James Caldwell High School
Encyclopedia
James Caldwell High School is an American four-year comprehensive
public high school
in West Caldwell
, in Essex County
, New Jersey
, operating as part of the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools
. The school is named after American Revolutionary War
figure Reverend James Caldwell. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Commission on Secondary Schools since 1928.
As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 797 students and 60 classroom teachers (on an FTE
basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.28.
magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 57th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 43rd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.
. James Caldwell had been part of the Northern Hills Conference
prior to the 2010 realignment. The school has had past successes in its football
and baseball
programs, but is a perennial contender in girls volleyball
and softball
.
On December 5, 2008, The Caldwell Chiefs Football Team won the North II, Group II state sectional title with a 22-7 win over Governor Livingston
at Giants Stadium
, to earn the program's first state sectional title since 1998.
Caldwell's football coach, Kenneth Trimmer, has received numerous awards from the board of education and towns.
On October 11, 2006, a 16-year-old football player by the name of James Bliss (Jamie) died during a football practice.
The softball team won the 2003 North II, Group II state sectional title with a 2-1 win against Pequannock High School. The softball team repeated as sectional champs in 2004, shutting out Hoboken High School
by a score of 10-0. The team was a sectional winner for the third consecutive time in 2005 with a 2-0 win against Governor Livingston High School
in the tournament final. The team went on to win the 2005 Group II State Championship with a 3-2 win against Audubon High School
that came on a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. The team won the 2007 North II, Group II state sectional championship with a 2-1 over West Essex High School
. The 2009 title came in a 4-3 win against Parsippany High School
. The softball team has won 11 sectional titles, including six between 2003 and 2011, winning the 2011 North II, Group II sectional with an 11-7 win against Rutherford High School.
The James Caldwell girls volleyball team has won six state titles, winning Group II titles in 2000, 2002 and 2003 all against Union Catholic High School, in 2004 against Pascack Valley High School
and in 2009 against Tenafly High School
, and took the 2008 Group I championship with a win against Bogota High School
. The team was the runner-up in the Tournament of Champions
in 2003, with a loss to Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest
, and again in 2008, after a loss in the finals to Immaculate Heart High School
. In 2008, the Lady Chiefs volleyball won a State Championship, a County championship and a Conference championship. They finished 32-1 and were ranked second in the state.
The 2008 girls soccer team won the North II, Group II sectional title.
In wrestling, Blake Maffai was the 1991 state champion at 112 lbs. In 2004, Steve Martell won the state title at 152 lbs.
nicknames from college sports teams.
, forbidding most censorship by the high school principal and allowing an article about sexual mores to be published.
were filmed at James Caldwell High School, including the cafeteria, hallways, classrooms, the bathroom, and the principal's office.
Comprehensive high school
Comprehensive high schools are the most common form of public high schools in the United States and are meant to serve the needs of all students, as compared to the common practice in other nations in which examinations are used to sort students into different high schools for different populations...
public high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in West Caldwell
West Caldwell, New Jersey
West Caldwell is an township located in the West Essex area in northwestern Essex County, New Jersey. It is located approximately west of Manhattan and six miles northwest of Newark...
, in Essex County
Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 783,969, ranking it third in the state after Bergen County and Middlesex County; Essex County's population has declined from 786,147 as of the bureau's...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, operating as part of the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools
Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools
The Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools is a regional public school district serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade from two communities in Essex County, New Jersey, United States...
. The school is named after American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
figure Reverend James Caldwell. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association dedicated to educational excellence and improvement through peer evaluation and accreditation...
Commission on Secondary Schools since 1928.
As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 797 students and 60 classroom teachers (on an FTE
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.28.
Awards and recognition
The school was the 45th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey MonthlyNew Jersey Monthly
New Jersey Monthly is a monthly glossy publication featuring issues of possible interest to residents of the United States state of New Jersey...
magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 57th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 43rd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.
Athletics
James Caldwell High School's teams, nicknamed the Chiefs and Lady Chiefs respectively, compete in the Super Essex Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic AssociationNew Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports.-State championships:...
. James Caldwell had been part of the Northern Hills Conference
Northern Hills Conference
The Northern Hills Conference, was an athletic conference of nineteen private and public high schools located in Essex, Morris and Passaic County Counties in Northern New Jersey....
prior to the 2010 realignment. The school has had past successes in its football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
programs, but is a perennial contender in girls volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
and softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
.
On December 5, 2008, The Caldwell Chiefs Football Team won the North II, Group II state sectional title with a 22-7 win over Governor Livingston
Governor Livingston High School
Governor Livingston High School, known informally as GL, is a comprehensive four-year co-educational public high school located in Berkeley Heights, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Berkeley Heights Public Schools...
at Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
, to earn the program's first state sectional title since 1998.
