The Kittatinny Regional High School is a six-year comprehensive regional public high school and school district in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in seventh through twelfth grades from five municipalities in the northwest area of the county, which are the townships of Fredon, Hampton, Sandyston, Stillwater and Walpack.School Profile 2025-2026, Kittatinny Regional High School. Accessed March 1, 2026. "We opened our doors in September, 1975 with grades 7-11 and graduated our first class in June, 1977. We are a regional school who serves five townships in the Newton, New Jersey area of Sussex County: Fredon, Stillwater, Hampton, Sandyston and Walpack." It is the only school in the Kittatinny Regional High School District.Public School Directory 2025-2026, Sussex County, New Jersey. Accessed March 1, 2026.School Performance Reports for the Kittatinny Regional High School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 1, 2025.New Jersey School Directory for the Kittatinny Regional High School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 1, 2024. The high school is located on a campus in Hampton Township, about seven minutes outside of the county seat of Newton.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 733 students and 71.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.3:1. There were 82 students (11.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 31 (4.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Kittatinny Regional High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
The district participates in the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program, which allows non-resident students to attend school in the district at no cost to their parents, with tuition covered by the resident district.List of Choice Districts: Choice Program Profiles for 2025-2026 School Year, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed January 1, 2025. Available slots are announced annually by grade.Kittatinny Regional School District Choice Profile for 2025-26 School Year, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed January 1, 2025.
History By a 60%-40% margin, voters approved a February 1973 referendum that allocated $5.7 million (equivalent to $ million in ) towards the cost of construction of the new high school facility."Regional Voters Split; Manchester, Sussex Budgets OK'd", The Evening News, February 7, 1973. Accessed April 4, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Kittatinny Regional: Voters in Fredon, Hampton, Stillwater and Sandyston-Walpack overwhelmingly granted the board authority to raise $5,720,000 in bonds for the construction of a new regional high school. The vote was 852 yes to 548 no on this proposal."
In August 1974, the Newton Public School District was notified that students from the five constituent districts who had attended Newton High School as part of sending/receiving relationships would be leaving the high school.Sullivan, Ann Marie. "Sussex Sidelights", Paterson News, August 29, 1974. Accessed April 4, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Kittatinny Regional Board of Education will soon officially notify Newton High School officials that all students from the regional district will be withdrawn next year, except for seniors. The new regional district, comprised of Fredon, Hampton, Stillwater and Walpack, will open its new facility in September, 1975. Newton, which now accepts those students on a tuition basis, must be notified by resolution of the regional board of the withdrawal of students, because of budget appropriations."Wright, Kevin M. Newton Public Schools, Newton, NJ. Accessed December 4, 2017. "At that time, thirteen school districts sent students to Newton High School while two districts sent elementary school children here. Frankford, Lafayette and Branchville students departed Newton High School in 1964 when the High Point Regional district was formed. Kittatinny Regional District subtracted students from Hampton, Stillwater, Fredon, Sandyston and Walpack Townships in September 1975." The Kittatinny regional district opened its high school to students in September 1975.Kittatinny Regional School District Profile, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 4, 2017. "Kittatinny Regional High School is a highly successful 7th through 12th grade school district located in beautiful Sussex County, New Jersey. Kittatinny serves students from five (5) local townships including Fredon, Hampton, Sandyston, Stillwater and Walpack. Opened in 1975, Kittatinny has expanded its facility to include a new 7th and 8th grade wing in 2001 with 'state of the art' science labs and classrooms." Enrollment in the Newton district dropped by 400 following the departure of the districts sending to Kittatinny."Loss of Pupils Boosts Newton School Taxes", The News, February 19, 1975. Accessed March 25, 2021, via Newspapers.com. The loss of tuition pupils to the new Kittatinny Regional High School has hiked the tax levy to support the local school budget for 1975-76 by $183,051 over last year.... The budget is figured on an enrollment of 1,894 students, a drop of 399 pupils as compared to the previous year. With the opening of the new Kittatinny Regional High School in September, tuition students from Hampton, Stillwater, Fredon and Sandyston-Walpack will no longer be attending Newton High School."
The district had been classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "FG", the fourth-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.District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 20, 2024.
Awards, recognition and rankings During the 1997–98 school year, Kittatinny Regional High School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,National Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982 Through 2019 (PDF) , United States Department of Education. Accessed September 1, 2024. the highest award an American school can receive."CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department", Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; The Washington Post. September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
Kittatinny Regional High School has been recognized as a Star School District, and in the 2005–06 school year, was awarded the honor of Governor's School of Excellence.
The school was the 133rd-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 89th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 149th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 3, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 163rd in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 5, 2012. The school was ranked 149th 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 155th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 8 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (82.0%) and language arts literacy (94.6%) 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 March 5, 2012.
In the 2013–14 school year, Kittatinny Regional High School ranked fifth in SAT scores out of nine other public high schools in Sussex County.Kittatinny Regional High School 2014 School Performance Report, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed May 7, 2017.
Extracurricular activities
Athletics The Kittatinny Regional High School CougarsKittatinny Regional High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. sports teams compete in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Morris, Sussex and Warren counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).Home Page, Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference. Accessed August 27, 2020. "The Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference prides itself on being one of New Jersey's premier high school conferences and is comprised of 39 high schools located in Northwest New Jersey."League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. Prior to the 2010 realignment, the school participated in the Sussex County Interscholastic League until the SCIL was dissolved in 2009.Home Page, Sussex County Interscholastic League, backed up by the Internet Archive, as of February 4, 2012. Accessed November 19, 2014. With 505 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.NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020. The football team competes in the American 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.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 I North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 254 to 474 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
The field hockey team won the North I Group I state sectional title in 1978 and the North I Group II title in 1979, 1994 and 1995.History of NJSIAA Field Hockey Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.