Dunellen High School

Dunellen High School (DHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Dunellen in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Dunellen Public Schools.

Dunellen High School
Address
411 First Street

Dunellen
,
Middlesex County
,
New Jersey
08812

United States
Coordinates40.592433°N 74.468105°W / 40.592433; -74.468105
Information
TypePublic high school
Established1935
School districtDunellen Public Schools
NCES School ID340402003286[1]
PrincipalPaul Lynch
Faculty33.9 FTEs[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment349 (as of 2021–22)[1]
Student to teacher ratio10.3:1[1]
Color(s)  Scarlet and
  navy blue[2]
Athletics conferenceGreater Middlesex Conference (general)
Big Central Football Conference (football)
Team nameDestroyers[2]
RivalMiddlesex High School
PublicationThe Spectrum (literary magazine)[3]
NewspaperThe Argus[4]
YearbookExodus[5]
Websitewww.dunellenschools.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=3525819&type=d&pREC_ID=2397013

As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 349 students and 33.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.3:1.[1]

History

The high school was completed in Fall 1935 by the Public Works Administration as part of a project costing $80,000 (equivalent to $1.7 million in 2022) and was scheduled to have an enrollment of 675, of which 20% came from Piscataway. Prior to the completion of the district's own high school, students from Dunellen had attended Plainfield High School (in place from 1906 until 1925) and then Bound Brook High School (from 1925 to 1935). Over the years, the high school also accepted students from Green Brook Township, Manville and Middlesex.[6][7]

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 132nd-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.[8] The school had been ranked 112th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 110th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[9] The magazine ranked the school 166th in its 2008 rankings out of 316 schools statewide. The school was ranked 147th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[10] Schooldigger.com ranked the school 147th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 92 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (85.7%) and language arts literacy (92.2%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[11]

The school was the 36th-ranked high school in New Jersey in the 2014 U.S. News & World Report Rankings of Best High Schools.[12]

Extracurricular activities

Dunellen has a wide variety of other activities to choose from, including the Biology Club, Chess Club, Chess Team, Choir, Concert band, Marching band, National Art Honor Society, National Honor Society, Drama Club, Exodus, French Club, Spanish Club, Jazz band, Madrigals, Math League, Thespian Society and The Spectrum.[13]

Athletics

The Dunellen High School Destroyers[2] compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, comprised of public and private high schools located in the greater Middlesex County area, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[14] With 285 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 75 to 476 students in that grade range.[15] The football team competes in Division 1B of the Big Central Football Conference, which includes 60 public and private high schools in Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset, Union and Warren counties, which are broken down into 10 divisions by size and location.[16] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 200 to 463 students.[17]

The school participates in a joint wrestling team with Middlesex High School as the host school / lead agency. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[18]

The boys basketball team won the Group I state championships in 1943 (defeating runner-up Egg Harbor Township High School in the tournament final), 1946 (vs. Keyport High School) and 1959 (vs. Glen Ridge High School).[19] The 1943 team won the Group I state championship after defeating Roxbury High School 35-31 in the semifinals and then moving on to beat Egg Harbor Township by a score of 43-20 in the playoff finals at Seton Hall.[20]

The 1993 football team finished the season with a 10-0-1 record after winning the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I state sectional title with a 12-3 victory against Metuchen High School in the championship game.[21][22] The Destroyers have made eight appearances to the Central Jersey Group I state final. Dunellen is placed in the Gold Division of the Greater Middlesex Conference for football.[23] Dunellen ended its Thanksgiving Day rivalry with Middlesex High School in 2019, after 21 games in the annual series.[24]

Administration

The school's principal is Paul Lynch. His core administration team includes the vice principal.[25]

