Leonia High School

Last updated

Leonia High School
LeoniaHS.jpg
Address
Leonia High School
100 Christie Heights Street

Leonia
,
Bergen County
,
New Jersey
07605

United States
Coordinates 40°52′10″N73°59′16″W / 40.869355°N 73.987778°W / 40.869355; -73.987778
Information
Type Public high school
Established1912
School district Leonia Public Schools
NCES School ID340852000534 [1]
PrincipalCharles Kalender
Faculty60.4 FTEs [1]
Grades 9–12
Enrollment847 (as of 2022–23) [1]
Student to teacher ratio14.0:1 [1]
Color(s)  Maroon and
  gray [2]
Athletics conference North Jersey Interscholastic Conference
Team nameLions [2]
NewspaperThe Leonian [3]
YearbookLion's Pride
Alumni LHS Alumni website
Website lhs.leoniaschools.org

Leonia High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grade from the Borough of Leonia in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Leonia Public Schools. Students from Edgewater attend the school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Edgewater Public Schools. [4] [5]

Contents

As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 847 students and 60.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.0:1. There were 118 students (13.9% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 35 (4.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch. [1]

Leonia High School was begun in 1912, when the borough became one of relatively few municipalities in Bergen County to have a high school. During its early years, the school attracted students from seven other school districts in the area, who attended on a tuition basis. The original school building was opened in 1913; expansions to the physical plant were made in 1917, 1937, 1946, and 1963. The school was experiencing severe overcrowding by the 1970s, and after two boroughwide referendums to build a new school failed, a third was passed. The present Leonia High School building was opened in 1977, with the original building being repurposed as Leonia Middle School.

History

Founding and opening

The initial portion of the original Leonia High School building, facing Christie Heights Street in 1913, the year of its opening Leonia High School as seen in 1913.png
The initial portion of the original Leonia High School building, facing Christie Heights Street in 1913, the year of its opening

By the early 20th century, Leonia was growing with the construction of new homes, many of them built by the Leonia Heights Land Company, [6] which advertised Leonia as "the Athens of New Jersey" due in part to its convenient location to Columbia University. [7] During 1912, the Leonia Board of Education approved the creation of a high school, [8] and in April of that year, the town approved a $65,000 bond issue (equal to $2.1 million in 2023) to buy a 4-acre (1.6 ha) plot of land and build the district's original high school facility on it. [6] The land had previously been a farm. [9] Leonia High School was established in 1912, with students attending classes in the borough's elementary school at first before a separate high school building was completed. [10] [11] [8]

The new building had its cornerstone laid at ceremonies held in December 1912; [12] it was completed in April 1913, with a facade oriented towards Christie Heights Street near Broad Avenue. [13] By May 1913, Leonia High School was fielding a team for baseball in interscholastic competition. [14] The new high school opened in September 1913 and had modern facilities for that era. [9] A formal dedication ceremony for the new school was held on October 17, 1913. [15] Leonia became one of only about a dozen municipalities in all of Bergen County with their own high schools. [11]

Early years

In this era, continuing on to secondary school was not legally required and many children instead entered the workforce. [9] In order for the high school to have a solid enough financial basis, pupils from several nearby communities in Bergen County were invited to attend it on a tuition-paying basis. [13] (The tuition would typically be paid for by the sending town, not the parents of the pupils involved. [16] ) A trolley line ran along Broad Avenue at the time and this enabled students from outside Leonia to reach the high school in a convenient manner. [9] In all, there were seven school districts sending high school pupils to Leonia on a tuition basis. [9] Of the initial student population at the high school of 73 students, only 23 were from Leonia. [8]

Bogota was one of those initial municipalities that sent students; [15] by 1915, there were 46 Bogota students attending Leonia High School. [17] Maywood was another early town, although the relationship ended in the early 1920s. [18] Palisades Park was sending students to Leonia as of at least the 1920s and 1930s, [16] [19] while Ridgefield was sending as of at least the early 1930s. [20] And for a while in the 1930s, Edgewater students attended Leonia High School on a tuition basis. [21] These relationships could change over time, as towns switched arrangements or built their own high schools. Other towns that sent students to Leonia High School at some point were Fort Lee and Teaneck. [8]

