Hanover Park High School


Hanover Park High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from East Hanover Township and Florham Park, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as one of the two secondary schools of the Hanover Park Regional High School District. Hanover Park's sister school is Whippany Park High School, which serves students from Hanover Township, where the school is located. The school opened in 1956.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 839 students and 76.6 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 11.0:1. There were 20 students eligible for free lunch and 11 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 26th-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. The school had been ranked 57th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 96th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 67th in 2008 out of 316 schools. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 117th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics and language arts literacy components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.
In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 365th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 41st among all high schools in New Jersey and 24th among the state's non-magnet schools.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 575th in the nation among participating public high schools and 45th among schools in New Jersey.
Hanover Park High School was recognized as a 2013 New Jersey and National District of Character. Hanover Park Regional High School District is the first New Jersey School District to receive a Character Education Partnership National School District of Character.

Design

The school's original master plan envisioned a series of one-story buildings A-F consisting of five classrooms, H in two, 32 in all. A spacious central core building housed administration, an auditorium, and separate wings with more classrooms for music, drama, arts, and home economics. Up until 2008, the students had no lockers and walked outdoors after each succeeding period. The design, good for West Coast schools, was quickly deemed inappropriate for the heavy rains and harsh winters of northern New Jersey. The school was reconfigured in the 2000s, and by enclosing buildings between existing structures, the campus now has five larger structures rather than the original ten smaller ones. As part of a construction project, students were provided with individual book lockers that were available at the start of the 2007-08 school year.

Athletics

The Hanover Park High School Hornets compete in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 664 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North II, Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 508 to 770 students in that grade range. Prior to the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school competed in the Iron Hills Conference.
The school operates as the host school / lead agency for joint boys' and girls golf, lacrosse and boys' and girls' swimming programs with Whippany Park High School, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2018-19 school year; Whippany Park is the host school / lead agency for joint programs between the two schools in ice hockey and girls' lacrosse.
The girls' basketball team won the Group III state championship in 1988, defeating Lakewood High School in the tournament final.
The football team won the North II Group II state sectional championships in 1990.
The baseball team won the Group II state championship in 1997 and 2006.
The boys wrestling team won the North II Group II state sectional championship in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2014, and the North II Group I title in 2004, 2005, 2012 and 2013.
The girls track team won the 2004 Group I indoor relay championship.
In the 2010–11, 2011–12, and 2012–13 seasons, the Park Regional Hockey Team won back-to-back-to-back Haas Cup Championships.

Academic team

The Hanover Park High School Academic Decathlon Team, led by Coach Joseph Lunetta, won the 2008 New Jersey state championship. They scored 42,405.5 out of 60,000 possible points for a 102.7-point victory over runners-up Parsippany Hills High School.
At the national finals held in Garden Grove, California, the Academic Team placed sixth in Division III and twentieth overall with a score of 39,337.0. Senior Stephanie Wang was the highest scorer on the team, obtaining 8199.8 out of a possible 10,000 points. The team won the Division III Rookie Award, given to the school competing at the finals for the first time that amasses the largest number of points.

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:
, whose doors opened in 1967, serves Hanover Township. The school is located in the Whippany section of Hanover Township.

Notable alumni