Verona High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school, serving students in ninth through twelfth grade in Verona, in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Verona Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1947.Verona High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools, backed up by the Internet Archive as of April 24, 2014. Accessed March 30, 2015.Member Directory , Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed September 20, 2012.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 628 students and 54.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.6:1. There were 3 students (0.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and none eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Verona High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
The school mascot is the Verona Hillbilly, which reflected the remote, rural nature of the community. It was originally created in the 1950s and pictured with a bottle of moonshine and a shotgun. The mascot later was redesigned with a dog and a fishing pole due to concerns of school violence and under-age drinking.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 "Take Verona High School, whose nickname is the Hillbillies. 'This was the sticks years ago,' said Principal Joseph Pirrello. 'That's where the Hillbillies came from.' The school's emblem, according to Pirrello, is a 'big hillbilly with a corncob pipe and a shaggy-looking beard sitting on a railing.'"Starnes, Joe Samuel. "Soapbox; Smile When You Say That", The New York Times, March 19, 2006. Accessed January 16, 2020. "It has been Verona High School's nickname for more than 60 years, and the original Hillbilly mascot, dating back to the 1950s, carried a rifle and a jug of liquor. In recent years his image was softened by replacing the gun and the moonshine with a fishing pole."
Awards, recognition and rankings Verona High School won the New Jersey Star School Award for the 1995–96 school year.Star School Award recipient detail, New Jersey Department of Education, Archived December 18, 2006. Accessed November 30, 2009. The school won the New Jersey Best Practice Award in the 1995–96 school year for Citizenship / Tolerance in recognition of its program in Prejudice Reduction. In the 1997–98 school year, it received the Best Practice Award for Citizenship & Character Education in recognition of Teaching Responsibility Through Involvement.About VHS , Verona High School. Accessed September 10, 2011.
The school was the 56th-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 70th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 53rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 20, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 53rd in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed September 10, 2011. The school was ranked 47th 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 133rd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 33 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (83.7%) and language arts literacy (95.4%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA)., Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 5, 2012.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 59th in New Jersey and 1,718th nationwide.Mathews, Jay. , The Washington Post. Accessed September 10, 2011.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 718th in the nation among participating public high schools and 56th among schools in New Jersey.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 9, 2013.
Athletics The Verona High School HillbilliesVerona High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. 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).League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021 Accessed July 15, 2020. Prior to the realignment in 2010, the school had participated in the Colonial Hills Conference, which included public and private high schools covering Essex County, Morris County and Somerset County in Northern New Jersey.Home Page, Colonial Hills Conference, backed up by the Internet Archive as of November 19, 2010. Accessed November 25, 2014. With 529 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 National 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 school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with Glen Ridge High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
The boys spring / outdoor track team won the Group I state championship in 1943-1945, 1948-1950 and 1952-1954.NJSIAA Boys Spring Track Summary of Group Titles, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
The boys' basketball team won the Group II state championship in 1957 (defeating Ocean City High School in the tournament's final game) and 2017 (vs. Woodbury High School).NJSIAA Boys Basketball Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022. The 1957 team won the Group II title with a 43-40 win against an Ocean City team that came into the championship game undefeated."Verona Scores Upset To Cop Group 2 Crown", The Record, March 18, 1957. Accessed January 10, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Verona, upset victor over Bogota in the semifinal round of the Group 2 N. J. S. I. A. A. championship did it again Saturday afternoon when it toppled previously undefeated Ocean City, 43-40, at Rutgers University." The 2017 team won the program's second state title with a 69-54 win against Woodbury in the Group II tournament championship game"Verona defeats Woodbury in Group 1 final for 1st title since 1957", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, March 12, 2017, updated August 23, 2019. Accessed November 2, 2020. "Verona defeated Woodbury, 69-54, to claim the Group 1 title at the Louis Brown Athletic Center on Sunday.... The victory is the first time Verona won a state title since it claimed the Group 2 championship in 1957 in a win over Ocean City and clinched the Essex County squad's first trip to the Tournament of Champions." and went into the Tournament of Champions as the sixth seed, falling in the quarterfinals to Don Bosco Preparatory High School by a score of 61-51 after leading in the middle of the fourth quarter.NJSIAA Boys Basketball Tournament of Champions History , New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.Schneider, Jeremy. "Group 1 champion Verona gives Don Bosco Prep major scare in T of C quarterfinals", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, March 17, 2017, updated August 23, 2019. Accessed February 24, 2021. "The Verona coach had just watched his Group 1 champion Hillbillies give Non-Public A champion Don Bosco Prep, the No. 3 team in the NJ.com Top 20 that has lost just once this year, one of its toughest games of the year before falling late in the Tournament of Champions quarterfinals on Friday. Verona's potential Cinderella run ended in the fourth quarter when Don Bosco Prep pulled away for a 61-51 win."
The boys' soccer team won the Group II championship in 1957 and 1960 (vs. Irvington Tech High School both years), 1966 (vs. Morris Knolls High School) and 1976 (vs. Lawrence High School), and won the Group I title in 1981 (vs. Montgomery High School) and 2016 (as co-champion with Haddon Township High School) and won the Group III state title in 1958 (as co-champion with Chatham Borough High School) and 1959 (vs. Jonathan Dayton High School), won .NJSIAA History of Boys Soccer, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
The boys' tennis team won the Group I state championship in 1981, against Pitman High School in the final match of the tournament.History of Boys' Team Tennis Championship Tournament, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.