The original high school building, showing the added Broad Avenue facade c. 1919; the trolley line along Broad Avenue is also visible Leonia High School as seen circa late 1910s.png
The original high school building, showing the added Broad Avenue facade c. 1919; the trolley line along Broad Avenue is also visible

Enrollment in the school increased rapidly; [8] indeed, the town's population, which had about doubled between 1900 and 1910, doubled again by 1920. [11] An addition was built onto the east side of the school in 1917, that featured a larger facade which was oriented directly onto Broad Avenue. [9] Land immediately adjacent to the school was acquired for a football field in 1926 and dedicated in 1928. [9] Another addition, this time onto the west side of the school, was built in 1937, and included a lunchroom; [8] this new wing was a product of one or both of the New Deal agencies, the Public Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration. [19] [22]

Post-war era

In 1945, the Board of Education proposed the addition of a new gymnasium that would cost $275,000 (equivalent to $4.7 million in 2023) [23] and would be made available to town residents for outside recreation activities. [8] (The Board sought public support for the project by describing it as a war memorial that would of "practical benefit" to veterans and their families. [23] ) Construction was begun in 1946, [24] and continued into 1947 before being completed. [25]

Following the 1957–58 school year, Palisades Park and Ridgefield stopped sending students to Leonia High School. [26] Palisades Park decided to send its students to Cliffside Park High School and Ridgefield was in the process of building Ridgefield Memorial High School. [27] As part of replacing the tuition income from these two towns, Leonia High School began receiving students from Edgewater again in 1958, [26] a relationship that continues to this day. (Edgewater had been sending its students to Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood. [28] ) In an opposite flow, some Leonia students also went at least part time to Bergen County Vocational-Technical High School. [7]

The original high school building, showing the Broad Avenue facade and the southeast corner extension on the left side OldLeoniaHighSchool.JPG
The original high school building, showing the Broad Avenue facade and the southeast corner extension on the left side

An expansion and modernization program costing $335,000 (equivalent to $3.4 million in 2023) was approved by a wide margin in a borough referendum in 1961. [29] Completed in 1963, the expansion consisted of a new wing on the southeast corner, [8] one that housed the enlarged school library and several classrooms. [30]

Overcrowding and referendums

During these years, Leonia had no middle school; the Anna C. Scott Elementary School served grades K through 7, after which, in a transition that the school system itself characterized as "abrupt", students would move to the high school for grades 8 through 12. [31] Additional students arrived at the high school in grade 9, [31] where they came from St. John the Evangelist School in Leonia, a Catholic school which for many years taught K through 8. [32] Then more students arrived in grade 10, the grade at which Edgewater sending began its sending in that era. [31]

By the mid-1960s, it was clear that the physical plant of Leonia High School was no longer adequate, and the 1965 report of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools put the board on notice accordingly by giving it a provisional three-year accreditation in place of the usual five years. [30] There were many problems: the shared, cramped student lockers; a small auditorium; inadequate laboratory space for sciences; and useless time being spent in study halls. [33] The music room could only hold half the school band at any given time. [34] Nevertheless, efforts to improve the level of academics carried on; from the early days, the faculty of Leonia High School often had connections to Teachers College at Columbia University, [17] and the district was part of the Columbia University Teacher's College Metropolitan School Study Council, which provided the faculty with various research materials. [35] During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a collaboration with Columbia resulted in the advanced, experimental Secondary School Mathematics Curriculum Improvement Study series of math courses being taught at the school. [36]

Leonia was known for the artists and intellectuals who lived there, and while there were indeed some Columbia University professors who were residents, there were not as many as some people imagined; plenty of other kinds of people lived in the town, especially from the 1940s on. [7] In particular, fully one-eighth of the population was comprised of senior citizens on fixed incomes. [30] From the 1940s on, referendums for building proposals in the borough had a history of often not passing. [37] [30]

Program of Studies, 1970-1971 Leonia High School Program of Studies 1970-1971.png
Program of Studies, 1970–1971

School administrators explored alternative ideas to relieve Leonia's overcrowding, in particular joining another town and becoming a regional school district. [30] Feelers were put out to a number of surrounding towns during 1968, [30] and discussions with one, Bogota, encompassing full K–12 regionalization, became quite serious and were the subject of assessment reports and public meetings. [37] But the Bogota proposal would require new building too, [37] and by 1970 the Leonia board had dropped the idea. [30]

