Governor Livingston High School is a comprehensive four-year co-educational public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in Berkeley Heights, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and operating as the lone secondary school of the Berkeley Heights Public Schools.
Since the 1970s, Governor Livingston has provided programs for deaf, hard of hearing and cognitively-impaired students in the district and those who are enrolled from all over north-central New Jersey who attend on a tuition basis.Baum, Victoria. "Governor Livingston High School’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Celebrates 42 Years of Innovation and Excellence", TAPinto Mountainside, October 29, 2019. Accessed February 5, 2020.
History Union County Regional High School District was established in 1937, as the first regional high school district in New Jersey, for the students from the municipalities of Berkeley Heights, Clark, Garwood, Kenilworth, Mountainside, and Springfield.Assembly Task Force on School District Regionalization; Findings and Recommendations, New Jersey Legislature, February 25, 1999, p. 27. Accessed August 10, 2025. "Berkeley Heights, Clark, Garwood, Kenilworth, Mountainside and Springfield formed the limited purpose Union County Regional District No. 1 in 1937.... There was a very short time between the vote by the public to dissolve in May 1996, the selection process of employees in December 1996, and the formal dissolution on June 30, 1997." At that time, all students residing in the district attended Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield. As the district began to grow, additional schools were needed. In November 1953, voters approved a $1.95 million bond referendum that included funds to purchase a site in Berkeley Heights for a third high school. In April 1957, voters approved a $3.8 million bond referendum that included funds to construct a high school on the Berkeley Heights site."Voters OK Funds For New School", Courier News, May 1, 1957. Accessed August 10, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "The Union County Regional Board of Education's S3.8 million bond issue was passed by an overwhelming majority vote yesterday. Final tally of the six-member school district showed 1,279 for and 209 against. The bond issue will provide a 900-pupil regional high school for Berkeley Heights on a 35-acre tract off Mountain Ave. with doors scheduled to open by the Fall of 1959." The name "Governor Livingston Regional High School" was chosen in September 1959, though there was criticism about potential confusion with Livingston High School located away in Livingston, New Jersey."'Unfortunate' Galled Good School Name", Courier News, September 2, 1959. Accessed April 12, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "Governor Livingston Regional High School, the name chosen for the school by the board's school name committee of Everett A. Fay and Dr. Minor C. K. Jones, came under immediate fire from board member John L. Banyasz. Banyasz said, 'The greatest deed the board could do is to name it Memorial High School in honor of the memory of the boys from the school district who gave their lives for their country. As a matter of fact, there's a Livingston High School and a Livingston town within a few miles of us.'" In September 1960, the school opened its doors to 800 students from Berkeley Heights and Mountainside. The regional district's superintendent at the time was Dr. Warren Davis and Frederick Aho was the first principal of the high school."Schools to Offer Electronics Course", Courier News, August 13, 1960. Accessed September 19, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Fredericks joins with Superintendent Warren M. Davis and Principal Frederick Aho in their enthusiasm for the new featured course at the Governor Livingston School."
The school and its property have been expanded several times in subsequent years. In September 1960, just several weeks after opening, voters approved a $1.5 million referendum to construct two additions containing 20 classrooms, a boys' gymnasium, and a new library, as well as improve parking and athletic areas, which opened to students in September 1962 and January 1963. The school was built adjacent to an active Nike Missile Control Station in the Murray Hill section of Berkeley Heights which had opened in 1956; after the base was closed, the federal government gave the school district of land that had been used for the defunct missile site."School Will Get Nike Site; U.S. Approves Shift Of 6-Acre Tract to Union Regional Unit", Courier News, July 11, 1964. Accessed September 19,2023, via Newspapers.com. "The General Services Administration has approved the transfer of 6.3 acres of a surplus Nike missile site next to the Governor Livingston Regional High School to the Union County Regional High School Board of Education.... The missile base, built about 1956, was closed more than two years ago and was declared surplus a little more than a year ago." On May 4, 1971, voters approved a $4.7 million bond referendum to expand and renovate each school in the district. At Governor Livingston, the addition of an instructional media center and instrumental music room, and various renovations and expansions were completed by September 1973.
