Fair Lawn High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in Fair Lawn, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Fair Lawn Public Schools.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,687 students and 124.7 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.5:1. There were 168 students (10.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 190 (11.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Fair Lawn High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History Approved in June 1941, construction of the building was delayed due to World War II and the challenges it caused in obtaining the materials needed to complete the project. The school, constructed at a cost of $700,000 (equivalent to $ million in ), opened in September 1943 with nearly 900 students in seventh through eleventh grades in a building with 29 classrooms and a capacity to serve a maximum enrollment of 1,070 students. Those students from Fair Lawn in twelfth grade who had previously attended Hawthorne High School, Paterson Central High School or Ridgewood High School completed their studies at their receiving school through graduation."Fair Lawn Lays Cornerstone Of School Monday; $700,000 Building, Ready To Open On The 13th, To Be Dedicated; Open To Inspection", The Record, September 4, 1943. Accessed March 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "School and Borough officials of Pair Lawn will loin in the corner stone laying ceremonies of the new $700,000 high school at 2:30 P. M. Monday afternoon. The building will open for business on Sept. 13, fully equipped when children return from their summer vacation.... The sixth, seventh and eighth grades of all grammar schools in the Borough will be transferred to the Junior high school in the new building, thus easing the situation in the district schools, it is thought. For the first year the new high school will have only underclass men since seniors will conclude their high school education at Paterson, Ridgewood, or Hawthorne where they now attend. Construction of the high school, which was authorized by the voters of the school district on June 24, 1941, has been beset my many difficulties. Outbreak of the war threatened the progress of the buildings at many points, and fear that necessary materials and equipment would not be available frequently harassed the Board.""Seats For 1,070 Students In School's 29 Big Rooms; 2-Story Structure Houses Gym, Cafeteria, 900-Seat Auditorium, Specialists' Shops", The Record, September 4, 1943. Accessed March 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The new Fair Lawn High School will have a student capacity of 1,070 in its 29 rooms and its 1,126,000 cubic feet of space. A total of $700,000 in district school bonds were authorized to construct and equip the building. Two stories in height, the high school has a frontage of 412 feet on Burbank Street and a depth of 108 feet on Berdan Avenue."How To And More, Fair Lawn High School. Accessed May 8, 2023. "Fair Lawn High School opened on September 13, 1943, with a student body of nearly 900 and a staff of over 40 teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators. Housing grades 7 through 11 (grade 12 was added the following year), ours was the only high school to be built in the country during World War II. The first class to graduate was the class of 1945, consisting of over 60 residents of Fair Lawn who had transferred in from the high schools in Ridgewood, Paterson, and Hawthorne they had previously attended."
Awards, recognition and rankings For the 1990–91 and 1997–98 school years, Fair Lawn High School received the National Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence from the United States Department of Education, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.National Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982 Through 2019 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Accessed September 1, 2024.
In 1998, the school's principal was named the State Principal of the Year by the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association in recognition of her work, which included being the principal of the only public high school in New Jersey (as of that time) to have won two Blue Ribbon Awards for Excellence."Principal Of The Year; Fair Lawn Educator Is No. 1 In New Jersey.", The Record, August 28, 1998: pL1.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools," The Daily Beast ranked the school 876th in the nation among participating public high schools and 66th among schools in New Jersey.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 9, 2013. In 2012, Newsweek ranked FLHS in the top 4% of high schools in the nation based on how hard schools challenge their students with Advanced Placement and college level courses. In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 58th in New Jersey and 1,691st nationwide.Mathews, Jay. , The Washington Post. Accessed August 21, 2011. In Newsweek's May 22, 2007, issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Fair Lawn High School was listed in 808th place, the 19th-highest ranked school in New Jersey."The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,200 top U.S. schools" , Newsweek, May 22, 2007. Accessed May 24, 2007.
The school was the 70th-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 65th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 76th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed December 2, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 81st in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 7, 2011. The school was ranked 62nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 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 tied for 72nd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 7 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (89.3%) and language arts literacy (96.8%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA)., Schooldigger.com. Accessed February 27, 2012.
Clubs Fair Lawn High School has an active extracurricular program encompassing diverse interests. The school has an award-winning musical theater program,Home Page , FLHS Musical Theater. Accessed November 9, 2015. as well as shows performed by the Masques (drama group),About the Club , Fair Lawn High School Masques. Accessed November 9, 2015. the Boptones (school rock band), and the orchestra.
The Fair Lawn High School musical won a Rising Star Award for Best overall production in 2004 for their production of Company. In 2009, the school also received the Metropolitan High School Theatre Award for their production of Thoroughly Modern Millie.
On November 11, 2006, the Fair Lawn High School Marching Band and Color Guard won the Class IV national championship in percussion at the 2006 United States National Marching Band Championships held in Annapolis, Maryland, at the Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The color guard also placed fourth. The team finished third overall in Group IV with a score of 94.225.Fair Lawn band, color guard excel in national competition, The Record, November 19, 2006.USSBA National Championship Titles , United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) press release dated November 14, 2006.
Both Junior and Senior Math Leagues do well in state and national competitions. The Senior Math League swept the Bergen County Math League earning the first, second, and third place individual scores in 1999-2000. Other successful teams include the Chemistry League, Academic Decathlon, Debate Team, and Computer League.
Another club in the school is Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). Many students represent Fair Lawn High School at conferences around the nation every year and bring back many awards. Fair Lawn High School is known to be a strong FBLA chapter and students run for NJ FBLA state office consistently.
The Model United Nations delegation of Fair Lawn High School is one of the top delegations in New Jersey, and has named the Best Delegation at the AMUN Conference the last six years. Unlike other clubs, Model UN is solely funded through the delegates.
The Student Government is a large part of all student activities and is at the base of many school-sponsored events.
Marching band The Fair Lawn High School Marching Band placed third at the United States National Marching Band Championships in Annapolis, Maryland in 2006, winning Best Percussion.Putrino, Tracey A. "Marching band caps off winning season", Community News, November 22, 2006. Accessed March 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Cutters won the national championship in percussion and finished third overall in Group IV in the United States National Marching Band Championships in Annapolis, Md. It was the first year for the competition, which included 50 bands that were invited to participate."
Athletics