The overcrowding situation grew critical; in 1971, the third floor of the school was condemned as unsafe for instructional use. [34] In one publicized case, a 150-square-foot (14 m2) windowless, poorly ventilated room in the basement, with student desks crammed together, was being used daily for five classes in mathematics and other subjects. [38] Whereas the school had only been designed for 500 pupils, by 1972 there were over 800 students coming to it. [30]

In June 1972, a $5.1 million (equivalent to $37.1 million in 2023) bond referendum to build a new high school was put up for a boroughwide vote, but it went down to a narrow defeat. [34] Undeterred, the Board of Education put the exact same proposal up for another vote in September 1972, hoping to sway enough minds to get approval. [34] [30] But it went down to defeat again, this time by a more substantial margin. [39]

After surveying voter wishes, the Board of Education revised its proposal for a new high school, producing one with a lower cost figure of $4 million (equivalent to $24.7 million in 2023). [40] This encountered some opposition from unexpected directions: progressive citizens and sitting and former board members who feared a new school would subsume the nascent, offsite Leonia Alternative High School, or who favored a less traditional approach to school buildings. [41] Also threatening to oppose the referendum were sixth- and seventh-grade parents in the grade school who were unhappy with the school system's short-term handling of overcrowding there following an August 1974 fire that destroyed a wing of that facility. [42] By then, many Bergen County municipalities were rejecting referendums designed to overhaul or replace aging infrastructure, with inflation of that era being an overriding economic concern. [42] Nonetheless, put up for a vote in October 1974, the referendum passed, a result that The Record called "all the more surprising following bitter dissension this fall among a number of factions involved in the school issue." [40]

New building

Leonia High School opened at its current location in January 1977, after multiple issues with subcontractors led to several delays from the original planned opening in September at the start of the school year. [33] (The old building was being repurposed as Leonia's middle school, and the double sessions of both schools led to such disarray that there was a large-scale student walk-out at one point. [43] ) Constructed at a final cost of $4.5 million (equivalent to $24.1 million in 2023) and offering 50 percent more space than its predecessor, the building served 650 students, including 140 from Edgewater. [33]

Scene outside new high school building, 1990 Leonia, NJ 1990.jpg
Scene outside new high school building, 1990

During the mid-1980s, there was a reduction in enrollment for a while; thoughts about regionalization again took place, however Leonians preferred home rule and home schools . [7] But the demographics of Leonia changed over time, with a large number of Korean American families and businesses moving into town. [44] A $4.9 million (equivalent to $9.8 million in 2023) bond issue passed by the residents in 1995 provided an upgrade of computers and network connectivity for instructional use. [35] Gradually the older population in Leonia turned over, with younger residents with families moving in. [45]

Moreover, the demographics of Edgewater were rapidly changing; formerly a town populated by factory workers that had a rough-and-tumble reputation, the local industries were being replaced by expensive condominiums filled with executives and other white-collar types working across the river in Manhattan. [46] Their families were filling up Edgewater schools and, when old enough, Leonia schools; [46] by 1995, around a quarter of the students were from Edgewater. [46] The growth in Edgewater residences kept going; by the early 2010s, the percentage had risen to about 30 percent, [47] and by 2017, some 40 percent of students in Leonia High School were from Edgewater. [48] As of the late 2010s, Edgewater was the fastest-growing municipality in northern New Jersey. [45]

Accordingly, an addition to the high school was completed in 2002, [49] using funding from a school-system-wide $6.1 million (equivalent to $11.2 million in 2023) referendum that was passed in 1999. [50] During 2009 and 2010, the high school building had its entire roof replaced, its HVAC system redone, and solar panels added. [51] [52] The work had been approved as part of a $20.3 million (equivalent to $28.8 million in 2023) referendum for similar change for all three Leonia school buildings, [51] a referendum that had passed even though it was being held during the difficult conditions of the Great Recession. [53] In 2017, construction began on a $7.6 million (equivalent to $9.4 million in 2023) addition to the high school to add a culinary academy and a number of classrooms. [48] The expansion was funded by multi-year school district savings rather than calling a referendum. [45] The college-preparatory academy was part of a trend of old-fashioned home economics programs being updated to account for increased student interest due to competitive cooking shows on television. [54] The addition was completed in 2019. [45]

