As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 804 students and 65.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.2:1. There were 161 students (20.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 28 (3.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[2]
History
in December 1955, voters approved by a better than 6-1 margin a referendum allocating $1.15 million (equivalent to $13.1 million in 2023) for the construction of a high school on a 13-acre (5.3 ha) site that had been contributed by the township; voters had rejected an earlier proposal that would have spent $1.8 million for a junior-senior high school project.[4]
Students in ninth through twelfth grades had attended Lodi High School until the new Saddle Brook High School opened in September 1958. At its opening, the building served 650 students in grades 7-10, with those in eleventh and twelfth grades continuing in Lodi until their graduation.[5]
With the opening of the Long Memorial Elementary School in Spring 1960, 7th and 8th grade students from Cambridge School no longer used space in the high school building. The high school was expanded in the mid 1960s and by the 1970s there were approximately 1,200 students in grades 9 through 12. Due to changes in demographics, the school became a High School/Middle School in the late 1990s serving grades 7 through 12. At that time Washington Elementary School was closed and reused for other purposes and the other three elementary schools in Saddle Brook—Franklin, Helen I. Smith and Long Memorial—changed from a K-8 format to K-6.[citation needed]
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 205th-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.[6] The school had been ranked 153rd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 170th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[7] The magazine ranked the school 142nd in 2008 out of 316 schools.[8] The school was ranked 191st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[9]
Athletics
The Saddle Brook High School Falcons[3] participate in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, which is comprised of small-enrollment schools in Bergen, Hudson, Morris and Passaic counties, and was created following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[10][11][12] Prior to realignment that took effect in the fall of 2010, Saddle Brook was a member of the smaller Bergen-Passaic Scholastic League (BPSL).[13] With 397 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range.[14] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 254 to 474 students.[15]
Interscholastic sports teams offered at Saddle Brook include football, boys soccer, girls soccer, cross country boys and girls, boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling, winter track boys and girls, spring track boys and girls, baseball, softball and girls tennis.[3]
The boys' track team won the Group I / II indoor relay title in 1973 (as co-champion with Metuchen High School), won the Group II title in 1976, and won the Group I title in 1987 and 1991; the girls' track team won the Group I championship in 1983 and 1992.[16]
The boys team has won winter / indoor track titles in Group II in both 1975 and 1976, and in Group I in 1991, 2004 (as co-champion) and 2005.[17]
The girls' cross country team won the Group II state championship in 1976 and 1978.[18]
The wrestling team won the North I Group II state sectional championship in 1981[19]
The softball team won the North I, Group I state sectional championships in 1998 and 2000, 2002,[20] 2005, 2009 and won again in 2013 with a 5-0 victory over New Milford High School in the tournament finals.[21] The softball team has had 16 consecutive 20-game win seasons. The team won the BPSL Carpenter Division title in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009 and in 2008 made it to the final in the county tournament as the only group I school left in the tournament.
The boys track team won the Group I spring / outdoor track state championship in 2005.[22] Saddle Brook's track and field team, led by Coach Howard Schuman, won the 2005 indoor and outdoor Group I NJSIAA state track championships.[23][24]
Under Head Coach Darren White, the Saddle Brook High football team saw a resurgence in its program from 1999 to 2003. In those years the Falcons reached the state playoffs in five consecutive seasons, after years where the team had finished with records of 0-10 and 1-9.
Administration
The school's principal is Donald J. Meisch Jr. His administration team includes the vice principal.[25]
^Energy Savings Plan, Saddle Brook Public Schools. Accessed September 26, 2019."The Saddle Brook Middle and High School (MS/HS) serves students from Grade 7 through Grade 12. Originally constructed in 1958 with an addition in 2005, the building is approximately 194,446 sq. ft."
