Pascack Valley High School (PVHS) is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located in Hillsdale in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of two secondary schools in the Pascack Valley Regional High School District. Pascack Valley High School serves the residents of both Hillsdale and neighboring River Vale, while its counterpart Pascack Hills High School serves the communities of Woodcliff Lake and Montvale.Pascack Valley Regional High School District 2015 School Report Card District Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed May 31, 2016. "The district is comprised of two high schools. Pascack Hills High School, which is located in Montvale, receives students from the towns of Montvale and Woodcliff Lake. Pascack Valley High School, located in Hillsdale, enrolls students from Hillsdale and River Vale." As part of its 1:1 eLearning Initiative, the school has provided a laptop to every student, teacher, and administrator for educational use.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 955 students and 93.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.2:1. There were 12 students (1.3% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 8 (0.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Pascack Valley High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
History Constructed at a cost of $1.25 million (equivalent to $ million in ), the school opened in September 1955 with nearly 600 students, which was expected to jump to 800 by 1957 due to increases in the school-aged population."Raubinger Aids In Dedication Of New Regional High School", The Record, September 26, 1955. Accessed May 31, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "New Jersey, faced with a yearly increase of 40.000 pupils and the need for 1,000 teachers and 1,000 classrooms each year, is handling the problem but not solving it, Dr. Frederick Vv. Raubinger, commissioner of the State Department of Education said yesterday afternoon at the dedication of the Pascack Valley Regional High School on Piermont Avenue. He noted that even the new school here must expand within 2 years from its present enrollment of less than 600 to about 800.... He urged residents of the regional high school district of Hillsdale, Montvale. River Vale, and Woodcliff Lake to do their part in looking and planning ahead, and to obtain a good teaching staff.... William F. Van Tassel, president of the Regional Board gave a resume of the 2 years since voters approved construction of the school, at an estimated cost of $1,250,000." Prior to that, students from Hillsdale, Montvale and Woodcliff Lake had attended Park Ridge High School as part of sending/receiving relationships.Beuscher, Kristin. "This Week In Local History: A New School at Park Ridge", Pascack Press, October 22, 2019. Accessed August 19, 2020. "Opened in September 1922, the school housed students of Park Ridge, Montvale, Woodcliff Lake and Hillsdale until Pascack Valley Regional High School opened in 1955."
Principal's death School principal Dr. Joseph Poli died suddenly in 1989. Among the many memorials to Dr. Poli was the renaming of the annual holiday girls' basketball tournament in his memory. The Joe Poli Tournament attracts top teams from across the region.Doviak, Cory K. "Audio Report: Poli Tournament a fitting tribute", NorthJerseySports.com, December 27, 2007. Accessed November 27, 2014. "The Joe Poli Holiday Girls Basketball Tournament is stocked with talented teams and that is the way Pascack Valley head coach Jeff Jasper likes it. The tournament is named in honor of his friend and former colleague, Joe Poli, who was a principal at Pascack Valley High School before passing away in 1989 and is a celebration of his legacy."
1997 walkout In 1997, in an act of support for the proposed school budget which was up for voter approval, up to 700 students (much of the student body) walked out of the school. In the previous three years, the budget had been voted down, and if it had gone down again, the school would have had to dismiss about a third of its teachers, including all who were under age 40. In addition to other local activist activities, such as handing out fliers encouraging people to vote up the budget, students staged a walkout which the local media were called to attend. Originally, the principal had planned to let students walk only to the back following an all-student meeting, but students took matters into their own hands when the leaders of the group led the walkout to the front. In the end, the budget passed.
2008 child pornography scandal In 2008, four freshman students were caught with nude pictures of underage girls. These pictures were shown to have been transmitted through school laptops.
2008 death of principal On January 29, 2008, the school district announced that following surgery on her knee, then-principal Dr. Barbara Sapienza had become comatose and that her recovery was uncertain.Mrnarevic, Karen F. "Principal in a coma", Pascack Valley Community Life, February 6, 2008. Accessed March 5, 2008. "...to a report issued on Tuesday, Jan. 29 by Superintendent Ben Tantillo, Pascack Valley Regional High School (PVRHS) Principal Barbara Sapienza is currently in a coma. She fell into the coma shortly after undergoing knee surgery on Wednesday, Jan. 23." Assistant principal Thomas DeMaio took over as acting principal, and remained in that position following Dr. Sapienza's death on March 5, 2008. DeMaio was subsequently appointed principal in his own right.DeMaio, Thomas, Pascack Valley High School. Accessed October 3, 2014.