The hospitality and culinary academy was another in a series of academy programs in various areas that the school had begun adding in the 2000s. [55] These academies grouped interested students in smaller cohorts in order to pursue potential career paths in combination with specific experience outside the classroom environment. [56] By the 2020s, Leonia High School would also offer academies in mathematics and science, business, humanities, music and arts, and vocational trades. [56]

Awards, recognition and rankings

Leonia High School has periodically gone through the accreditation process from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, at least since the 1940s. [23]

In 1944, the accreditation report from Middle States Association noted the lack of adequate facilities for physical education. [23] In 1953, the accreditation report gave Leonia High School a positive assessment, praising the students, the teachers and other staff, and the overall cooperative atmosphere, and noting the low rate of drop-outs. [57] It did say that more elective classes were needed. [57] In 1965, the accreditation report gave Leonia High School an overall score of 3.8 out of 5, praising the quality of the students and the effectiveness of most of the academic programs, but saying that the biggest problem was that the physical facilities of the school were inadequate. [58]

By 1953, some 55 percent of the high school students were going on to college, [57] a figure that increased to 70 percent by 1965. [58] By the 1990s, this figure had increased to around 90 percent. [46] [35]

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post , the school was ranked 14th in New Jersey and 657th nationwide. [59]

The school was the 94th-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. [60] The school had been ranked 52nd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 49th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. [61] The magazine ranked the school 51st in 2008 out of 316 schools. [62] The school was ranked 67th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. [63]

Schooldigger.com ranked the school as 174th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (a decrease of 4 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). [64]

Niche Ranked the school 35th of 406 on its list of Best College Prep Public High Schools in New Jersey and 69th of 425 in its ranking of Best Public High Schools. [65]

In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked the school 56th in New Jersey, 156th in the New York City metropolitan area and 1,331st nationwide. [66]

Extracurricular activities

In 1957, the school's chess team was the New Jersey high school team champion, winning the Father Casimir J. Finley Trophy. [67]

Academic competition

Leonia has had an active quiz bowl team for decades. In January 1966, for instance, the team placed a close second to The Wheatley School of Old Westbury, New York on the television show It's Academic . [68] In April 2017, Leonia won the Junior Varsity National Championship title for the Small School Division of the National History Bowl, led by Nathan Finn, who was the 2016 Junior Varsity New Jersey History Bee State Champion. [69]

Athletics

The Leonia High School Lions [2] participate in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, which is comprised of small-enrollment schools in Bergen, Hudson, Morris and Passaic counties, and was created following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). [70] [71] [72] Prior to the realignment that took effect in the fall of 2010, Leonia was a member of the Bergen County Scholastic League Olympic Division. [73] With 505 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 486 to 758 students in that grade range. [74]

The school participates as the host school / lead agency for joint cooperative girls soccer, boys / girls swimming and wrestling teams with Palisades Park High School, while Palisades Park is the host school for a co-op football team. These co-op programs operate under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year. [75] [76]

The boys track team won the Group II spring / outdoor track state championship in 1961. [77]

Sign along Broad Avenue for an annual scholarship dinner held in honor of former basketball coach Lee Clark. Lee Clark Scholarship Final 4 sign in Leonia.jpg
Sign along Broad Avenue for an annual scholarship dinner held in honor of former basketball coach Lee Clark.

The 1967 boys basketball team, led by longtime coach Lee Clark, used its height to its advantage and defeated Burlington Township High School by a score of 73-65 in the Group I tournament final to finish the season with a record of 20–4. [79] [80] [81] The basketball court at the high school is named after Clark. [78]

Joel Raucci was a two-time state champion in wrestling during 1970–71 and 1971–72. The only person from the school ever to have won the championship twice, in 2020 he was named one by Northjersey.com as one of the greatest wrestlers in Northern New Jersey history. [82]

The girls tennis team won the Group I state championship in 2002 (defeating New Providence High School in the tournament final) and 2019 (vs. Glen Rock High School). [83] The 2019 team used wins in all three singles matches to win the Group I finals against Glen Rock. [84]

Leonia football, which is a co-op program with Palisades Park High School, became the first cooperative program to have reached a finals game in state history when the team made the North Jersey II Group III state championship game in 2012, falling to Summit High School by a 30–0 final score. [85] [86] The team finished 9–3 which was the most wins in Leonia school history, and Head Coach David Schuman was awarded NJIC coach of the year and The Record ranked the team 12th in North Jersey.

