As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,591 students and 121.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.2:1. There were 774 students (48.6% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 217 (13.6% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 294th-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.[4] The school had been ranked 160th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 214th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[5] The magazine ranked the school 2008 out of 316 schools.[6] The school was ranked 241st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[7]
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 311th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (a decrease of 12 positions from the 2009 rank) 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).[8]
Athletics
The Belleville High School Buccaneers[2] compete in the Super Essex Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Essex County and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[9] Until the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had participated in Division A of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League, which included high schools located in Bergen County, Passaic County and Essex County.[10] With 1,057 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.[11] The football team competes in the Freedom White 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.[12][13] 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.[14] The school colors are blue, white and gold.[2]
The baseball team won the North II Group IV state sectional championship in 1965.[15]
Administration
The school's principal is Caleb Rhodes. His core administrative team includes four assistant principals.[16]
The Delicates, singing group consisting of Denise Ferri, Arleen Lanzotti, and Peggy Santiglia from the Class of 1962[25]
Tommy DeVito (1936–2020), lead guitarist for The Four Seasons who dropped out of school following eighth grade to pursue his music career, but was named an honorary graduate of Belleville High School in 2007[26]
↑ Denman, Elliott. "Cosmos going south after 2-1 win", Asbury Park Press, June 8, 1981. Accessed February 7, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "'I had many chances today," said Borja, who was born in Ecuador, came to the U.S. with his family at 14, and played his soccer at nearby Belleville High School and New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark."
↑ "NJAC tourney resumes today", Herald News, May 14, 1990. Accessed February 7, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "Former Belleville High School standout Ramiro Borja notched a goal and an assist in the first half to lead the Albany Capitals to a 2-0 win over the New Jersey Eagles in an American Professional Soccer League game at Bleecker Stadium in Albany Saturday night."
↑ Staff. "Belleville resident in charge as newest Smithsonian museum opens", The Record, September 29, 2016. Accessed July 1, 2019. "A Belleville High School graduate was a major contributor to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture that opened this weekend in the nation’s capital. Dr. Lonnie Bunch, Belleville Class of 1970 and also a School No. 5 graduate, has served as the founding director of the museum since 2005."
↑ Schneider, Jeremy. "From N.J. to WWE: Kacy Catanzaro begins pro wrestling journey", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, January 30, 2018, updated January 30, 2019. Accessed November 12, 2020. "World Wrestling Entertainment announced on Jan. 18 that Catanzaro, a Belleville High School graduate who was born in Glen Ridge, has joined WWE's NXT, the organization's developmental system."
↑ Constantino, Rocco. "Jack Cullen", Ball Nine, April 8, 2022. Accessed January 3, 2025. "Despite the fame that has come from the Essex County town, only one person has ever graduated from Belleville High School and gone on to play Major League Baseball. That man is Jack Cullen, who pitched for the Yankees in the 1960s, and he joins us for this week’s edition of Spitballin'."
↑ "Four Belleville Men Receive Basic Training Assignments", The Belleville Times-News, August 14, 1953. Accessed February 18, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Donald C. Pissott, Anthony Corsi, Carmen Sorice Jr., and Robert Curvin, all of Belleville, have recently been assigned to the 9th Infantry Division for Basic Training at Fort Dix. Pissott, Sorice and Curvin are all former Belleville High School students."
↑ Lamberti, Mike. "Belleville grad/MLB umpire Cuzzi promoted", Belleville Times, February 12, 2015. Accessed October 30, 2016. "A 1973 graduate of Belleville High School, Cuzzi long dreamed of being an umpire, but didn't really begin that quest until nearly a decade after high school."
↑ Alvarado, Monsy. "Joel A. Pisano, retired federal judge who presided over high-profile cases, dies at 71", The Record, February 28, 2021. Accessed March 2, 2021. "A New Jersey native, Pisano was the son of Salvatore Pisano, who died in 1992, and Rita W. Bergonzi Pisano, who died in 2009. He attended Belleville High School and graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1971 before attending Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark."
1 2 Uschak, Roman J. "Rock band with Belleville roots, My Chemical Romance, breaks up", Belleville Times, April 18, 2013. Accessed July 15, 2013. "Lead singer and co-founder Gerard Way graduated from Belleville High School in 1995.... Way's younger brother, Mike, the bassist for My Chemical Romance, also grew up in Belleville and is a 1998 BHS graduate."
↑ Kadosh, Matt. "Belleville Tuskegee Airman soars in history", The Record, February 21, 2018. Accessed March 3, 2018. "Willette, of the Tuskegee Airmen's 99th Fighter Squadron, had died in the crash while escorting B-17 bombers over Germany in 1944. The 1939 Belleville High School graduate was one of 66 black Tuskegee Airmen killed in World War II combat."
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
