As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 925 students and 77.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.0:1. There were 419 students (45.3% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 69 (7.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
The school was the 250th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly in 2014.[5] The school had been ranked 166th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 217th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[6] The magazine ranked the school 287th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[7]
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The district established a high school program at Central Grammar School, which was completed in 1917, prior to which Hillside students in grades 9-12 attended Battin High SchoolinEizabeth. The current high school facility was constructed in 1940, allowing students in grades 10-12 to attend the new Hillside High School; the Coe Avenue (A.P. Morris) School became a grammar school.[8]
In 2001, students from David Brearley High School and Hillside High School collaborated to develop literary and art projects about bigotry presented at an exhibit, "Making Connections: Two Culturally Diverse Schools Address Prejudice and Hatred by Studying the Holocaust Together." The exhibit was presented at Kean University, and was viewed together with local Holocaust survivors and concentration camp liberators.[9]
The Hillside High School Comets[2] compete in the Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which comprises public and private high schools in Union County and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey undertaken by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[10] Before the 2010 realignment, the school had participated in the Mountain Valley Conference, which consisted of public and private high schools in Essex and Somerset and Union counties.[11] With 634 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.[12] The football team competes in Division 2A 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.[13] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III North for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 680 to 884 students.[14]
The football team won the North II Group II state championship in 1985 and won the Central Jersey Group II championship in 2017-2019.[15] In 1985, the Hillside Comets football team finished with an 11–1 record and a North II Group II state championship with a 13-12 win against Madison High School in the sectional title game.[16] The seventh-seeded Hillside team won its second North II Group II state sectional championship with a 20-13 win at High Point Solutions Stadium against top-seeded and previously undefeated Point Pleasant Borough High School in the finals of the 2017 tournament.[17][18] In 2018, the team defeated Manasquan High School by a score of 36-10 to win the Central Jersey Group II title.[19] The 2019 team won its third consecutive Central Jersey Group II title with a 14-10 victory against West Deptford High School in the championship game and went on to finish the season with a 12-0 record.[20][21]
The boys' basketball team won the Group II state championships in both 1990 and 1992, defeating Middle Township High School in the tournament final in both years.[22] The 1990 team won the Group II state title with a 50-48 victory against Middle Township in the championship game played at the Rutgers Athletic Center[23] and advanced to the Tournament of Champions as the sixth seed, falling to number-three McCorristin Catholic High School by a score 76-49 in the quarterfinals to finish the season with a record of 27-3.[24][25] The 1992 team won the Group II title in overtime by a score of 62-60 against Middle Township in the championship game played at Rutgers University.[26]
In 2011, the Hillside High School cheerleading team, under coach Keyla Silva, won the title of State Champions at the NJCDCA competition in Trenton in the Intermediate Varsity division. After this victory the cheerleaders held this title for three years in a row, repeating as state division champion in 2012 and 2013.[27]
^History, Hillside Public Schools. Accessed April 5, 2022. "As both schools in the township were grammar schools, students who wished to have more than a grammar school education went to a high school in Elizabeth. Because of the growing population in 1917 a new school called Central Grammar School was built on Coe Avenue. It would later become the first high school... By 1938 the Coe Avenue School was inadequate to meet the continued needs of the community so a new high school building was completed in 1940 to accommodate sophomores, juniors and seniors."
^"Two-school project fights prejudice; Kenilworth, Hillside art and computer classes team up.", The Star-Ledger, June 7, 2001
^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."
^Gould, Brandon. "Hillside football knocks off unbeaten Point Pleasant Boro, wins 1st state title since 1985", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, December 2, 2017. Accessed December 5, 2017. "Seventh-seeded Hillside completed a memorable championship ride and won its first state title since 1985 on Saturday with a 20-13 victory over top-seeded Point Pleasant Boro in the Central Jersey, Group 2 final at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway.... It took all the Comets had to pull off the championship upset and secure the program's first title win in over three decades. Hillside would not be denied though in its run to the championship, which also included wins over second-seeded South River and third-seeded Johnson on the way to the final."
^Falk, Steven. "NJ football playoffs: Hillside too much for Manasquan in Central Group II final", Asbury Park Press, November 17, 2018. Accessed December 6, 2020. "The scenario was almost exactly what Manasquan would have wanted in the third quarter Saturday of the NJSIAA Central Group II championship against unbeaten Hillside.... The Comets, ranked No. 18 in the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey Top 20, then pulled away with three touchdowns in a span of 7:45 in the fourth quarter and recorded a 36-10 win. Hillside (11-0) repeated as Central Group II champions and won the third sectional football championship in its history."
^Cosentino, Matt. "Late rally leads Hillside to third straight sectional title (PHOTOS)", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 22, 2019. Accessed December 6, 2020. "Senior James Westry caught a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter from two different quarterbacks as third-seeded Hillside rallied to stun top-seeded West Deptford, 14-10, in the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics South Jersey, Group 2 championship game on Friday night. The Comets improved to 11-0 and extended their streak of sectional titles to three after winning in Central Jersey in 2017 and 2018."