Administration

The principal is Charles Kalender. His administration team includes the vice principal and athletic director. [87]

Notable alumni

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 School data for Leonia High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed February 1, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Leonia High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  3. ↑ Clubs and Activities 2021-2022, Leonia High School. Accessed April 12, 2022.
  4. ↑ Leonia Public Schools 2015 School Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed May 29, 2016. "The high school continues to increase in numbers as now approximately 725 students from both Edgewater and Leonia are enrolled in grades 9-12 at Leonia High School."
  5. ↑ Leonia Schools at a glance Archived April 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine , Leonia Public Schools. Accessed May 29, 2016. "Enrollment is 1835. Of this, 380 are Edgewater students in grades 7-12."
  6. 1 2 "Leonia's New School". The New York Times. April 21, 1912. p. 2 (Real Estate).
  7. 1 2 3 4 Locksley, Lila (May 5, 1983). "Leonia's costly pride". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. pp. B-1, B-8 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Leonia to celebrate centennial". Leonia Life. September 21, 2012. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Karels, Carol (2002). Leonia. Images of America. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 51, 61, 92, 96. ISBN   978-0-7385-0973-0.
  10. ↑ Leonia High School Archive Record, Leonia Public Library. Accessed April 12, 2022. "Flyer announcing the opening of the new Leonia High School (April 1912), brochure describing new Leonia High School with faculty photos (1913), Copy of 1912 newspaper clipping from the New York Times stating that $65,000 bond issue for new school."
  11. 1 2 3 Westervelt, Frances A., ed. (1923). History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1630–1923. Vol. 1. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 221, 371.
  12. ↑ "Leonia High School Cornerstone Was Laid", The Evening Record , December 9, 1912. Accessed April 12, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "On Saturday afternoon, at 3 o'clock, the cornerstone of the new $65,000 High school at Leonia was laid with appropriate ceremonies."
  13. 1 2 "A Brief History of Leonia". Leonia Public Library. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  14. ↑ See for instance "Cliffside School Takes the Honors". Hudson Observer. Hoboken, New Jersey. May 2, 1913. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. 1 2 "Hackensack Locals". The Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. October 17, 1913. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. 1 2 "Error Corrected". Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. September 5, 1925. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 "Lack of Sincerity and School Spirit for Leonia High". The Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. November 4, 1915. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Maywood". Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. January 30, 1922. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. 1 2 "Leonia to Dedicate Addition to School". Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. October 14, 1937. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Council Failure to Pay Nurse Attacked". Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. September 10, 1931. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Edgewater". Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. August 20, 1958. p. S-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "School Office Changed Under Leonia Project". Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. July 21, 1937. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. 1 2 3 4 "Enlarged High School Gym Urged As Leonia Memorial". The Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. June 8, 1945. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Gymnasium Job End's in Sight, Claims Trustee". The Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. December 26, 1946. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "School Gym Almost Ready, Principal Tells Trustees". The Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. March 18, 1947. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. 1 2 "School Boards To Draft Pupil-Sending Contract". Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. December 2, 1957. p. 3 (East Bergen edition) – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ "Cliffside to Ask Ouster of No. Bergen Students". The Jersey Journal. Jersey City, New Jersey. March 30, 1957. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ↑ "Education Boards Will Discuss Sending-Receiving Pact Details". Bergen Evening Record. November 27, 1957. p. 3 (East Bergen edition) – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ↑ "H. S. Growth Supported by 4–1 Margin in Leonia". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. May 26, 1961. p. Section 3 (East Bergen edition) – via Newspapers.com.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Levin, Eric (June 30, 1972). "The story behind that Leonia referendum". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. B-3 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. 1 2 3 "Facilities Plan In 3 Parts". Your Schools: Newsletter of the Leonia Schools. June 1972. pp. 2, 3.
