As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 302 students and 39.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 7.7:1. There were 49 students (16.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 8 (2.6% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
The New Jersey Department of Education classifies the district in District Factor Group "DE", the fifth-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by socioeconomic characteristics. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[11]
In September 2023, voters in both Atlantic Highlands and Highlands approved a ballot measure that would consolidate the two K–6 districts with the Henry Hudson regional district to form a single K–12 district starting in the 2024–25 school year.[12]
History
Constructed at a cost of $1.3 million (equivalent to $13.1 million in 2023), the school opened on September 10, 1962, with a dedication ceremony conducted on November 5 of that year.[13] The school opened with 630 students in grades 7-12, replacing the former Atlantic Highlands High School.[14]
The district's first superintendent was Henry Schiable, who served in the position until 1969.[15]
In 2023 the voters of Atlantic Highlands School District and Highlands School District approved a proposal to consolidate into Henry Hudson; assuming the process is completed, this would make it a PreK-12 school district.[12] The consolidation is scheduled to be completed in July 2024.[16] In 2024, a meeting between the three school district's boards of trustees stated that Sea Bright would have to re-establish its non-operating school district to join Henry Hudson, though there is no provision in New Jersey law to permit this. Students from Sea Bright attend the Oceanport School District for grades K-8 and Shore Regional High School for grades 9-12; both districts filed legal challenges opposing Sea Bright's efforts to end their sending relationship and join the consolidated K-12 Henry Hudson District.[17]
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 147th-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.[18] The school had been ranked 101st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 121st in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[19] The magazine ranked the school 176th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[20] The school was ranked 159th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[21] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 190th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 1 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the two components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), mathematics (80.0%) and language arts literacy (91.6%).[22]
Athletics
The Henry Hudson Regional High School Admirals[3] compete in Division B Central of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprised of public and private high schools in Monmouth and Ocean counties along the Jersey Shore.[4][23] The conference operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[24] With 150 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range.[25] The school's co-op team with Keyport High School was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 185 to 482 students.[26]
The school participates as the host school / lead agency for joint cooperative cross country running, boys / girls tennis and winter track teams with Keyport High School, while Keyport is the host school for girls soccer, boys / girls volleyball and wrestling teams. These co-op programs operate under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[27][28][29]
The softball team made it to the Group I state championship game in 2015, losing to Cedar Grove High School in the tournament finals.[30]
The district's board of education, comprised of nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district.[45] Seats on the board are allocated based on the population of the constituent municipalities, with five seats assigned to Highlands and four to Atlantic Highlands.[46][47]
^About Henry Hudson, Henry Hudson Regional High School. Accessed May 15, 2024. "This school district serves the towns of Atlantic Highlands and Highlands and students in grades seven through twelve."
^ abJennings, Rob. "N.J. voters approve merging 3 school districts into 1", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, September 27, 2023. Accessed May 15, 2024. "The K-6 school districts in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands will be joining the Henry Hudson Regional School District, which already serves students from both municipalities, starting in July 2024."
^Staff. "Dedication at Jersey School", The New York Times, November 4, 1962. Accessed October 7, 2019. "Dedication ceremonies will be held at 2:30 P.M. tomorrow for the new Henry Hudson Regional High School overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Sandy Hook Bay here. The $1,300,000 school opened on Sept. 10."
^Geraghty, Peter. "Henry Hudson Students at Home in Highlands", Asbury Park Press, October 8, 1962. Accessed April 3, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Henry Hudson Regional School is located atop the rolling hills of Highlands, in a beautiful woodland setting overlooking the Shrewsbury River and the Atlantic Ocean. Henry Hudson serves 632 students from Atlantic Highlands and Highlands. Of these, 228 are in the seventh and eighth grades, and 454 are in the high school.... Students from Highlands and Atlantic High lands attended the old Atlantic Highlands High School until last June."
^King, John P. The Highlands, p. 91. Arcadia Publishing, 1995. ISBN9780738588421. Accessed October 7, 2019. "Harold Schiable, the first superintendent of Henry Hudson Regional High School. He was chosen to oversee the building of the new district's school between c. 1962 and 1969, when he left Highlands for a similar post in Little Silver at the new Red Bank Regional district."
^ abCahillane, Kevin. "For the Stars of 'Clerks,' It's Take Two". The New York Times, July 16, 2006. Accessed August 22, 2018. "Mr. Anderson's film career was a happy accident. While he and Mr. Smith graduated together in 1988 from Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands, they were not close until Mr. Anderson began to rent movies from the video store where Mr. Smith worked."
^Daniels, Rosemary. "Brothers vie for Olympic spot", The Monmouth Journal. Accessed August 9, 2016. "Steven and Jeffrey Gluckstein, of Atlantic Highlands, have been training for this opportunity since the ages of 7 and 4, respectively.... While still in high school, Jeffrey decided he was going to go to his junior prom. Loretta says, 'He told us, I may miss a practice, but I'm going.' Similarly, he was elected and served on student council at Henry Hudson."
^Muir, John Kenneth. An Askew View 2: The Films of Kevin Smith, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2012. ISBN1557837945. Accessed February 6, 2013. "Bryan Johnson, the director of Vulgar (2000) and the actor who portrays comic book snob Steve-Dave in the View Askew universe was born in Highlands and later attended Highlands Elementary and Henry Hudson Regional High School (the latter named after the sea captain who first explored the area in 1609)."
^O'Sullivan, Eleanor. "Outtakes", The Home News, July 2, 1995. Accessed November 20, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Jason Mewes, co-star of Clerks and Mallrats, helped Smith present the scholarships. He, too, is a Henry Hudson graduate, and the 'Mewes' were from pals in the audience."
^Principal, Henry Hudson Regional High School. Accessed May 15, 2024.
^Silakowski, Ian. "AH Council Introduced to New Tri-District Superintendent"Archived October 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Atlantic Highlands Herald, March 2, 2014. Accessed October 13, 2014. "The first new order of business involved Atlantic Highlands Board of Education President Saranne Weimer introducing Susan Compton, the Tri-District Superintendent of Schools for Atlantic Highlands and Highlands Elementary, and Henry Hudson Regional School."
^Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the Henry Hudson Regional School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2023. Accessed May 15, 2024. "The District encompasses the Boroughs of Atlantic Highlands and Highlands. The Board of Education is comprised of five members from Highlands and four members from Atlantic Highlands. They are elected to three-year terms and meet on the third Wednesday of each month for the Regular Board Meeting.... The Henry Hudson Regional School District is a Type II district located in the County of Monmouth, State of New Jersey. As a Type II district, the School District functions independently through a Board of Education. The board is comprised of nine members elected to three-year terms. The purpose of the district is to educate students in grades 7-12. The operations of the District include one Regional Middle School/High School, located in the Highlands." See "Roster of Officials" on page 13.