References
  1. School data for Dunellen High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 1, 2022.
  2. Dunellen High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 9, 2015.
  3. The Spectrum, Dunellen High School. Accessed March 22, 2022.
  4. The Argus, Dunellen High School. Accessed March 22, 2022.
  5. Student Handbook 2020-21, Dunellen High School. Accessed March 22, 2022.
  6. "Addition Will Be Ready Soon In Dunellen; Dedication of $80,000 Building Set for December", The Sunday Times, September 29, 1935. Accessed March 22, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Dunellen wilt soon boast of a modern high school. In fact, the new five-room addition to the Roosevelt Junior High School will be completed November 1..... Dedication service will be held In December.... The school will probably be called the Dunellen High School or the Roosevelt School. The new addition is an $80,000 PWA project..... The school has an enrollment of 675, of which 143 pupils are from Piscataway Township. The eleventh grade Is being conducted in Dunellen this term and the twelfth grade attends the Bound Brook High School."
  7. Triolo, John; and Marren-Licht, Liz. Dunellen, p. 8. Arcadia Publishing, 2012. ISBN 9780738591612. Accessed March 22, 2022. "In 1935, an addition provided five more classrooms, a science laboratory, and a gymnasium. When completed, it was renamed Dunellen High School. From 1906 to 1925, Dunellen's high school students attended Plainfield High School, and from 1925 to 1935, they attended Bound Brook High School. From 1935 until 1969, students from Middlesex, Piscataway, Manville, and Green Brook periodically attended Dunellen High School."
  8. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  9. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 7, 2012.
  10. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  11. New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 5, 2012.
  12. "Dunellen High School", U.S. News & World Report. Accessed July 25, 2014
  13. 2015-16 Student Handbook, Dunellen High School. Accessed November 9, 2015.
  14. League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  15. NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  16. Kinney, Mike. "Big Central revises 2020 football schedule for its shortened inaugural season", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, August 12, 2020. Accessed April 18, 2021. "The newly formed Big Central Football Conference has released a revised 2020 schedule for its inaugural season.... the BCFC is comprised of schools from Middlesex, Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties."
  17. NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2022–2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
  18. NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
  19. NJSIAA Boys Basketball Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  20. "Dunellen Captures State Group I Championship; Destroyer Five Defeats Egg Harbor High, 43-20, In Finals at Seton Hall", Courier News, March 22, 1943. Accessed March 9, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Dunellen High owns its first state basketball championship in history today following the Destroyers' impressive 43-20 victory over Egg Harbor Saturday afternoon at Seton Hall's large South Orange court in the Group 1 tournament finals. The contest was the first of four title-decided contests played Saturday. As had been suspected, Dunellen actually got past its toughest tournament hurdle last week when the Destroyers defeated Roxbury, 35-31."
  21. NJSIAA Football History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 1, 2022.
  22. Tufaro, Greg. "Throwback Thursday: Revisiting Dunellen football's 1993 and 2010 sectional championship games", Courier News, August 30, 2017. Accessed December 28, 2020. "Heading into the Central Jersey Group I sectional championship against Metuchen, Dunellen tailback Derek Carter had plenty to say about the game, words that could be interpreted either as arrogance or confidence.... Carter returned the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and threw a halfback option pass 39 yards for another score to lead Dunellen to a 12-3 victory over Metuchen at Edgar Field. The sectional title was the first for Dunellen (10-0-1), which was making its seventh appearance in the final."
  23. "Greater Middlesex Conference division alignments: Football preview, 2019", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, August 14, 2019. Accessed November 18, 2020. "Gold Division Members: Dunellen (6-4), * Highland Park (0-1), Metuchen (0-8), Middlesex (7-4), St. Thomas Aquinas (4-6), South River (5-5), Spotswood (1-9)."
  24. Tufaro, Greg. "NJ football: Middlesex-Dunellen Thanksgiving rivalry comes to an end", Courier News, October 25, 2018. Accessed November 18, 2020. "Next month’s 21st annual meeting between the Middlesex and Dunellen high school football programs will mark the last Thanksgiving Day game for the border rivals. Middlesex athletics director Mike O’Donnell said the NJSIAA’s revamped postseason format, which creates a three-week layoff to Thanksgiving Day for nonplayoff qualifiers who don’t play two regional crossover games, led to the end of his school’s holiday meeting with Dunellen."
  25. Staff Directory, Dunellen High School. Accessed April 19, 2021.
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