As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 263 students and 29.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 8.9:1. There were 163 students (62.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 18 (6.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
Wildwood Middle School and the Wildwood Public School District administration share the Wildwood High property.[6] The same building formerly housed Elementary School #1, for grades 5 and 6, along with Wildwood High.[7]
History
The first high school class of Wildwood graduated in 1906. The current building opened in 1917. At one time this building had grades 1-12. In 1927 and 1967 the building received additions.[8]
Awards, recognition and rankings
In September 2013, the school was one of 15 in New Jersey to be recognized by the United States Department of Education as part of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, an award called the "most prestigious honor in the United States' education system" and which Education Secretary Arne Duncan described as honoring schools that "represent examples of educational excellence".[9][10]
The school was the 285th-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.[11] The school had been ranked 244th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 279th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[12] The magazine ranked the school 253rd in 2008 out of 316 schools.[13] The school was ranked 299th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[14] Schooldigger.com ranked the school as 321st out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (a decrease of 11 positions from the 2009 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[15]
Athletics
B. W. "Red's" Maxwell Memorial Field at Byrne Community Center, used for athletic purposes by WHS
The Wildwood High School Warriors[2] compete as one of the member schools in the Tri-County Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools located in Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.[3] The conference is overseen by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[16] With 183 students in grades 9-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2022-23 school year as South, Group 1 for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range.[17] The football team competes in the Horizon Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconference[18][19] and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 185 to 482 students.[20]
The boys' basketball team won the Group II state title in 1940 vs. Bogota High School and 1941 vs. Pompton Lakes High School, and won the Group I title in 1942 against Bernardsville High School, in 1961 vs. North Arlington High School and in 1964 vs. Wallington High School.[21][22] After playoff losses in the four previous seasons, the 1940 team won the Group II title after defeating Bogota by a score of 34-18 in the championship game.[23] The 1941 team puled ahead with a 7-0 run in the first quarter and held on to repeat as state champion after defeating Pompton Lakes by a score of 39-35 in the finals.[24] Led by 18 points from future NFL player Randy Beverly, the 1961 team won the Group I state title with a 65-50 win against North Arlington in the championship game played at Princeton University's Dillon Gymnasium.[25]
The softball team won the Group I state championship in 1976, defeating Wood-Ridge High School in the final round of the tournament.[26]
^Rundquist, Jeanette. "15 N.J. schools named as national 'Blue Ribbon' winners", The Star-Ledger, September 24, 2013. Accessed September 25, 2013. "Five Catholic schools, six county vocational-technical schools and a Yeshiva are among the list of honored schools in New Jersey. Also named as 2013 Blue Ribbon Schools were Dover, Harrison and Wildwood high schools."
^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."
^"Title Retained By Wildwood", Asbury Park Press, March 23, 1941. Accessed March 1, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Wildwood high school successfully defended its Group 2 basketball crown yesterday by staving off Pompton Lakes, 39 to 35, in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic association tournament at the Elizabeth armory. A seven-point leas compiled by Wildwood during the first period in which Pompton Lakes went scoreless from the field, proved the decisive factor as the South Jerseyans became the first team to win a state title two consecutive years since Princeton captured the Group 2 diadem in 1937 and 1938."
^"State Group 1 Title Taken by Wildwood", Courier-Post, March 20, 1961. Accessed March 4, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Ray Lynch today feels his first season as Wildwood High School's basketball coach has come to a perfect ending. The campaign closed here Saturday in Princeton University gymnasium when Wildwood topped North Arlington High, 65-50, to win the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group I championship. It was Wildwood's first state crown since it won two Group 2 crowns and a Group 1 crown in 1940, '41 and '42."
^Dubin, Murray. "A Journey From Songs To Seashells", The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 4, 1999. Accessed May 28, 2013. "North Wildwood, N.J. — He has worked for and with people you read about or listen to: Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Aerosmith, Madonna, Rick Springfield and hundreds more.... Antonio Fulginiti was one of the first Italians on the island in 1900, but his grandson, Gregory, left for New York as quickly as he could, one day after his graduation from Wildwood High School in 1969."
^via Associated Press. "Pittsburgh's Osborn Plays Three Sports", Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1987. Accessed August 10, 2016. "His friends call the Wildwood Crest, N.J., native 'The Wizard of Oz.'... Osborn won 11 varsity letters at Wildwood High before being recruited by former Pitt football coach Foge Fazio."
^Betty's History, Jacksonian Press, Inc. Accessed February 6, 2024. "In 1969, she integrated the Wildwood Public School teaching staff.... She was the director of the Wildwood High School Choir and the King Singers."
^Administration, Wildwood School District. Accessed February 6, 2024.
* Formerly operated its own 1-8 school, which has been closed since 1931. ** Formerly operated its own K-8, then K-6 school, which has been closed since July 2012. School districts by county:
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