^Kinney, Mike. "Football: No. 7 Hillside follows well-rehearsed script to rally to S/C 2 title", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, December 8, 2019. Accessed December 6, 2020. "After their club trailed by a field goal at the half, Nahree Biggins, James Louis and Fatir Bell led a resurgent offense while the Comets’ defense held its ground as staunchly as ever to rally seventh-ranked and undefeated Hillside to a 25-3 victory over Cedar Creek for the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics South/Central 2 Regional Championship Sunday afternoon at Rutgers’ SHI Stadium in Piscataway.... With that, the Comets finished 12-0 and completed what they unable to fulfill last year after winning a second straight sectional title, but losing to Haddonfield in the South/Central 2 bowl game."
^Dente, Jim. "Foul helps Hillside to first-ever crown", The Record, March 11, 1990. Accessed March 15, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "James Mazyck converted both ends of a one-and-one with two seconds remaining to give Hillside a 50-48 victory over Middle Township for the Group 2 boys basketball championship Saturday in the Rutgers Athletic Center. It was Hillside's first State championship. The Comets (27-3) had been to the final five previous times, but Middle Township (26-5) made its first appearance."
^Burrows, Walt. "Snyder knocks Bogota from unbeaten", Courier-Post, March 14, 1990. Accessed March 15, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "McCorristin 76, Hillside 49 Bryan Caver poured in 25 points and Mark Bass added 23 as the Group A champs, South Jersey's lone entry in the tournament, ran away and hid from the outset."
^Viggiano, Bob. "Middle Township stumbles, loses in overtime", Courier-Post, March 16, 1992. Accessed December 6, 2020. "Middle Township High School boys' basketball coach Tom Feraco always will wonder how it all came apart in Sunday's state Group 2 championship game at Rutgers University. The 28-3 Panthers allowed a 15-point fourth period to slide away and then dropped a 62-60 overtime decision to Hillside in the state tournament final, the same team they lost to in the 1990 finals."
^Staff Directory, Hillside High School. Accessed February 14, 2024.
^Bolick, Clint. "Remedial Education (Clint Bolick)", Center for Education Reform. Accessed July 5, 2017. "I grew up in Hillside, a suburb of Newark, in a single-parent, working-class family. In 1975, Hillside High School graduated me with enough skills to secure a scholarship at an excellent college and go on to a successful career in law and public policy."
^David Jones, Pro-Football-Reference.com. Accessed December 12, 2018. "Born: November 9, 1968 (Age: 50-033d) in East Orange, NJ... High School: Hillside (NJ)"
^Mandel, Adrienne, Rutgers Oral History Archives Rutgers Banner at Rutgers University. Accessed February 3, 2022. "Adrienne Abramson Mandel was born in Irvington, New Jersey, on September 30, 1936. She grew up in Hillside, New Jersey, and attended Hillside High School."
^"Competition at higher level now for Hillside's McMillian", Union County LocalSource, July 5, 2012. Accessed November 4, 2017. "Jerron McMillian is wearing No. 22 for the Green Bay Packers after donning No. 1 for Hillside High School and then the University of Maine."
^"Alan Paul to Sing Saturday", The Hillside Times, February 24, 1966. Accessed December 12, 2018. "Alan Paul (Wichinsky) will bring his talents to the Newark 'Y' on Chancellor Ave. Saturday as part of An Evening of Performing Arts.... He is presently a junior at Hillside High School and devotes much of his 'spare time' doing benefit performances."
^McQuiston, John T. "Details Given On Suspects In Abduction", The New York Times, June 21, 1992. Accessed December 12, 2018. "After the younger Mr. Seale graduated from Hillside High School in the mid-1960s, he worked briefly as a lifeguard before following his father and joining the Hillside Police Department."
^Herndon, Mike. "Spruill fits at Fork Union, South Alabama football's next foe", Press-Register, October 30, 2009. Accessed December 13, 2018. "Marquis Spruill made 110 tackles as a senior at Hillside (N.J.) High School last year. He was a 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker who had a nose for the ball and was fully qualified academically, but he didn't draw a college offer."
^Staff. "Studeny Most Outstanding Comet Athlete In Years", The Hillside Times, July 2, 1959. Accessed January 8, 2018. "Hillside High School's most outstanding athlete in many years, who graduated last month, was Dan Studney, and he can prove it.... Participating in three sports -- track, football and wrestling -- Studeny climaxed a brilliant track career in his senior year."
^"Miss Ynugst Takes Second Beauty Title", The Hillside Times, March 27, 1969. Accessed December 5, 2017. "Miss Hela Yungst, 19, won the title after a performance of a dramatic scene and song from Man of La Mancha, bathing suit and evening gown competition.... Miss Yungst has been active at Hillside High School, Newark State and previously at Hillside High School and is a sophomore majoring in music at the College."
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