23-7 victory against North Bergen High School in the playoff finals. In 1979, the team finished 11-0 after defeating Clifton High School by a score of 15-0 to win the North I Group IV state sectional championship game at Giants Stadium. The team repeated as North I Group IV state champion with a 20-0 win against Fair Lawn High School in the finals at Giant Stadium to finish the season at 10-1. The 1986 team won the North I Group IV state sectional title with a come-from-behind 14-10 win against North Bergen in the championship game played at Roosevelt Stadium, to finish the season 9-2. In 2006, the football team beat Wayne Valley High School during the regular season and again in the playoffs, making it to the semi-finals before losing to defending North I Group III champions, Wayne Hills High School. Under first year coach Al Capello, the Hornets made it to the North II Group III state championship at Giants Stadium on December 4, 2009, losing to West Morris Mendham High School by a score of 28-19.
Administration
Core members of the district's / school's administration are:
Bracken Healy, superintendent
Colin Monahan, business administrator and board secretary
Krista Voorhis, principal
Board of education
The district's board of education, comprised of nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district. Seats on the board of education are allocated based on population, with Little Falls, Totowa and Woodland Park each allocated three seats.
Notable alumni
David Blaine (born 1973, class of 1991), magician
Jeff Chase (born 1968), film and television actor who played for the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football League
Frank DeCaro (born 1962), class of 1980, writer, entertainer, and satellite radio talk show host; co-wrote and hosted Out at the Movies segments on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
D. C. Fontana (1939–2019, class of 1957), television script writer and story editor, best known for her work on the original Star Trek franchise and several western television series
Daniela Gioseffi (born 1941), poet, novelist and performer who won the American Book Award in 1990
Kyle Gurrieri (born 1998), professional soccer player with the Wilmington Hammerheads FC of the United Soccer League who transferred out of Passaic Valley after his freshman year
Bobby Marks (born 1972/73), former National Basketball Association assistant general manager of the Brooklyn Nets
Ralph J. Marra Jr. (born 1953), former United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey
Michael P. Moran (1944–2004; class of 1964), actor and playwright
Michael Peter Smith (1941–2020), singer-songwriter
Aidan Stokes (born 2008), footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club New York Red Bulls and MLS Next Pro side New York Red Bulls II
Mark Tross (born 1957), Christian pastor, radio and television personality, columnist, and former disk jockey