Eastside High School (or EHS) is a four–year public high school located in Paterson section of Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, that serves the eastern section of Paterson. EHS, which serves ninth through twelfth grade students, operates as part of the Paterson Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1928.Eastside High School , Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed December 9, 2017. Eastside High School opened on February 1, 1926.Office of the Superintendent , Paterson Public Schools, March 2010. Accessed January 26, 2021. "This month, I'd like to talk about an exciting highlight in this effort, which is the transformation of Eastside High School. When Eastside opened its doors in 1926, it was considered one of the finest public schools in all of New Jersey."
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,073 students and 130.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 16.0:1. There were 1,183 students (57.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 26 (1.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Eastside High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
The school mascot—the Ghosts—derives from the location of Eastside's football field, where a nineteenth-century cemetery once stood.Read, Philip M. Paterson, p. 64. Arcadia Publishing, 2003. . Accessed March 6, 2018. "On land now home to Eastside High School's football team, the Ghosts, once stood a portion of the Sandy Hill Cemeteries dating from 1814."Genovese, Peter. "What's in a nickname? Often, a school's history", The Home News, January 5, 1986. Accessed October 18, 2021, via Newspapers.com "'Our school was built on a cemetery,' said a staffer at Eastside High School in Paterson, explaining the school's nickname, the Ghosts. 'We were called the Undertakers before that.'" A May 1927 article in The Paterson Evening News refers to the Eastside team as the "Galloping Ghosts"."Rival School Nines Will Clash Saturday Afternoon", The Paterson Evening News, May 31, 1927. Accessed March 23, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Red and Black has scored thirty-six runs in seven games, while the Eastsiders chalked up forty-two runs in eight games Central's defense yielded only sixteen runs while the 'Galloping Ghosts' were forced to allow seventy-one runs trickle across the home plate."
History The school building, completed at a cost of $1.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ), was dedicated in formal ceremonies in January 1926. The school opened to students the next month, with students moving over from Central High School (since renamed as John F. Kennedy High School) to the new school facility."Dedicate New H. S. Monday; James Wilson Will Be the Principal Speaker at Exercises.", The Morning Call, January 22, 1926. Accessed March 23, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Formal dedication of the new $1,500,000 Eastside high school will be held next Monday evening at 8:18 o'clock with a program suitable to the occasion, and for which James Wilson, president of the chamber of commerce, will be the principal speaker.... On Monday, Feb. 1 the school will be occupied for the first time for school work for the beginning of the new term will see the transfer of the member of the Eastside high school from the present building which they have been occupying with the pupil of the Central high school."
Schools The Eastside campus hosted three separate academy programs that operate independently but this is no longer the case:Schools , Paterson Public Schools. Accessed November 21, 2014. School of Culinary Arts, Hospitality and TourismCulinary Arts, Hospitality and Tourism School, Paterson Public Schools. Accessed March 23, 2022. Andre S. McCollum, PrincipalAdministration, Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Tourism School. Accessed March 23, 2022. School of Government and Public AdministrationSchool of Government and Public Administration, Paterson Public Schools. Accessed March 23, 2022. Andre S. McCollum, Principal of Instruction Edgard Nieves, Principal of Operations School of Information TechnologySchool of Information Technology, Paterson Public Schools. Accessed March 23, 2022. Andre S. McCollum, Principal of Instruction
Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 311th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2008 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools. The school was ranked 309th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state."Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 370th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2009-10 rankings 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).New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2009-2010, Schooldigger.com. Accessed December 29, 2011.
Demographics and achievement EHS is 55% Hispanic of various Latin American nationalities, 43% Black, 2% White. 37% of the school speaks Spanish in their homes while another 32% speaks another language other than English. There are also limited English proficiency students or LEPs who compose 12% of the school. Limited English Proficient students cannot speak, read, or write in English and are placed in "bilingual" classes. 45% of the students participate in the free or reduced price lunch program. The average class size is 39 students, excluding special education. The school's ratio of students to computers is 9 to 1, with the state average being 4 to 1.
On the Language Arts section of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), 51% scored proficient and 46% scored partial. On the Math section of the test, 39% scored proficient and 57% scored partial. The average SAT score is 736 out of 1600. The Advanced Placement Program (AP) participation is 2%. The average attendance rate is 87%. As of the 2004–05 school year, EHS had a suspension rate of 10%. 60% of Eastside High School seniors graduated. 71% of the school graduated via the SRA process and 10% graduated through the LEP SRA process. Roughly 38% of the graduating seniors go on to four-year colleges and another 34% of the graduating seniors go on to two-year college. The faculty gets paid $46,500 a year while the state average is $52,563. The administrators get paid $105,000; the state average is $102,755. Since the school is in a "special needs" or one of the Abbott Districts,Abbott School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 15, 2016. the district receives almost 85% of its budget from the state.
Athletics The Eastside High School GhostsEastside High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the Big North Conference, a super conference composed of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties that operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey.League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed June 6, 2016. For the 2009–10 season, the school competed in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference, an interim conference established to facilitate the forthcoming realignment., New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 24, 2011. Accessed September 20, 2014. Until the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had participated in Division B of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League, which included high schools located in Bergen, Essex and Passaic counties, and was separated into three divisions based on NJSIAA size classification., Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League, backed up by the Internet Archive as of May 9, 2009. Accessed December 16, 2014. With 2,304 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,060 to 5,049 students in that grade range.NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020. The football team competes in the Liberty Blue 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.Cooper, Darren. "Here's what we know about the new Super Football Conference 2020 schedule", The Record, July 23, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. "The Super Football Conference (SFC) is a 112-team group, the largest high school football-only conference in America, and is comprised of teams from five different counties."Cooper, Darren. "NJ football: Super Football Conference revised schedules for 2020 regular season", The Record, July 23, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. "The Super Football Conference has 112 teams that will play across 20 divisions." The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group V North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 1,317 to 5,409 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
Eastside plays an annual Thanksgiving Day football game against Kennedy High School. In 2011, Eastside won the 87th annual match-up between the two schools by a score of 17–12Staff. "Paterson Kennedy (12) at Paterson Eastside (17) - Football", The Star-Ledger, November 24, 2011. Accessed January 2, 2012. "Cequan Wharton and Jaron Addison each scored first-half touchdowns for Paterson Eastside, which held off a late rally to defeat Paterson Kennedy, 17-12, yesterday in Paterson. The Eastside victory evened the Thanksgiving series at 40-40-7." At the 93rd annual game in 2017, Kennedy defeated Eastside by a score of 16–6 to win their fourth game in a row in the annual rivalry.Iseman, Chris. "Football: Kennedy outlasts Eastside in heated rivalry game", The Record, November 23, 2017. Accessed March 6, 2018. "Kennedy maintained control of a rivalry that led to some heated moments on the field on Saturday. The Knights scored two first-half touchdowns and their defense posted a solid showing as they defeated Eastside, 16–6, in the 93rd annual Thanksgiving Day game between the schools. Kennedy has now won four straight games against the Ghosts." NJ.com listed the rivalry at 21st on its 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football", with Kennedy leading the series by a 43–42–7 margin.Stypulkoski, Matt. "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 27, 2017, updated May 15, 2019. Accessed December 1, 2020. "21-Paterson Eastside vs. Paterson Kennedy Kennedy have played 92 times as part of a Thanksgiving Day tradition since 1925 in Silk City, with Kennedy holding the narrowest of edges, leading the all-time series, 43-42-7."
The boys' bowling team won the overall state championship in 1960.History of NJSIAA Boys Bowling Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022.