^"Saddle Brook to Open New H. S.", Herald News, September 12, 1958. Accessed January 5, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The new Saddle Brook High School on Mayhill Street will open for sessions at 8 o'clock on Wednesday. Enrollment in the building is expected to total 650. Seventh-and eighth grade pupils of Cambridge School will use some of the classrooms, as will the new ninth graders and the 10th graders who are being transferred here from the Lodi High School. The 11th and 12th graders will remain in the Lodi High School until they graduate there."
^Mattura, Greg. "Small-school NJIC may debut its own league championship", The Record, January 9, 2017. Accessed August 30, 2020. "The small-school North Jersey Interscholastic Conference may debut its own boys basketball tournament this season, one season after introducing its girls hoops championship. The NJIC is comprised of schools from Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties and the event offered to the 36 boys teams would serve as an alternative to likely competing against larger programs in a county tournament."
^Baumuller, J. C. "Saddle Brook beats New Milford in the North 1, Group 1 softball final", Twin-Boro News, June 2, 2013. Accessed December 15, 2013. "Saddle Brook players congratulate junior pitcher Danielle Archibold, right, after their 5-0 win over New Milford in the North 1, Group 1 sectional final."
^Principal's Page, Saddle Brook High School and Middle School. Accessed December 22, 2024.
^Vrentas, jenny. "NFL Draft: Rutgers' Steve Beauharnais ready to jump from under-the-radar prospect to NFL", The Star-Ledger, April 21, 2013. Accessed April 28, 2013. "Beauharnais had already earned a scholarship to Rutgers while playing for Saddle Brook High School, so Karcich was surprised to learn the teen planned to enroll in the private school in Montvale for his senior year.... Beauharnais was part of St. Joseph's Non-Public Group III state title that season."
^Leitgeb, Charles. "Class is 'state of the art'; High school course draws rave reviews", Herald News, February 7, 1986. Accessed November 13, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Three of Stausss prize students from the high school Dawn Sedlmeir, Tom Bolognini and James Capobianco have. received awards and prizes for their works.... While Saddle Brook High School may look like, just another educational facility full of classrooms, there is more to the school than meets tne eye."
^"Dellon to Study at Johns Hopkins", The Record, July 5, 1962. Accessed June 14, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "Arnold Lee Dellon, who was awarded a $500 scholarship from the V.F.W. last month, will begin medical studies at Johns Hopkins University this fall. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Dellon of 804 Saddle River Road. Dellon was graduated from Saddle Brook High School in the top 5 per cent of his class."
^Layline, Tafline. "Meet America's Youngest Billionaire", Ozy Media, November 16, 2017. Accessed September 26, 2019. "In 1994, Dewji graduated from Saddle Brook High School in New Jersey and, eschewing a career in golf, studied international business and finance at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C."
^Duggan, Dan. "How Steve Longa transformed from African soccer star to NFL prospect", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, April 30, 2016. Accessed October 10, 2016. "The family settled in Saddle Brook, N.J., and Longa initially continued to pursue his first passion: Soccer. But Leo Ciappina, a teacher at Saddle Brook High/Middle School, had other ideas for the athletic newcomer."
^Tatum, Kevin. "Owls football gains 3 more commitments", The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 19, 2006. Accessed December 13, 2012. "The latest players to cast their lots with Temple are third-team all-state linebacker Andre Neblett of Rahway High (N.J.), tight end Steve Maneri of Saddle Brook High (N.J.), and offensive lineman John Palumbo of Queen of Peace in North Arlington, N.J."
^Badders, Bob. "David Schuman hired as Red Bank football head coach", Shore Sports Network, April 3, 2019. Accessed September 26, 2019. "Schuman was an All-State running back at Saddle Brook High School before playing linebacker at the University of Connecticut, graduating in 1996."
^Weinberg, David. "Weinberg: Former baseball player Jane Moffet was a pioneer", The Press of Atlantic City, March 24, 2018. Accessed January 5, 2022. "After the 1952 season, she moved back to New Jersey to care for her ill mother, earned a master's degree from Rutgers University and spent more than 40 years in education, including 23 years as principal at Saddle Brook High School until she retired in 1994."
