Mahwah High School (MHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students from Mahwah in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the only secondary school of the Mahwah Township Public Schools. The school is accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education and has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1962.Mahwah High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools, nacked up by the Internet Archive as of March 15, 2012. Accessed March 26, 2015.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 829 students and 90.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.1:1. There were 115 students (13.9% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 22 (2.7% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Mahwah High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History Through the 1957-58 school year, students from Mahwah joined those from Allendale, Saddle River and Upper Saddle River who attended Ramsey High School as part of sending/receiving relationships with the respective districts and the Ramsey Public School District."Boards Send Trustees to Study Session; Unit To Consider Plans For Regional Needs In High Schools; Meet in Ramsey", The Record, September 11, 1957. Accessed May 26, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "At present Waldwick students attend Midland Park School; and Allendale, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, and Mahwah pupils attend Ramsey High School. When the new Mahwah High School is completed in 1958 or 1959 it will absorb Allendale pupils." Allendale and Mahwah left the Ramsey district in September 1958 once Mahwah High School was opened.School History, Mahwah High School. Accessed May 26, 2021. "The campus-style school with 13 buildings was originally established as a joint Junior and Senior high school. It was constructed in 1958-59 for $4 million. Before the new school opened, Mahwah's high school students attended Ramsey High School. Prior to the construction of Northern Highlands Regional High School in the mid-1960s, students from Allendale and Upper Saddle River attended what was then known as Mahwah Junior-Senior High School. The first all-Mahwah graduating class was in 1967." With construction delayed due to labor actions, Mahwah High School started the year with afternoon classes housed in space rented at Ramsey High School.Hall, Douglas. "One Building Serves As Home For Two High School Groups; Mahwah, Hit By Strike, Plans To Send Students To Ramsey", Bergen Evening Record, August 20, 1958. Accessed May 26, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Mahwah, a victim of the long summer builders strike, appealed to this borough when it became apparent their new high school building would not be finished in time for schools opening next month. Ramsey High School pseudo-double session with Mahwah. This Borough's high school students will attend classes from 7:45 A. M. to 2:30 P. M. while the guest will send its students from 2 P. M. until 6:30 P. M. The Mahwah group also includes students from Allendale who will attend Mahwah High when it is finished." Completed at a cost of $3.6 million (equivalent to $ million in ), the high school facility opened for students in February 1959."Students Inspect New Campus As Mahwah High School Opens; Pupils Come Early To Tour Facilities At Their $-Million Home", Bergen Evening Record, February 17, 1959. Accessed May 26, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The first full day of classes at North Jersey's only campus-type high school went very smoothly, Principal Dr. Kenneth P. Bishop reported last night.... Most of the students arrived early to inspect the $3,565,000 set of buildings, settle behind new desks, and become familiar with the wide-open surroundings. The four buildings used by the High School include 24 classrooms, 12 study halls, and four commons rooms. Nine other buildings are scheduled for completion at the rate of one every 2 weeks. Some 530 students from Mahwah and Allendale attended classes yesterday, having until February 6 studied on an afternoon shift at Ramsey High School."
Construction on the $3.25 million campus-style facility began in August 1958, with 13 buildings spread out over of the property to accommodate 600 students from Mahwah and Allendale. Delays in starting the work meant that the initial set of classrooms would not be available until November 1958, with completion of the 1,200-student capacity facility due for February 1959. Before the buildings opened, the district rented space from Ramsey High School, with Allendale and Mahwah students who had already started in the Ramsey district remaining there until graduation. With the opening of the high school, the Mahwah district's elementary schools were changed from K-8 to K-6, with the new high school serving students in grades 7-12."Mahwah Building A Campus School; 13 Buildings of Junior-Senior High Will Occupy Only 20 of Site's 62 Acres", The New York Times, August 3, 1958. Accessed September 14, 2020.
In May 1963, voters in Allendale and Upper Saddle River approved a referendum to create Northern Highlands Regional High School, with the expenditure of $3.65 million to build a facility on a 40-acre site, with plans to complete the building in time to start classes in September 1965.Staff. "2 Jersey Towns Approve New Regional High School", The New York Times, May 26, 1963. Accessed August 21, 2011. The Northern Highland school building, completed at a cost of $4 million, was dedicated in February 1966.Robbins, William. "Jersey School Is Equipped for Space Age Library Has Glass Walls", The New York Times, March 27, 1966. Accessed August 21, 2011. The first all-Mahwah graduating class was in 1967.
The present school building was constructed in 1984 with three floors on the site of the original school, with an addition completed in "March 2005" (along with the expansion of Ramapo Ridge Middle School), according to a plaque in the new wing.Mission and Belief Statement: Profile , Mahwah High School. Accessed July 30, 2008.
In Fall 2009, the Freshman Advisory, a full year freshman transition program, was implemented. Freshman Advisory is a required course for all freshman students, and it is taught by upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) and supervised by the high school faculty. The following topics are addressed: study and organizational skills, time management, coping skills, peer pressure, Habits of Mind, and college/post-secondary planning.Freshman Advisory Curriculum, Mahwah Board of Education approved, February 2009
In Summer of 2018 construction began on a new extension to the high school. Named the STEAM room and also known as The Thunderbird Think Tank and houses new science rooms and computer labs. The extension was completed August, 2019 and opened for students in September, 2019.
Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 69th-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 55th in state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 56th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed December 2, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 68th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 10, 2011. The school was ranked 46th in the magazine's 2006 rankings."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 79th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 18 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (90.9%) and language arts literacy (94.8%) 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 1, 2012.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 70th in New Jersey and 2,033rd nationwide.Mathews, Jay. , The Washington Post. Accessed September 11, 2011.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 615th in the nation among participating public high schools and 47th among schools in New Jersey.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools" , The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 9, 2013.
In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 366th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 42nd among all high schools in New Jersey and 25th among the state's non-magnet schools.Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2016", Newsweek. Accessed November 11, 2016.
In Niches 2017 list of the Best Schools in the Nation, Mahwah High School as the 28th school in New Jersey.
In its 2020 annual ranking of 17,792 secondary public schools across the country, U.S. News & World Report ranked Mahwah High School as 39th best out of 451 secondary schools in New Jersey and 888th best in the United States.
Advanced Placement offerings Mahwah High School offers 20 Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which include AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science, AP Economics (includes one semester of macroeconomics and one semester of microeconomics), AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP European History, AP French Language and Culture, AP Music Theory, AP Physics, AP Psychology, AP Spanish, AP Statistics, AP Studio Art, AP Psychology AP United States Government and Politics, and AP US History. In the 2009-10 school year, 128 students participated in Mahwah High School's AP course offerings, taking a total of 258 examinations that year of which 87% achieved a grade of 3 or higher.Profile 2010-2011 , Mahwah High School. Accessed March 7, 2011.
Athletics