Wallkill Valley Regional High School is a four-year public high school and regional school district serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from four municipalities in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school is located in Hardyston Township, approximately northwest of New York City.
The district comprises four constituent municipalities: Franklin Borough, Hamburg Borough, Hardyston Township and Ogdensburg Borough. Each of these communities supports its own independent K-8 elementary school district. There are 14,000 residents in the constituent districts, which cover an area of .
As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 616 students and 51.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.0:1. There were 76 students (12.3% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 20 (3.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
The school has four assistant principals and 70 certified full and part-time faculty members, of whom 64% hold a master's degree.
The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "DE", the fifth-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.
History
In the face of "badly overcrowded conditions" at Franklin High School, which served students from all four constituent municipalities, voters approved by a 4-1 margin a referendum in November 1972 for the creation of Wallkill Valley Regional High School.
In December 1974, voters in the four constituent municipalities voted against a referendum that would have spent $10 million (equivalent to $ million in ) on the construction of a new building, as well as other questions that covered additions for a planetarium and a swimming pool.
For the 1978-79 school year, Ogdensburg withdrew from Franklin High School and began sending students to Sparta High School.
The district sought bids in 1979 for a building costing $8.3 million (equivalent to $ million in ), using funds from a referendum approved the previous year.
The school building opened in September 1982 with an enrollment of 500 students.
Course offerings
Wallkill's program of studies features a wide range of courses taught on five levels of instruction. The levels are honors or advanced placement, academic, general, basic, and resource center. Areas of instruction include Art, Business, English, Foreign Language, Home Economics, Industrial Arts, Mathematics, Music, Computer Science, Physical Education, Science, and Social Studies. Advanced Placement (AP) courses are offered in AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP United States History, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Art History, AP Computer Science, and AP Calculus. Students may also elect to take AP Tests even if the class is not offered. Several courses are available for college credit; they are based on the curriculum at Sussex County Community College.
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 184th-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 125th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 195th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 189th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 190th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.
Extracurricular activities
There are 21 different athletic activities available to the students at Wallkill Valley. Many of these activities have three levels of participation including freshmen, junior-varsity and varsity. Several non-athletic activities are also available and leadership positions are sometimes available in each area. Some examples include Mock trial, Student Council, Math League, Environmental Club, and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA).