Hackensack High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Hackensack, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Hackensack Public Schools. Hackensack High School serves students from the Bergen County, New Jersey, communities of Hackensack, South Hackensack (80 students in 2011–12), and Rochelle Park (120 students).Tarrazi, Alexis. "Agreement reached between Maywood, Hackensack", Hackensack Chronicle, March 9, 2012. Accessed March 20, 2022. "The Maywood school district has been sending its students to Hackensack High School for decades and currently sends 250 students. The high school also serves about 120 students from Rochelle Park and 80 students from South Hackensack, according to The Record."Rochelle Park School District 2015 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed May 26, 2016. "Upon graduation, our students attend Hackensack High School, as part of a long-term sending/receiving relationship or have the option of applying to the Bergen County Academies and Technical Schools or a private school."
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,813 students and 137.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.2:1. There were 1,029 students (56.8% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 126 (6.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Hackensack High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History In March 2020, the Maywood Public Schools received approval from the New Jersey Department of Education to end the relationship it had established with Hackensack in 1969 and began transitioning incoming ninth graders to Henry P. Becton Regional High School starting with the 2020–21 school year.Stoltz, Marsha A. "Here's why Maywood will send its students to Becton instead of Hackensack High School", The Record, March 9, 2020. Accessed April 6, 2020. "Maywood high school students will have four years to phase out of Hackensack High School and into Henry P. Becton Regional High School in East Rutherford. The process will begin in September, when current Maywood eighth-graders will be the first to attend Becton as freshmen, according to a March 7 joint announcement by the superintendents of the two districts."
Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 242nd-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 206th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 198th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed December 1, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 184th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed April 3, 2011. The school was ranked 203rd 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. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 266th out of 367 public high schools statewide in its 2009–10 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2009–2010, Schooldigger.com. Accessed December 29, 2011.
History Hackensack High School's graduates date from the 1880s, and include Warren Terhune and William J. Snow. The district's first formal high school program began in 1894, with the first building for Hackensack High School constructed in 1897 at First and High streets.Hackensack High School, Heroes of Hackensack High School. Accessed February 12, 2024. The cornerstone for its present location at First and Beech Streets in Hackensack was laid on December 2, 1916. The new building opened to students in March 1918."Students Enter New High School Today", The Record, March 25, 1918. Accessed May 10, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The Hackensack High school student body and faculty today moved into its handsome new building on the corner of First and Beech streets." By 1920, twenty-two Bergen County towns sent their students to Hackensack High School. New wings were built in the 1950s. The 1966 expansion of Hackensack High School encompassed neighboring Beech Street School and extended a two-story bridge over First Street and in 1967 the Beech Street elementary school became the "east wing" of the high school as it stands today.Hackensack High School pictures, Hackensack High School, backed up by the Internet Archive as of June 14, 2007. Accessed March 24, 2022.
Students from Emerson had attended the high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Emerson School District that was ended with the completion of Emerson Junior-Senior High School in March 1963. Those students already enrolled in Hackensack completed their attendance in Hackensack through their graduation."Board Expects Big Hike In Emerson School Tax; Increase of $20.50 For $1,000 Valuation Predicted By Trustees", The Record, December 16, 1960. Accessed March 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Local students currently attend Hackensack High School.... The trustees said the proposed school will house 860 students and be located on a 40-acre tract on Main Street, across from the Armenian Home for the Aged.""Emerson School to Open in Fall; Junior-Senior High Is Planning For First Full Year", The Record, August 21, 1963. Accessed March 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Junior-Senior High School will open its doors next month for its first full year of operation. The school, originally scheduled to open last September, was delayed due to labor trouble and last summer's tornado, and students did not enter until March. The new $1.5 million structure will house students up to the 11th grade this year, with seniors completing their secondary education at Hackensack High School. The local school will have its first graduating class in June 1965."
Students from Maywood began attending Hackensack High School in September 1966, after the district ended a longstanding sending relationship under which students attended Bogota High School."Maywood Students Leave Bogota High", The Record, August 17, 1966. Accessed March 30, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Parents who have become accustomed to planning their attendance at two or three schools' P.-T. A. meetings will add a fourth or in some cases, a fifth next month when the town's 10th graders enter Hackensack High School. The shift from Bogota High School, used by local youngsters for decades, will begin with this class, and will be completed in 2 years when the last of Maywood's students graduate from Bogota High."
Sports The Hackensack High School CometsHackensack 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. In the 2009–10 school year the school's athletic teams competed in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference, a conference established on an interim basis to facilitate realignment.League Memberships – 2009–2010, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 24, 2011. Accessed November 19, 2014. Hackensack had been a founding member of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League.Home Page, Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League, backed up by the Internet Archive as of May 9, 2009. Accessed November 25, 2014. Hackensack High and Ridgewood High School were the only founding members of the NNJIL to remain in the league, though Hackensack was the only school to remain continuously in the league. With 1,431 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,060 to 5,049 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 competes in the Freedom Red 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 school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 893 to 1,315 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. Since the 1912 visit of Halley's Comet, Hackensack's athletic teams have been known as the Comets; the teams were known as the "Colts" before 1912.
The school participates with Lyndhurst High School in a joint ice hockey team in which Paramus High School is the host school / lead agency. 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.