2015 white supremacy scandal On May 10, 2015, an open letter from the school's Human Rights League was published on the website of the school's newspaper, The Smoke Signal. The letter referenced "incidents of racism" at the school, including a swastika being drawn on a hallway wall and white supremacy hand signs being flashed at sporting events. Media in northern New Jersey and nearby New York City picked up on the report, and the Anti-Defamation League visited with the school superintendent on Thursday, May 21. School officials revealed in media reports that five students were suspended, although the school would not make it clear what, if any, involvement these students had had in the incidents. To protest against white supremacy and to promote racial equality, school students put up a banner in the hallway, to be signed by students who wanted racial tolerance and diversity.
2018 child pornography scandal In January 2018, several freshman were found with nude pictures of their fellow students on their cellphones, and were found to be distributing and showing these photos to their classmates.
2018 graffiti During a Board of Education meeting on November 5, 2018, Gundersen addressed two Swastikas previously found on September 27 and October 18, 2018, both being located in separate boys' bathrooms. After finding the second Swastika in October in the second floor boys' bathroom, it was closed up, with Principal DeMaio stating it was closed due damage that needed to be repaired.
On November 6, 2018, it was announced that three additional Swastikas were found, leaving the locations unspecified. Plaques behind a baseball dugout were later found with, "homophobic slurs, racial slurs, and drug references, among other vulgar language" etched into them. DeMaio had previously asked for all the plaques to be removed, with only one being removed. After finding the hateful speech, all plaques were removed from the dugout.
On November 21, 2018, the students of Pascack Valley formed the shape of a heart on the football field and gave speeches, part of the "Movement of Unity" in order to, "foster unity throughout the PV community." Almost a month after the Swastikas were addressed, more Swastikas and racial slurs were found in Pascack Hills High School, with administrators addressing students on the matter. On December 4, 2018, another Swastika was found in a bathroom at George G. White Middle School, part of the Hillsdale Public Schools district. It was later announced that a minor had been charged involving the incident.
Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 39th-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.Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014. The school had been ranked 73rd of 328 schools in the state in 2012, after being ranked 23rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 27, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 25th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 22, 2011. The school was ranked 23rd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 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 tied for 49th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of four positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (91.8%) and language arts literacy (98.0%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010–2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed February 26, 2012. In 2013, Pascack Valley earned a place on the AP District Honor Roll along with Pascack Hills and 475 schools across the US and Canada.
1:1 eLearning initiative
In the fall 2000, a program was proposed to provide a laptop to every student and teacher for educational purposes. A wireless network environment for the school was part of a referendum project. As the concept evolved, school representatives visited districts where such a program was already in place. The school's Steering Technology Committee was responsible for the logistics of the plan from 2000 forward.
For the 2004–05 school year, the school issued all its students laptops, and was the first public school in the state to do so. The laptops were issued by Sony and were put under a contractual lease for a period of four years, expiring in 2008. While the laptop program was hailed as a success by the administration, students largely differed in their opinions.
The school ceased use of the Sony Vaio laptops given to students and teachers during the years 2005–2007 in order to integrate 1.6 GHz MacBooks from Apple for the 2007–2008 school year. Several classes were used to test the students' abilities to adapt to Mac OS X Tiger OS interface and assess the laptops' value for use with school activities. The laptops featured all the standard Mac programs as well as having a digital camera built into the top of the screen. The "test runs" of the MacBooks were successful. Printer driver issues arose, but were addressed during the 2007–2008 school year.
Campus Pascack Valley High School has a wide range of facilities and a large campus, including a track (with a new surface as of the spring of 2006), surrounding an artificial turf football field. The school grounds also have eight tennis courts, a dance/recreational room equipped with a ballet barre, a softball field, a weight room, and one baseball field. The school has two levels and is mainly arranged in a rectangular fashion.
The campus underwent major renovations in 2005 that added several wings and a total overhaul of the athletic complex and auditorium.
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