  32. ↑ Noda, Stephanie (November 23, 2014). "District gets gift of 4,000 books". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. L-2 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. 1 2 3 Staff. "Leonia's New High School Opens Following Several Postponements", The New York Times , January 5, 1977. Accessed December 22, 2016.
  34. 1 2 3 4 Levin, Eric (June 28, 1972). "Leonia school plan loses, may be back". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. C-3 – via Newspapers.com.
  35. 1 2 3 Cheslow, Jerry (June 15, 1997). "Well-Read, Well-Shaded and Well-Placed". The New York Times. p. 3 (Section 9).
  36. ↑ Jerde, Sara (September 21, 2016). "President of Estonia visits his old N.J. high school before UN talk". NJ.com.
  37. 1 2 3 Peck, Richard (May 8, 1969). "Bogota–Leonia School Merger Studies Are Rolling Onward". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. C-2 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ↑ "Desks Crammed". Your Schools: Newsletter of the Leonia Schools. June 1972. p. 2.
  39. ↑ "Leonia again rejects school plan". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. September 28, 1972. p. C-8 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. 1 2 Muldoon, Tony (October 16, 1974). "Leonia votes to build high school". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. C-1 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ↑ Tucker, Bill (September 24, 1974). "Leonia liberals enjoy status quo". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. pp. C-1, C-4 – via Newspapers.com.
  42. 1 2 Tucker, Bill (September 24, 1974). "Fire aggravates school conflicts". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. pp. C-1, C-4 – via Newspapers.com.
  43. ↑ "Students in Leonia Walk Out of Class". The New York Times. October 22, 1976. p. B3 (New Jersey edition).
  44. ↑ Levin, Jay (May 1, 2019). "Leonia, N.J.: A Suburb of Artists, in Easy Reach of Manhattan". The New York Times.
  45. 1 2 3 4 Cattafi, Kristie (March 15, 2019). "Edgewater schools will run out of space in 2020". Gold Coast Life. Woodland Park, New Jersey. pp. 1, 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  46. 1 2 3 4 Cheslow, Jerry (July 30, 1995). "If You're Thinking of Living In: Edgewater; Factory Town Is Now Bedroom Community". The New York Times. p. 5 (Section 9).
  47. ↑ Shkolnikova, Svetlana (December 4, 2015). "Board asks firm to address rising enrollment". Leonia Life. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  48. 1 2 Rolando, Donna M. (April 30, 2017). "Culinary academy coming to Leonia". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. 3L – via Newspapers.com.
  49. ↑ Cattafi, Kristi (September 8, 2021). "No first floor, no problem: Leonia schools reopening despite major Ida flooding damage". Northjersey.com.
  50. ↑ Joseph, Christina (December 13, 2002). "Leonia Board Backs School Renovations". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. L-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  51. 1 2 Fabiano, Giovanna (September 27, 2009). "Leonia seeks $20.3M to fix schools". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. L-2 – via Newspapers.com.
  52. ↑ Almenas, Maxim (October 1, 2020). "Leonia school district presents 2010–2011 goals". Edgewater View. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  53. ↑ Roland, Leah (October 29, 2009). "Three teachers win grants to 'green' the school". Northern Valley Surbananite. Cresskill, New Jersey. p. S 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  54. ↑ "High School Culinary Program Isn't Your Mom". North Jersey Herald News. Woodland Park, New Jersey. October 18, 2019. ProQuest   2610581837 – via ProQuest.
  55. ↑ Yellin, Deena (August 14, 2018). "Leonia's new schools superintendent has a familiar face". NorthJersey.com.
  56. 1 2 "About LHS". Leonia School System. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
  57. 1 2 3 "Leonia High School Lauded By Evaluation Commission". Bergen Evening Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. May 18, 1965. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
  58. 1 2 "Report Card Out For Leonia High". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. May 18, 1965. p. 31 – via Newspapers.com.
  59. ↑ Mathews, Jay. "The High School Challenge 2011: Leonia High School", The Washington Post . Accessed July 27, 2011.