The high school's namesake is William Livingston, the first Governor of New Jersey and a signatory of the United States Constitution. The Royal Stewart tartan of the Stewart Clan (of whom Livingston was a member) is a symbol of the school and the tartan's red and blue colors are the high school's colors. The "Highlander" was chosen the school's mascot by student body vote in 1960, combining the tradition of the town's first baseball team and the location of the school at the highest point in Union County.Mayer, Troy. "The Return of Hank the Highlander", TAPinto Berkeley Heights, December 5, 2022. Accessed September 19, 2023. "Governor Livingston High School athletes have another supporter on the field and on the court with mascot 'Hank the Highlander' making a return to events after his brief break from the school's public eye. The origins of the Governor Livingston High School mascot can be traced back all the way to 1960, when the Highlander was chosen to be the face of the school’s identity, after a school board vote decided on it." The school adopted Claymore as the name for its yearbook.
Project Graduation, held the night of graduation and run entirely by volunteers, debuted in 1989, and provides a safe all-night celebration of each graduating class."Schools study plans for graduation party", Courier News, December 18, 1988. Accessed September 19, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Preliminary plans for Project Graduation, an all-night, drug- and alcohol-free party for seniors, are being made at Governor Livingston Regional High School in Berkeley Heights. Project Graduation will provide high school graduates a place to gather as a class one last time without any alcohol or drugs." Governance In May 1996, the vote to de-regionalize the school district passed and the incoming freshmen in the fall of 1997 were the first to enter Governor Livingston High School, which became part of the Berkeley Heights School District.
The school's principal is Meg Berry. Her administration team includes the two assistant principals and the athletic director.Administration, Governor Livingston High School. Accessed January 24, 2026.
School structure It is the sole secondary school for students from Berkeley Heights, along with approximately 300 students from neighboring Borough of Mountainside who are educated at the high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Mountainside School District that is covered by an agreement that runs through the end of 2021–22 school year.Berkeley Heights Public School District 2015 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 7, 2016. "In addition to serving the public school students of Berkeley Heights, high school students from the neighboring Borough of Mountainside are educated at Governor Livingston High School."Mustac, Frank. "Contract Signed to Continue Sending Mountainside Students to Governor Livingston High School", TAP into Mountainside, October 12, 2016. Accessed February 5, 2020. "With the Berkeley Heights Board of Education's recent approval of a renegotiated send/receive agreement, new terms are now in place by which the Mountainside School District will be sending its students in grades nine through 12 to Governor Livingston High School.... The new contract runs for five years from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2022, with a renewal option for an additional five years... The business administrator explained that 30 percent of the Mountainside School District annual budget goes to paying the Berkeley Heights district for sending about 300 students who live in Mountainside to Governor Livingston High School."Migueis, John. "Too Many Bosses, Not Enough Students — A Case for School District Unification in Union County", Medium, July 17, 2025. Accessed August 10, 2025. "Mountainside is one of these tiny, K-8 districts that has two schools and approximately 800 students. Berkeley Heights (BHPS) has 2,300 students and six schools including Governor Livingston High School (GLHS), which Mountainside’s students attend as part of a send-receive relationship. Mountainside has too few students to have its own high school.... Every five years, Berkeley Heights and Mountainside renegotiate to keep Mountainside students attending GLHS versus going to another high school, such as Westfield or Springfield (Mountainside sent students to Jonathan Dayton in Springfield many decades ago)."
Admissions As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 849 students and 81.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.4:1. There were 20 students (2.4% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 6 (0.7% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Governor Livingston High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
Curriculum The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1965.Governor Livingston High School , Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed June 23, 2011.
Governor Livingston was the winner of the 1994, 1995, and 1996 New Jersey Science Olympiad Division C Championship, 1997 Division 5 National Champions for the Junior Engineering Technical Society's TEAMS competition and winners of the 1997 New Jersey Regional Science Bowl.Bowers, Barbara. "Students relax to compete in Science Bowl", Courier News, April 28, 1997. Accessed September 19, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "The award-winning science team from Governor Livingston Regional High School prepares for grueling competitions in a special way. They play cards. And they joke a lot.... They won the New Jersey Regional Science Bowl in Plainsboro on Feb. 22, besting 23 other high school teams from New Jersey and Pennsylvania."
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program