Tenafly High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school in Tenafly in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Tenafly Public Schools. Students from the neighboring community of Alpine attend the school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Alpine Public School.Alpine School District 2015 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 3, 2016. "District students in Grades 9 through 12 can attend Tenafly High School which the partner school in a sending-receiving relationship. Enrollment is free for students with the cost of their tuition paid by the Alpine School District."
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,166 students and 107.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.9:1. There were 32 students (2.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 11 (0.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Tenafly High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
History Until October 1962, when the initial wing of Cresskill High School opened, Cresskil's students in grades seven to twelve had attended Tenafly High School. Students already in the Tenafly district for grades 11 and 12 when the Cresskill school opened remained at Tenafly High School until graduation.Slocum, John W. "New Jersey; Bergen", The New York Times, September 3, 1962. Accessed March 16, 2022. "Cresskill will open the first wing of its $2,800,000 high school on Oct 1. Of the 495 pupils in grades seven through twelve, 280 junior and seniors will study in Tenafly High School until graduation."
Awards, recognition and rankings
Tenafly High School was recognized by the National Blue Ribbon School Award by the United States Department of Education at a special assembly to the Tenafly High School community on September 20, 2005. Tenafly was the only high school in New Jersey and one of 38 public high schools in the U.S. to receive the 2005 Blue Ribbon School Award.Schools selected as No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools in 2005, United States Department of Education. Accessed August 5, 2014.
The school was the 17th-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 3rd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 3rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 25, 2012. The magazine ranked the school third in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed August 2, 2011. The school was ranked 2nd in the magazine's 2006 rankings out of 316 schools included 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 68th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 42 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (89.2%) and language arts literacy (97.3%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).School Overview; Click on "Rankings" for 2003-11 HSPA results, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 10, 2012.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 19th in New Jersey and 720th nationwide.Mathews, Jay. "The High School Challenge 2011: Tenafly High School", The Washington Post. Accessed August 2, 2011. Tenafly High School was the 2nd-highest ranked school in New Jersey in a 2007 listing by Newsweek magazine of the top 1,200 U.S. high schools ."The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,200 top U.S. schools", Newsweek, May 22, 2007. Accessed May 24, 2007.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 253rd in the nation among participating public high schools and 20th among schools in New Jersey.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 8, 2013. The school was ranked 198th in the nation and 16th in New Jersey on the list of "America's Best High Schools 2012" prepared by The Daily Beast / Newsweek, with rankings based primarily on graduation rate, matriculation rate for college and number of Advanced Placement / International Baccalaureate courses taken per student, with lesser factors based on average scores on the SAT / ACT, average AP/IB scores and the number of AP/IB courses available to students.Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2012", The Daily Beast / Newsweek, May 20, 2012. Accessed May 22, 2012.
"As of 2024, SchoolDigger ranked Tenafly High School 26th out of 426 public high schools statewide, based on New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA) proficiency data."
Extracurricular activities A clip of journalism students at the school was featured on a December 2025 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert introducing Colbert's "Meanwhile" segment."Meanwhile: Tolkien’s Desk", iHeartRadio, December 6, 2025. Accessed December 10, 2025. "Meanwhile… With help from the English and Journalism students at Tenafly High School in New Jersey...."
Marching band In 2012, the Tenafly High School Marching Band came in first place for group 3A in the USBands Marching Band Competition in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: In 2022 and 2023, the Band came in first place for group 4A in the USBands New Jersey State Championships.New Jersey State Championships (I A, III A, IV A, III O, IV O), USBands. Accessed November 16, 2023. In 2023, the band competed in the USBands National Championships for the first time and placed first in group 4A.USBANDS A Class National Championships (III A, IV A), USBands. Accessed November 16, 2023.
In October 2024, the marching band won at the USBands annual competition at Bergenfield High School in October 2024, scoring 81.700 in Group Open IV.Goldman, Maia. "Tenafly High School Marching Band Grabs Another Victory at Bergenfield High School", The Echo, October 17, 2024. Accessed February 24, 2025. "As the Tenafly High School Marching Tigers made a euphoric resurgence into the 2024 season with their show Connected, they scored yet another win on Sunday at USBand’s annual competition at Bergenfield High School in open class IV for the first time with a score of 81.700." In November 2025, the band competed in the USBands New Jersey State Championships and placed second place in group 4O.
Athletics The Tenafly High School TigersTenafly High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the Big North Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties, 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, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. Before the 2010 realignment, Tenafly competed in the Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL) American Conference, which included public and private high schools located in Bergen and Hudson counties.New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association League Memberships – 2009-2010, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 24, 2011. Accessed November 24, 2014. With 910 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 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 competed in the Ivy 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 football team was one of the 12 programs assigned to the two Ivy divisions starting in 2020, which are intended to allow weaker programs ineligible for playoff participation to compete primarily against each other.Cooper, Darren. "Super Football Conference creating 'Ivy Division' for struggling programs", The Record, May 1, 2019. Accessed March 24, 2021. "Seeking to restore participation and enthusiasm to high school football programs that have struggled to compete consistently, the Super Football Conference announced plans to start a 12-team 'Ivy Division' in the 2020 season. Teams that compete in the 'Ivy Division' will play exclusively against each other and won't participate in the NJISAA football playoffs.... Twelve schools from Bergen, Hudson, Essex and Morris counties have applied to compete in the Ivy Division: Bergen Tech, Cliffside Park, Dickinson, Fair Lawn, Ferris, Memorial, Dover, Dwight-Morrow, Fort Lee, Glen Ridge, Marist and Tenafly." The team was promoted to the American Red division after an 8–0 record in 2020, and a 6–4 run in 2021.Farrell, Sean. "State of the Program: New coach brings 'Heart' and NFL background to Tenafly", The Record, August 2, 2023. Accessed November 16, 2023. "Tenafly is looking to get back on track in the Super Football Conference. The Tigers turned in back-to-back winning seasons in the Ivy Division for struggling programs (in 2020 and 2021), but never found their mojo last year after a promotion to the American Red." The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 700 to 884 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. The name for the school's athletic teams is the Tigers, and its school colors are black and orange, adopted in the 1920s as a nod to those of Princeton University."Northern Valley News In Review - Tenafly", The Record, June 24, 1990. Accessed November 11, 2020. "An 18-inch hand-painted porcelain Bengal tiger was presented to the Tenafly High School Monday by Mr. and Mrs. R.G. Burrows of 71 Downey Drive.... The tiger is the school mascot, adopted sometime in the 1930s said Principal Louis Visco. He said the school first took Princeton's black and orange colors in the 1920s and later added the tiger nickname."
The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with Cresskill 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.