  60. ↑ Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly , September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  61. ↑ Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly , August 16, 2012. Accessed December 2, 2012.
  62. ↑ Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly , August 16, 2010. Accessed June 16, 2011.
  63. ↑ "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly , September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  64. ↑ New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2009-2010, Schooldigger.com. Accessed February 16, 2012.
  65. ↑ Leonia High School, Niche. Accessed February 14, 2022. "Best College Prep Public High Schools in New Jersey 35 of 406; Best Public High Schools in New Jersey 69 of 425"
  66. ↑ Leonia High School, U.S. News & World Report . Accessed February 14, 2022. "Leonia High School 2021 Rankings... #1,331 in National Rankings #56 in New Jersey High Schools #156 in New York, NY Metro Area High Schools"
  67. ↑ N. J. High School Team Champions 1956 – Present, New Jersey State Chess Federation. Accessed August 13, 2013.
  68. ↑ "School Contest Placed on Tape". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. January 20, 1966. p. 32 – via Newspapers.com.
  69. ↑ Past Champions, National History Bee and Bowl. Accessed June 4, 2017.
  70. ↑ Mattura, Greg. "Small-school NJIC may debut its own league championship", The Record , January 9, 2017.Accessed August 30, 2020. "The small-school North Jersey Interscholastic Conference may debut its own boys basketball tournament this season, one season after introducing its girls hoops championship. The NJIC is comprised of schools from Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties and the event offered to the 36 boys teams would serve as an alternative to likely competing against larger programs in a county tournament."
  71. ↑ Member Schools, North Jersey Interscholastic Conference. Accessed August 30, 2020.
  72. ↑ League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  73. ↑ League Memberships - 2009-1010, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 24, 2011. Accessed September 16, 2014.
  74. ↑ NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  75. ↑ NJSIAA Fall Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
  76. ↑ NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
  77. ↑ NJSIAA Spring Track Summary of Group Titles Boys, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2021.
  78. 1 2 Lightdale, Marc (April 12, 2013). "Celebrating a hometown hero". Edgewater View. pp. 3, 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  79. ↑ NJSIAA Boys Basketball Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  80. ↑ "Group I-Leonia", Asbury Park Press , March 19, 1967. Accessed March 12, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Leonia pulled away from Burlington Township after two early ties and defeated the undersized Falcons, 73-65, for the Group I championship.... Mickey Janelli, a 6-foot guard, paced 20-4 Leonia to its 15th consecutive triumph with 18 points.... Burlington Township, with only one starter taller than 6 feet and two under 5-10, was no match underneath for the taller Lions and had numerous shots blocked."
  81. ↑ Klapisch, Bob. "March Magnificence: Remembering the Leonia High School 1967 boys basketball championship", (201) magazine, November 7, 2012. Accessed March 14, 2014. "Coach Lee Clark of the 1967 State champion Leonia Lions at Leonia High School.... In fact, 45 seasons later, Leonians still revere Clark for bringing them the only state championship in the program's history."
  82. ↑ Farrell, Sean (June 11, 2020). "Greatest wrestlers in North Jersey history: The best at the middle weights". Northjersey.com.
  83. ↑ Girls Tennis Championship History: 1971–2023, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated November 2023. Accessed September 1, 2024.
  84. ↑ Borders, Andrew. "Leonia beats Glen Rock for first Group 1 girls tennis title since 2002 (VIDEO)", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 18, 2019. Accessed January 18, 2021. "With a singles sweep, the Leonia girls tennis team did something it had only done once before, and 17 years in waiting. Aryu Ramalingan, Maya Naik and Reanna Radu won their matches to deliver an NJSIAA Group 1 title over Glen Rock, 3-2 on Friday at the Mercer County Tennis Center in West Windsor."
  85. ↑ Moore, Roger. "H.S. football: North 2, Group 3 battle between Palisades Park/Leonia and Summit", The Record , December 7, 2012. Accessed December 26, 2016. "The Tigers are a true Cinderella story as they are the first co-op school in New Jersey to play for a sectional title."
  86. ↑ Doviak, Cory K. "Pal Park/Leonia's improbable run ends in section final", NorthJerseySports.com, December 9, 2012. Accessed December 26, 2016.
  87. ↑ Administration, Leonia High School. Accessed April 28, 2020.
