Parsippany Hills High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the township of Parsippany-Troy Hills, in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grade as one of the two secondary schools of the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District. Built in 1969, the school serves students who live in the western half of Parsippany. Its companion school in the district is Parsippany High School.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,021 students and 103.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.9:1. There were 109 students (10.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 50 (4.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Parsippany Hills High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
Enrollment by Grade: 9101112UngradedStudents 2212572782657Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity: American Indian/ Alaska NativeAsianBlackHispanicNative Hawaiian/ Pacific IslanderWhiteTwo or More RacesStudents –38228151442934Enrollment by Gender: MaleFemaleStudents 519509
History Construction of a new high school was approved in a 1967 referendum.Stoddard, Mike. "School Referendum Due", Herald News, March 21, 1969. Accessed May 31, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Last year marked the first time in a 10-year period that the voters were not asked to approve any new schools. The previous referendum passed by the voters in 1967 approved the building of Parsippany Hills High School and additions to several other school buildings." The name Parsippany Hills was chosen in February 1969 from a list of 28 alternatives that had been submitted, ending a plan that had named the schools as East and West."Parsippany Hills Name Of Second High School",The News, February 19, 1969. Accessed May 31, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Board of Education announced Feb. 17 that the name for the township's second high school will be Parsippany Hills High School. The board explained that it had received 28 name suggestions for the school. The township's other high school will be called Parsippany High School. It had been previously; planned to call them Parsippany High School East and West."
Constructed at a cost of $4.75 million (equivalent to $ million in ) and designed to accommodate an enrollment of 1,800, the school opened in September 1969 with 1,200 students in ninth through eleventh grades, primarily those living south of U.S. Route 46.Maclean, Allan. "Parsippany Hills Awaits First Day", Herald News, August 25, 1969. Accessed May 31, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "When Parsippany Hills High School, the townships second, opens Sept. 4, students are advised to bring their lunches but not' their cars. The 1,800 pupil high schools classrooms will be largely ready for use, but some of the other facilities, including the cafeteria kitchen and the auditorium, wont be quite finished.... During last week's good weather, workmen started laying sidewalks and blacktop outside the nearly finished $4.75 million building, located at the end of Rita Drive, off Littleton Road.... Each high school will open with about 1,200 students, according to Oldham. Parsippany High has a capacity of approximately 1,450; Parsippany Hills has a capacity of 1,800.""Parsippany Lists School Attendance Areas",Herald News, March 28, 1969. Accessed May 31, 2022. "All 12th grade students will also attend Parsippany High School, no matter where they live, so that seniors may graduate from the high school they started at. The new Parsippany-Hills High School will service grades 9-11 from the south side of Route 46. Also, those students in grades 9-11 from the Intervale area will attend Parsippany Hills High School. There will be no 12th grade students in Parsippany Hills High School for the 1969-70 school year." In the 2008–09 school year, Parsippany Hills High School saw the opening of the New N-Wing, an addition off the back of the school.
Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 58th-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 23rd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 50th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 26, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 87th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 2, 2011. The school was also ranked 87th 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. PHHS was ranked #7 out of 98 schools in the 2010 "FG" District Factor Group (socioeconomic measure). Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 151st out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 30 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (83.6%) and language arts literacy (93.4%) 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.
Academics Parsippany Hills High School offers the basic math, science, English, and history courses, but also has a wide range of elective courses ranging from human development to choir to marketing. Parsippany Hills also offers its students a wide range of Advanced Placement (AP) courses.
During the 2023-24 school year, 59.9% of students at Parsippany Hills High School were enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement course, compared with 35.9% of students statewide.
96.8% of Parsippany Hills teachers hold a master's degree or doctorate in the field that they teach in. Parsippany Hills also has a student-to-faculty ratio of 10.6 students per every faculty member.
Parsippany Hills students can connect to the Internet, with most school computers having Internet connections. Most wall-mounted televisions in the school are equipped with cable television.
In order to graduate from Parsippany Hills High School, a student must take at least 24 credits of courses, where one credit equals a one period full-year class. A student must take four years of English, three years of mathematics, three years of science, three years of social sciences, one year of a career development course, one year of a foreign language, and one year of a visual and performing arts elective. In addition, all students must pass the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) in their junior or senior year.Student Course Selection Bulletin 2007-2008, Parsippany-Troy Hills School District, January 2007.
Parsippany Hills High School uses a four marking-period year, which are known as quarters. Two quarters make up one semester.Marking Period Schedule Parsippany Hills marking period schedule for the 2008-2009 school year The school uses a rotating drop-block schedule, where each student attends 6 of their 8 classes each day. Each period is 56 minutes with a 4 minute passing period between classes.
Arts Parsippany Hills offers a wide range of artistic classes, from drawing to ceramics, offering 10 different courses in visual arts. The visual arts program offerings include AP Studio Art, Digital Photography, Animation, and Advanced Ceramics.Cahill, Frank L. "PHHS students artwork on display at library", Parsippany Focus, May 11, 2018. Accessed February 10, 2022. "The PHHS Art Department offers a diverse range of classes to students allowing them to explore many different media and grow as young artists. Classes offered are AP Studio Art, Honors Art Portfolio, Painting, Drawing, Multi Art, Digital Photography, Graphic Design, Animation, Ceramics, and Advanced Ceramics."
Parsippany Hills has a large drama club, known unofficially as the Parsippany Hills Players. Past productions have included The Odd Couple: Female Version, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, Picnic, Zombie Prom, The Importance of Being Earnest, Bye Bye Birdie, Aida, Seussical, Legally Blonde, The Drowsy Chaperone, and 42nd Street. In the spring 2007 production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the Parsippany Hills Players saw a record audience. In 2020, the drama club had to cancel their production of Newsies due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In 2021, the Parsippany Hills Players performed Oklahoma! on an outdoor stage in the parking lot due to the pandemic. In 2022, the drama club was once again able to perform indoors in their production of Mary Poppins. The Parsippany Hills Players’ most recent production was Our Town, and in 2023 they will be performing The Music Man.
The marching band, in circuit from June to November, has taken a total of six Northern USSBA States Championship titles ('94, '97,'04, '06, '07, '08) and three state championship titles ('02, '04, '08). In both 2004 and 2008, PHHSMB captured two championship titles. At the All-state championships in 2006, they tied with long-standing rivals Verona High School, but won more captions than any other band. At the state championship competition in 2007, PHHSMB placed second (out of 17). A week later, the band finished first with a score of 94.85 and took first place in every caption except for color guard. In 2008, PHHSMB finally went an undefeated season for the first time in over 20 years, winning both titles of State Champions and Northern States Champions."Parsippany Hills Marching Band is number one", Parsippany Life, November 5, 2008. Accessed February 10, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Parsippany Hills High School Marching Band won first place in the United States Scholastic Band Association's Group 2A New Jersey States Championship on Oct. 26, at Washington Township High School, in Sewell.... The Band finished out their undefeated season as they battled the best bands from the northeastern part of United States on Nov. 2 at The Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, PA." In 2016, PHHSMB won the Tournament of Bands Region 10 NY Metropolitan Area regional championship, with their show, Valhalla.
Athletics