As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 875 students and 82.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.6:1. There were 222 students (25.4% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 72 (8.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "CD", the sixth-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.[10]
History
The name "Gateway Regional High School District" was chosen by a study committee in April 1962, using the term "gateway" that had been applied to that portion of the county. The committee was established after the Woodbury Public Schools notified the four sending communities of National Park, Wenonah, Westville and Woodbury Heights—which all had existing K-8 school districts—that their students could no longer be accommodated at Woodbury High School for grades 9-12 after the 1963-64 school year.[11] The district's original plan called for creation of a regional junior high school for grades 7-9 while students already enrolled would continue to attend Woodbury High School for grades 10-12.[12] After a June 1962 referendum was rejected in three of the four municipalities, the district was formally established after a second proposal was passed each of the four communities in December 1962, leading to the establishment of the first board of education.[13][14]
Voters overwhelmingly approved a May 1963 referendum for $1.6 million (equivalent to $16.1 million in 2023) to buy the land and construct of a facility on a plot covering 38 acres (15 ha) that was designed to accommodate an enrollment of 800 to 1,000 students.[15]
The school was the 195th-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.[16] The school had been ranked 141st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 197th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[17] The magazine ranked the school 151st in 2008 out of 316 schools.[18] The school was ranked 176th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[19] Schooldigger.com ranked the school 181st out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 29 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (78.7%) and language arts literacy (93.9%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[20]
Athletics
The Gateway Regional High School Gators[3] compete in the Colonial Conference, which is comprised of public high schools in Camden and Gloucester counties, and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[21][22] With 405 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2022–24 school years as Group I South for most athletic competition purposes.[23] The football team competes in the Royal Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconference[24][25] and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 185 to 482 students.[26]
The school participates as the host school / lead agency for joint cooperative cross country running, co-ed swimming and wrestling teams with Woodbury Junior-Senior High School. These co-op programs operate under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[27][28]
The field hockey team was the South II sectional champion in 1971 and won the South Jersey Group I state sectional championship in 2001.[29]
The 1978 softball team ran their record to 18-3 after winning the Group II state championship by a score of 6-2 in the final of the tournament against a Queen of Peace High School that came into the game undefeated.[30][31]
The 1992 boys' soccer team finished the season with a record of 21-3 after winning the Group II state championship, defeating Harrison High School by a score of 2-0 in the tournament final.[32][33]
The boys' baseball team won the 2009 South Jersey Group I NJSIAA state sectional Title, advancing to the Group I tournament where they lost to David Brearley High School 6–2 in the semi-final round.[34]
Administration
Core members of the district and school administration are:[35][36]
Shannon Whalen, superintendent
Donna Contrevo, business administrator and board secretary
Jeffrey Pierro, 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.[37][38] Seats on the district's board of education are allocated based on the population of the constituent municipalities, with three seats assigned to Westville (the largest community in the district) and two each to National Park, Wenonah and Woodbury Heights.[39]
^ abShryock, Bob. "Plans are in the works for Gateway's 50th anniversary", Gloucester County Times, March 22, 2012, updated January 18, 2019. Accessed March 25, 2022. "The 50-year milestone is based on Gateway opening in the fall of 1964 when four sending districts (Woodbury Heights, Westville, National Park and Wenonah) split from Woodbury and sent seventh, eighth and ninth graders to the new school on Egg Harbor Road in Woodbury Heights."
^"June Balloting Sought On New Regional High In Gloucester County", The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 12, 1962. Accessed March 25, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Plans are under way for a June referendum to set up a new Gateway Regional High School District which would include Westville, Wenonah, Woodbury Heights and National Park.... The study committee was formed after Woodbury High, School, which has been receiving pupils from the four districts in grades nine to 12 tor many years, gave written notice last Sept. 13 that it would be unable to accept ninth grade pupils from the four districts as of September 1963.... The name 'Gateway Regional High School District' was formally adopted by the Regional Study Committee. It was thought that this name will indicate the geographical location, since 'Gateway' has been used for many years for the northern Gloucester county area."
^"Poll Slated In Creation Of District", Courier-Post, June 6, 1962. Accessed March 25, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Board of Education said it will hold a special election on June 28 to ask voters to create a regional school district for National Park, Westville, Woodbury Heights and Wenonah. The district will be known as the Gateway Regional District for grades 7 through 12.... The boroughs now send their 9th through 12th grade pupils to Woodbury High School which will not accept 9th grade pupils after September. The Gateway proposal calls for the construction of a regional junior high school serving grades 7 through 9. Pupils in the three upper classes will continue to attend Woodbury High School."
^"Ask Referendum Again on School", Courier-Post, October 6, 1962. Accessed March 25, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Members of a regional school district study committee representing four Gloucester County communities have agreed to recommend a second referendum on the proposed Gateway Regional Junior-Senior High School District Dec. 5. The decision to ask for the referendum was made at a special meeting in National Park. The school district would include Westville, National Park, Woodbury Heights and Wenonah.... All four communities now have kindergarten to eighth grade school systems."
^Waters, Ann S. "Henderson Elected As First President Of Gateway Board", Courier-Post, December 15, 1962. Accessed March 25, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Their proposal that the Gateway district he formed and a junior high school built was first defeated 830-721 at a June 28 referendum.... At the Dec. 5 election the vote results approving the question were: Wenonah 304-185; Woodbury Heights, 236-75; National Park, 236-81; and Westville, 384-202."
^"4 Towns Approve School", Courier-Post, May 29, 1963. Accessed March 25, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Less than 7 per cent of the 12,912 registered voters in the four-borough Gateway Regional High School district approved by a 3-1 margin Tuesday the land acquisition and construction of the proposed $1.6 million junior high school. Authorization for the regional board to purchase a 38-acre site known as Rizzuto Farm was given by residents of Westville, National Park, Woodbury Heights and Wenonah, along with authority to issue $1 million of bonds to build and equip the school.... Superintendent of Schools John M. Lelko explained that the proposed junior high will have a functional capacity of 800 students and would accommodate 1,000. Special areas such as gymnasiums and cafeterias will be designed to ultimately provide for junior-senior high when necessary to include senior students. Plans call for 23 academic classrooms, and laboratories, administration and office areas, library, lockers, showers, a 600-seat auditorium and a 350-student cafeteria."
^Home Page, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023. "The WJFL is a 94-school super conference that stretches from Princeton to Wildwood encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conference, the Tri-County Conference, the Colonial Conference, and the Cape Atlantic League. The WJFL is made up of sixteen divisions with divisional alignments based on school size, geography and a strength-of-program component."
^Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the Gateway Regional High School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2023. Accessed April 12, 2024. "The Gateway Regional High School District is a Type II district located in the County of Gloucester, State of New Jersey. As a Type II district, the School District functions independently through a Board of Education. The Board is comprised of nine members elected to three-year terms. These terms are staggered so that three members’ terms expire each year. The purpose of the School District is to educate students in grades seven through twelve at its school."
^Board Members, Gateway Regional Board of Education. Accessed September 15, 2022.
^Baxter, Robert. "A symphony in search of an audience",Courier-Post, May 12, 1979 Accessed April 8, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "Helen Campo, a junior at Gateway Regional High School and winner of the symphony's student competition, will perform Grifies' Poem for Flute."
^O'Connell, Kaelin. "Going for the gold", Today's Sunbeam, February 24, 2008. Accessed February 28, 2008. "In 2001 Tim Squyres, a Gateway Regional High School graduate and a Wenonah native, was nominated for his editing work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