Caldwell's football coach, Kenneth Trimmer, has received numerous awards from the board of education and towns.
On October 11, 2006, a 16-year-old football player by the name of James Bliss (Jamie) died during a football practice.
The softball team won the 2003 North II, Group II state sectional title with a 2-1 win against Pequannock High School. The softball team repeated as sectional champs in 2004, shutting out Hoboken High School
Hoboken High School
Hoboken High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in Hoboken, New Jersey, part of the Hoboken Public Schools district.As of the 2008-09 school year, the school had an enrollment of 540 students and 49.5 classroom teachers , for a student–teacher ratio of 10.9.The school was the...
by a score of 10-0. The team was a sectional winner for the third consecutive time in 2005 with a 2-0 win against Governor Livingston High School
Governor Livingston High School
Governor Livingston High School, known informally as GL, is a comprehensive four-year co-educational public high school located in Berkeley Heights, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Berkeley Heights Public Schools...
in the tournament final. The team went on to win the 2005 Group II State Championship with a 3-2 win against Audubon High School
Audubon High School
Audubon High School is a comprehensive six-year community public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades from Audubon, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Audubon School District....
that came on a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. The team won the 2007 North II, Group II state sectional championship with a 2-1 over West Essex High School
West Essex High School
West Essex High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in North Caldwell, New Jersey in the United States. The high school is part of the West Essex Regional School District, which serves students from four municipalities in western Essex County. Communities served by the district's...
. The 2009 title came in a 4-3 win against Parsippany High School
Parsippany High School
Parsippany High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school, one of two high schools in the township of Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, as part of the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District. The school serves students in grades 9-12 who live in the eastern half of Parsippany-Troy Hills...
. The softball team has won 11 sectional titles, including six between 2003 and 2011, winning the 2011 North II, Group II sectional with an 11-7 win against Rutherford High School.
The James Caldwell girls volleyball team has won six state titles, winning Group II titles in 2000, 2002 and 2003 all against Union Catholic High School, in 2004 against Pascack Valley High School
Pascack Valley High School
Pascack Valley High School is a four-year regional public high school located in Hillsdale in Bergen County, New Jersey, one of two high schools in the Pascack Valley Regional High School District...
and in 2009 against Tenafly High School
Tenafly High School
Tenafly High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in grades nine through twelve from Tenafly, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Tenafly Public Schools...
, and took the 2008 Group I championship with a win against Bogota High School
Bogota High School
Bogota Jr./Sr. High School is a comprehensive public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grade from Bogota, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Bogota Public Schools...
. The team was the runner-up in the Tournament of Champions
Tournament of Champions (NJSIAA)
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament of Champions is the sports tournament for New Jersey high schools that determines which high school will be crowned as the #1 overall team in the state for each sport...
in 2003, with a loss to Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest
Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest
Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest is a comprehensive four-year regional public high school serving students from several municipalities in Bergen County, New Jersey. The high school serves students from the suburban communities of Closter, Demarest and Haworth...
, and again in 2008, after a loss in the finals to Immaculate Heart High School
Immaculate Heart High School
Immaculate Heart High School is a co-ed Catholic school in Oro Valley, Arizona . It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. The high school is part of a larger campus that includes an elementary and middle school...
. In 2008, the Lady Chiefs volleyball won a State Championship, a County championship and a Conference championship. They finished 32-1 and were ranked second in the state.
The 2008 girls soccer team won the North II, Group II sectional title.
In wrestling, Blake Maffai was the 1991 state champion at 112 lbs. In 2004, Steve Martell won the state title at 152 lbs.
Controversy
Support has been mounting in the two towns in recent years to change a number of customs associated with the school's team nicknames or to get rid of the Chiefs nickname altogether. This appears as being concurrent with a similar trend in the NCAA of removing Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
nicknames from college sports teams.
Extracurricular activities
In September 2005, six student editors and reporters of the high school's newspaper, The Caldron, reached a settlement with the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District, through the ACLUAmerican Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
, forbidding most censorship by the high school principal and allowing an article about sexual mores to be published.
Trivia
Most scenes of Welcome to the DollhouseWelcome to the Dollhouse
Welcome to the Dollhouse is a 1995 American independent coming of age dark comedy. An independent film, it launched the careers of Todd Solondz and Heather Matarazzo.-Plot:...
were filmed at James Caldwell High School, including the cafeteria, hallways, classrooms, the bathroom, and the principal's office.
Administration
Core members of the school's administration are:- Dr. Kevin Barnes - Principal
- James Brown - Vice Principal
External links
- James Caldwell High School
- Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools
- Data for the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools, National Center for Education StatisticsNational Center for Education StatisticsThe National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
- James Caldwell High School Class of 1966
- James Caldwell High School Class of 1986