West Essex High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in North Caldwell. The high school is part of the West Essex Regional School District, which is comprised of the constituent municipalities of Essex Fells, Fairfield, North Caldwell and Roseland, four municipalities in western Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The constituent municipalities are largely filled with single-family homes and populated by individuals with high socioeconomic characteristics.
The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1964. Block scheduling was implemented for the 2014-15 school year.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,055 students and 99.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.7:1. There were 29 students (2.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 11 (1.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
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History
In the 1951–52 school year, students from the municipalities that were to become part the West Essex Regional School District – Caldwell Township (present day Fairfield), Essex Fells, North Caldwell and Roseland – attended James Caldwell High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship. A survey commissioned by the school boards of the four districts and the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools from the Rutgers University Extension Service estimated that the schools would have 1,200 junior-senior high school students by 1961.
A 1956 study had recommended the formation of a consolidated K-12 district for all of the five districts. When that recommendation was not accepted, the Rutgers group suggested the creation of a regional 7–12 school district that would include Caldwell Township, Essex Fells, North Caldwell and Roseland. A committee formed the following year that included individuals from each of the four communities and the Essex County Superintendent of Schools recommended that the four municipalities should form a regional school district, to be approved by voters in a referendum. The New Jersey Department of Education approved the move, and in December 1957 the referendum was passed by the voters.
Shortly thereafter, the first regional district school board was established, with two members each from Caldwell Township, Essex Fells and North Caldwell and three from Roseland. In February 1958, the Regional Board of Education was elected by the voters, with Wallace S. Jones of Essex Fells as its first president. A Citizens School Curriculum Advisory Committee was formed which recommended that College Preparatory, General Academic, and Commercial programs should be offered to students based on the approach of offering "education for all, excellence of performance though self-discipline, independent thinking, and a sense of 'true values'", with a staff of high quality, adequate guidance, the grouping of students, availability of electives, insistence on effective English, and a broad extracurricular program.
In July 1958, voters authorized $290,000 for the purchase of a 73-acre (300,000 m2) site, of which 60 acres (240,000 m2) lay in North Caldwell and 13 in Caldwell Township. The site is located between Grandview and Passaic Avenues, directly north of Greenbrook Road, about 25 miles (40 km) outside of New York City.
A December 1958 referendum decided upon by voters in each of the four communities proposed a $4.5 million bond (equivalent to $50.2 million in 2025) that would be used to pay for construction of the new school facility to be available for use in September 1960, as the Caldwell-West Caldwell District had indicated that it was unwilling to accommodate any students at Grover Cleveland High School from outside the district after that date due to overcrowding. The West Essex district opened in September 1960 for students in grades 9–11 in facilities rented from the Caldwell-West Caldwell district, and the district's new building opened for use in September 1961, at which time grades 7–12 and 1,200 students were served.
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 25th-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 16th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 36th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 48th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 34th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 106th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 23 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (86.8%) and language arts literacy (95.9%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 944th in the nation among participating public high schools and 70th among schools in New Jersey.
Extracurricular activities
West Essex Regional High School provides many opportunities for students, from theater productions to sports teams to service clubs.
Wessex Wire school newspaper has won multiple awards from Columbia Scholastic Press Association, Garden State Scholastic Press Association, and other student journalism organizations.
Roundtable literary magazine has won multiple awards from Columbia Scholastic Press Association and other literary organizations.
Milestone yearbook
There are many academic-based clubs (i.e. Italian Club, Robotics Team) and service-oriented clubs such as WE CARE (environment), WE HELP (community service), and WE STOP (peer leadership). WE also has a variety of arts-based groups, such as the art club, the Masquers theater group, the jazz choir, the girls a cappella choir (Ladies Knight), and the dance team. Additionally, there are other academic based clubs such as STEM club, FBLA, and DECA clubs.
Amenities
West Essex has many amenities that are available for students. It has four fields: one being a turf field for the West Essex Football Knights, two baseball fields that can also be used for other sports practices, and a soccer field. In addition, it has tennis courts used by the tennis teams.
Athletics
The West Essex High School Knights compete in the Super Essex Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Essex County and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). Prior to the NJSIAA's 2010 realignment, the school had competed as part of the Iron Hills Conference, which included public and private high schools in Essex County, Morris County and Union County. With 849 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 West Essex football team competes in Patriot Division B of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which was formed following the merger of several conferences in 2016. The football team competes in the Patriot White 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.
The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with James Caldwell High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.
Interscholastic athletic teams at West Essex include baseball (men), basketball (men and women), cross country (men and women), fencing (men and women), field hockey (women), football (men), golf (men and women), ice hockey (men), lacrosse (men and women), soccer (men and women), softball (women), swimming (men and women), tennis (men and women), track and field spring (men and women), track and field winter (men and women), volleyball (men and women) and wrestling (men).
The ice hockey team was Gordon Cup winner in 1963 and 1971, was the overall state champion in 1978, won the McInnis Cup in 1995 and 2010, won the NJSIAA public school state champions in 2004 and won the Public B title in 2010. The 1963 team won the Gordon Cup by a score of 4-1 against a Chatham Borough High School team that came into the finals undefeated. The 1978 team won the third NJSIAA state championship with a 6-3 win against Livingston High School, which had upset two-time defending champion Brick Township High School in the semifinal round. The team was the 2010 league champs and McInnis Cup champions, with an 8-0 win against Nutley High School in the championship game.
In popular culture
West Essex is mentioned in the HBO series The Sopranos. North Caldwell, the town where Tony Soprano and his family reside in the show is where West Essex is located, and the show was filmed on location all over North Caldwell and the surrounding communities. In the first episode of the show, a character mentions he attended the high school shortly before being murdered by Christopher Moltisanti over a garbage disposal dispute. The school is mentioned numerous times in the show.
Administration
The school's principal is Kimberly Westervelt. Her core administrative team includes two assistant principals.
Notable alumni
Leith Anderson (born 1944), evangelical Christian leader, author and retired pastor
Ed Baker (born 1948), quarterback who played a single game in the NFL for the Houston Oilers in 1972
Denise Borino-Quinn (1964-2010), Ginny Sacramoni recurring role on The Sopranos
Bob Bradley (born 1958), manager of MLS club Los Angeles FC, former manager of Premier League club Swansea City (UK), manager of Stabæk Fotball (Norway), former head coach of the Egyptian Men's Soccer Team, US Men's Soccer Team, MLS Chicago Fire, and MLS NY/NJ Metrostars
Scott Bradley (born 1960), former professional catcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1984 to 1992
Rob Burnett (born 1962), television writer, creator of Ed
Cash Cash (formed 2008), electronic music group signed to Atlantic Records with top 40 hit song "Take Me Home", with members Jean Paul Makhlouf, Alexander Makhlouf and Samuel Frisch
David Chase (born 1945, class of 1964), creator of The Sopranos
Chris Corbo (born 2004, class of 2022), college football tight end for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Noah Eagle (born 1997, class of 2015), sportscaster for Fox Sports and the Tennis Channel
Robert Egan (born 1958, class of 1976), restaurateur and an interlocutor between the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the United States
Josh Gottheimer (born 1975), lawyer, speechwriter, public policy adviser and politician who serves as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 5th congressional district