  88. ↑ "Shift to Peacetime Issues Theme of Leonia Graduation", East Bergen Record , June 22, 1945. Accessed January 6, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Gertrude Elizabeth Urey, valedictorian, developed the subject 'The Center', by discussing the need for a civic center for Leonia young people."
  89. ↑ "Dr. Robin Cook, Author". Local History Catalog. Leonia Public Library. Retrieved December 19, 2023. Cook graduated from Leonia High School in 1958 ...
  90. ↑ Corcoran, Barbara; and Littlefield, Bruce. Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 Into a Billion Dollar Business, p. 64. Penguin Books, 2011. ISBN   1-59184-418-5. Accessed June 16, 2011. "I looked up at the notice posted on the big bulletin board outside the Leonia High School gym:"
  91. ↑ "Daibes named 'Person of the Year'", Northern Valley Suburbanite (North), March 19, 2003. Accessed January 4, 2024. "At the age of 12, Fred Daibes’ journey from Beirut, Lebanon had only begun.... Young Fred completed Leonia High School and went off to college; an experience soon interrupted when his beloved father became terminally ill."
  92. ↑ Tricard, Louise Mead (January 1, 1996). American Women's Track and Field: A History, 1895 Through 1980. McFarland. p. 73. ISBN   978-0-7864-0219-9.
  93. 1 2 "Leonia High School Girls Break Two World's Records". The Record. May 15, 1922. p. 6. Retrieved July 27, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  94. ↑ Feibel, Carolyn. "Baltic president has N.J. roots", The Record , November 29, 2006. Accessed January 2, 2008. "Toomas 'Tom' Ilves grew up in Leonia, which not only rhymes with Estonia, but was the perfect nursery for his foreign political ambitions, his 79-year-old mother said.... The irony of the whole thing was that Toomas clearly had no problem expressing independent thought, and his later success in life reflects well on Leonia High School."
  95. ↑ Bob Klapisch profile, The Record , backed up by the Internet Archive as of December 15, 2007. Accessed March 26, 2015. "Robert Salvador Klapisch was born in New York City and grew up in Leonia. He is a graduate of Leonia H.S., where he played baseball, and Columbia University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science."
  96. ↑ Gallo, Donald R. Ultimate Sports, p. 298. Random House Children's Books, 2009. ISBN   9780307568434. Accessed November 13, 2017. "As a teenager David Klass played baseball and soccer at Leonia Public High School and went on to do the same at Yale University, from which he graduated."
  97. ↑ Shalewa. "Meet Josephine Kuuire the Ghanaian creative behind the beautiful murals celebrating historic women in Accra", Bra Perucci Africa, October 16, 2020. Accessed December 11, 2023. "She first explored photography as an artist in Leonia High School, New Jersey; where she took a regular and advanced class in photography."
  98. ↑ Staff. "LHS Korean Superstars Nearly Make it to Final Round" Archived March 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine , The Leonian, November 6, 2011. Accessed March 14, 2014. "Denny Do and Lim Kim, Leonia High School students, nearly made it to the final round of Superstar K 3, the Korean version of American Idol."
  99. ↑ Gray, Michael. The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, p. 449. Continuum, 2006. ISBN   0-8264-6933-7. Accessed February 16, 2012. "Mansfield, David [c. 1956 –] David Mansfield is very coy about his birth date but he was born around 1956 in Leonia, New Jersey, where he grew up to be a multi-instrumentalist, playing mostly violin, mandolin and guitar."
  100. ↑ Jackson, Kenneth T.; Markoe, Karen; and Markoe, Arnie. The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives: 1994-1996, p. 352. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000. ISBN   0-684-80644-4. Accessed September 19, 2011. "She attended Leonia High School in New Jersey for one year, then entered the Metropolitan Opera School of Ballet in New York City."
  101. ↑ Filichia, Peter. "N.J. Stage; Actress singing for joy at the Paper Mill.", The Star-Ledger , April 14, 2000. p. 23. "For Christiane Noll, performing in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of 'The Student Prince' is a homecoming beyond the usual definition. Growing up in Bergen County, she played Mrs. Barnum in a Leonia Middle School production of 'Barnum' and was a Jet girl in a Leonia High School staging of 'West Side Story.'"
  102. ↑ Nick Prisco Stats, Pro-Football-Reference.com. Accessed March 11, 2018.
  103. ↑ Ivory Sully Stats, Pro-Football-Reference.com. Accessed March 11, 2018.
  104. ↑ Caldera, Pete. "Where are they now? Ivory Sully of Leonia", The Record , February 6, 2012. Accessed February 16, 2012. "Sully now resides in the University of Delaware Hall of Fame. But his professional road from Leonia High School to a nine-year NFL career, with stops in Tampa Bay and Detroit, began as an undrafted free agent."
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