West Side High School (New Jersey)
West Side High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school complex in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Newark Public Schools. As of the 2019–20 school year, the school had an enrollment of 615 students and 47.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.1:1. There were 483 students (78.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 23 (3.7% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch. The West Side campus has hosted two separate high school programs that operate  independently but have shared a facility and athletic programs: History. West Side High School opened on September 14, 1925, in a building designed to provide students with classrooms, an auditorium, gyms, and other facilities, serving 520 boys and 809 girls. The school had been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools until 2011, when the school's accreditation status was removed. Awards, recognition and rankings. The school was the 326th-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 268th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 319th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 313th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 313th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. The school has twice received gifts of $50,000 from Ellen DeGeneres. West Side also received a gift of $500,000 from Oprah Winfrey to be used for the school 's summer initiative. Athletics. The West Side High School Roughriders 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 2009 realignment, the team had been in the Skyline Division of the Northern Hills Conference, which included schools in Essex, Morris and Passaic counties. With 728 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group II for most  athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 486 to 758 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Freedom 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 2018–2020. The boys' cross country team won the Group IV state championship in 1949, 1950 (as co-champion with Asbury Park High School), 1951, 1953 and 1954. The boys' track team won  the Group III indoor relay state championship in 1988. The boys track team won the Group II spring track state championship in 1988 and the Group IV title in 1989. The 1993 girls' basketball team won the Group III state championship with a 60–50 defeat in the tournament final of Egg Harbor Township High School, the state's top-ranked team and the group's defending champion. Entering the Tournament of Champions as the fourth-seeded team, West Side defeated number five seed Haddonfield Memorial High School by a score of 44–39 in the quarterfinals and top-seeded St. Rose  High School by 48–38 in the semis before falling to second-seed St. John Vianney High School in the finals by a score of 57–43 to finish the season with a 30–4 record. The football team won the 2007 North II Group III state sectional championship with a 20–0 win against South Plainfield High School in a game played at Giants Stadium, earning the team its first ever sectional title. Since 2009, the football team plays their home games at Untermann Field, which is shared with other public schools in Newark, following the closure and demolition of Newark Schools Stadium , which was constructed in 1925 and closed in 2006. The boys basketball team won the Group II state championship in 2016 and 2017, defeating Camden High School in the tournament final both years. Down by 17 points at halftime, the 2016 team scored two foul shots with less than two seconds remaining in the game to defeat Camden 85–53 in the Group II championship game. The team won its second consecutive Group II title with a 51–49 win in the championship game. The team advanced to the Tournament of Champions both seasons, coming into the 2016 ToC seeded fourth and  falling 71–62 to fifth-seeded Teaneck High School in the quarterfinals; the 2017 team was the fifth seed, again falling in the quarterfinals to Teaneck, this time in overtime by a score of 70–62 to finish the season with a record of 25–7.