Roxbury High School (New Jersey)

High school in Morris County, New Jersey, US

Roxbury High School is a four year comprehensive public high school in the Succasunna section of Roxbury in Morris County, in the U. S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth grade through twelfth grades, operating as the lone secondary school of the Roxbury School District, which serves more than 3,500 students. The school serves students from Roxbury, as well as from Mount Arlington, who attend as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Mount Arlington School District.

The high school was established in 1903, operating on the top floor of a two story building that served grades 1 12. A referendum was held in 1959 on the construction of a new high school to be located on a plot of land bordering Eyland Avenue. Construction was completed in 1961, with the building dedicated on November 25, 1961, as the first to be named Roxbury High School. With a growing student population across the township, a new building was constructed adjacent to the existing high school on land bordering Hillside Avenue and opened on September 6, 1972

In 2017, the district brought on former Roxbury Chief of Police, James Simonetti, to serve as the Director of Security to improve safety procedures. This included the addition of man traps, upgraded security cameras, revisiting policies and procedures, as well as improving the vetting of visitors. Roxbury was ranked as the 17th safest school in New Jersey (of 237 districts) and 120th out of 10,576 nationwide in 2018.

As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,192 students and 122.7 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.7:1. There were 105 students (8.8% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 57 (4.8% of students) eligible for reduced cost lunch.

Eisenhower Middle School and Roxbury High School are choice schools for the Fine and Performing Arts. Students are eligible to apply for an array of programs including three levels of symphonic band, four levels of choir, multiple levels of dance, an accomplished strings program, and electives such as music theory and Broadway musical theatre. In addition, there are nine select group choirs, a variety of wind ensembles, and two marching bands that allow students to pursue interests beyond the school day in the co curricular domain. There is an annual fall drama and a spring musical. An extensive visual art program is offered, with a four year college prep track including AP Art Studio, and numerous electives that include four levels of ceramics, three of photography, graphic design and yearbook production. Co curricular opportunities are also available in the visual arts. Students are eligible to participate if they're in grades 7 12, with a maximum of 6 seats available for new students. Students are selected through an application process with the implementation of a waitlist and a lottery if more than six requests are received.

The school was the 74th ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 411 schools statewide according to Niche. com's annual rankings in 2019. Their site explains, “Niche ranks nearly 100,000 schools and districts based on statistics and millions of opinions from students and parents.”

In 2016, Roxbury was ranked by NJ Monthly Magazine as 52nd out of 337 schools.

In 2017, Roxbury High School and Eisenhower Middle School earned Bronze Certification through the Future Ready Schools New Jersey. This inaugural program recognizes and supports schools who are deepening student learning and developing a culture of digital innovation to use technology, digital content, and media to better prepare students for the future. This program is in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Education, New Jersey School Boards Association and New Jersey Institute of Technology.

In 2018, Roxbury School District earned Bronze level Certification through Sustainable Jersey for Schools. Sustainable Jersey for Schools provides grants, resources, and trainings for schools and districts to “take steps to create a brighter future, one school at a time”. The mission is to support and reward schools who take steps to become more sustainable. “Bronze certification means a school has made a commitment to sustainability and succeeded in implementing significant first steps, while silver certification means a school has made significant progress in a number of categories toward sustainability and is a statewide and national leader”.

Built in 1971, Roxbury High School is a , two story building with a cafeteria, one full gym, an auxiliary gym, and an auditorium. In addition to the turf field, the school has one soccer field, two softball fields, a baseball field, three outdoor volleyball courts, a utility field (used for lacrosse, field hockey, and soccer), and three practice fields.

The school's principal is Dominick Miller. His core administrative team includes two assistant principals, a Director of Guidance, and an Athletic Director.

In 2005, Roxbury performed "The Music of Scheherazade", and placed 4th overall at the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) All States Championships at Giants Stadium with a score of 96.48. In 2007, records were broken with the Gaels performing their show "Deja View" winning them USSBA Group 6 Open NJ state championships and winning 1st place overall at the USSBA Regionals with a score of 98.00. In 2009, Roxbury won 1st place at National Championships with their show "Upon A King", receiving a score of 98.188, Roxbury's highest score ever received. The band won the state championship in the Group IV Open Class in the 2015 competition held at High Point Solutions Stadium. The Roxbury Honors Wind Symphony has performed at such events as the Midwest Clinic. In 2019, the Roxbury High School Indoor Percussion was named Scholastic A Class Champions at the USBands Indoor Percussion Championships at Fair Lawn High School. With 35 students, grades 8 12, they competed with their show, "We Built Our Own World". Out of four groups, Roxbury placed first in the categories of Music, Visual, and Visual Effect with a score of 92.75. Composer Robert Farnon composed The Gaels: An American Wind Symphony, as a commission to the Roxbury High School band in honor of the school's mascot, the Gael. The piece made its world debut in May 2006.

Roxbury has an extensive selection of extra curricular activities, which involve a large portion of the student body.

Roxbury High School's mascot is the Gael, an Irish/Scottish warrior, which was a nickname given to the football team in the 1930s by local news writers because of three Irish brothers on the team that were standouts. The Roxbury High School Gaels compete in the American Division of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, which includes public and private high schools in Morris, Sussex and Warren counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). Prior to the NJSIAA's 2010 realignment, the school had competed as part of the Iron Hills Conference, which included public and private high schools in Essex, Morris and Union counties. With 1,010 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. The football team competes in the Freedom Blue 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. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV North for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 895 to 1,296 students.