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Bogota Jr./Sr. High School
Address
2 Henry C. Luthin Place Bogota, Bergen County, New Jersey 07603 United States
Coordinates	40°52′41″N 74°01′28″W / 40.8781°N 74.0245°W / 40.8781; -74.0245
Information
Type	Public high school
School district	Bogota Public Schools
NCES School ID	340192000284
Principal	Kelly Foley DeCongelio
Faculty	38.6 FTEs
Grades	7 – 12
Enrollment	469 (as of 2023–24)
Student to teacher ratio	12.2:1
Color(s)	Purple and   Gold
Athletics conference	North Jersey Interscholastic Conference
Team name	Buccaneers
Publication	The Outloook (literary publication)
Newspaper	The Klaxon
Yearbook	The Purple "B"
Website	www.bogotaboe.com/o/bjshs

Bogota High School (formally known as Bogota Jr./Sr. High School) is a comprehensive public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grade from Bogota, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Bogota Public Schools.

As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 469 students and 38.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.2:1. There were 175 students (37.3% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 81 (17.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

History

Students from Maywood began attending Hackensack High School in September 1966, after the Maywood Public Schools ended a longstanding sending relationship under which students had attended Bogota High School.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 200th-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. The school had been ranked 259th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 151st in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 173rd in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 132nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.

Schooldigger.com ranked the school as 278th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (a decrease of 48 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).

Athletics

The Bogota High School Buccaneers 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). Prior to the realignment that took effect in the fall of 2010, Bogota was a member of the Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL) in the Olympic Division. With 258 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. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 254 to 474 students.

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

Interscholastic sports offered include:

The boys basketball team won the Group II state championship in 1935 (defeating Cranford High School in the tournament finals), 1944 (vs. Lakewood High School) and 1990 (vs. Haddonfield Memorial High School). The team won the 1935 title with a 28–24 win in the playoff finals against Cranford. The 1944 team won the Group II title with a 36–34 win against Lakewood in the championship game at the Elizabeth Armory on a shot scored with three seconds left in the game. The 1990 team, led by former North Carolina Tar Heel Pat Sullivan, won the NJ Group I state basketball title with a 47–44 win against Haddonfield and won the Bergen County Tournament, defeating non-public power Bergen Catholic High School in the championship game. Down by five points in the last minute of regulation in the championship game, the 1993 team tied Ramapo High School to force overtime and went on to win the Bergen County Jamboree by a score of 60–57.

The boys cross country team won the Group II state championship in 1960. The team won the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Bergen County Division D Championship.

The 1969 baseball team, led by pitcher Rich Graham, won the Bergen County Baseball Tournament defeating Bergenfield High School by a 3–0 score in the finals. Graham was recognized by The Record as its Athlete of the Week for his efforts as well as being named the MVP of the tournament.

The girls volleyball team won the Group I state championship in 1987 (defeating runner-up Midland Park High School in the final match of the playoffs), 2007 (vs. Midland Park), 2010 (vs. Madison High School), 2011 (vs. Science Park High School), 2012 (vs. Secaucus High School), 2013 (vs. Rutherford High School), 2015 (vs. Leonia High School), 2016 (vs. Verona High School), 2018 (vs. Verona), 2019 (vs. Kinnelon High School) and 2021 (vs. Delaware Valley Regional High School). The program's 11 state titles are the fourth-most in the state. The 2012 team won the Bergen County Tournament, defeating Immaculate Heart Academy in the finals, then faced Immaculate Heart in the finals of the Tournament of Champions and losing in three sets. In 2019, the team won its eighth Group I title in ten seasons with a win in the final match against Kinnelen High School by scores of 25–18 and 25–11.

The girls cross country team won the Group I state championship in 1994 and 1996.

The Buccaneers came into the 2006 state football tournament ranked first in their bracket, and proceeded to beat #8 seed Cresskill High School by a score of 36–7 in the first round and fourth-ranked Hasbrouck Heights High School by 24–17 in the semifinal game. On December 1, 2006, Bogota beat sixth seed Mountain Lakes High School 28–0 at Giants Stadium, to take home the North 1, Group I state championship. This was Bogota's first football state championship since 1957, and their first since the playoff era started in the 1970s.

In 2009, Emmanuel Ajagbe became Bogota's first wrestling state champion, winning the 145 pound title at the state finals at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Clubs

Clubs and extracurricular activities include:

• YAC
• DECA
• Yearbook Committee
• MultiCultural Club
• Math Club
• Chess Club
• The Klaxon Committee
• The Drama Club
• Sporting Teams

Administration

The school's principal is Kelly Foley DeCongelio. Her administration team includes the vice principal.

Notable alumni

• Walter G. Schroeder (born 1927), politician who was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1985 to 1993.
• Pat Schuber (born 1947), politician who served as Mayor of Bogota, represented the 38th legislative district in the New Jersey General Assembly and served 12 years as the Bergen County Executive.
• Harvey Silverglate (born 1942), attorney, journalist, writer, and co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
• Pat Sullivan (born 1971), basketball player and coach.
• Al Yates (1945–2007), baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers.

References

1. ^ School data for Bogota Jr./Sr. High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
2. ^ Bogota High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
3. ^ 2016–17 Student Handbook, Bogota High School. Accessed May 1, 2022.
4. "Maywood Students Leave Bogota High", The Record, August 17, 1966. Accessed March 30, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Parents who have become accustomed to planning their attendance at two or three schools' P.-T. A. meetings will add a fourth or in some cases, a fifth next month when the town's 10th graders enter Hackensack High School. The shift from Bogota High School, used by local youngsters for decades, will begin with this class, and will be completed in 2 years when the last of Maywood's students graduate from Bogota High."
5. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
6. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed December 1, 2012.
7. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 17, 2011.
8. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
9. New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2009–2010, Schooldigger.com. Accessed February 15, 2012.
10. 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."
11. Member Schools, North Jersey Interscholastic Conference. Accessed August 30, 2020.
12. League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020–2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
13. League Memberships – 2009–2010, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 24, 2011. Accessed September 17, 2014.
14. NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
15. NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
16. NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
17. History of NJSIAA Boys Basketball Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
18. "Pennington Retains Basketball Crown; Routs St. Benedict's, 32–21, to Keep New Jersey Group 4 Prep School Title.", The New York Times, March 17, 1935. Accessed February 20, 2021. "In Group 2 of the high schools division Bogota disposed of Cranford, 28 to 24, to gain the first State title in the history of the school."
19. "Bogota Shades Lakewood To Win Jersey Group 2 Title", The Daily Record, March 27, 1944. Accessed December 27, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "The championship was so near for the Lakewood High School basketball team that it will be doubly difficult for the Piner fans to forget about the closing of the 1944 New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association title race. The Piners, beyond a doubt, could have held the State Croup II crown if the breaks had been different, but instead, Bogota gained the honor by winning in the finals, 36–34."
20. "Lakewood Nosed Out Shot With 3 Seconds Left Decides Thriller", Asbury Park Press, March 26, 1944. Accessed December 27, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "Capping one of the most magnificent individual exhibitions ever seen in the N. J. S. I. A. A. basketball tourney competition, Don Casey spoiled Lakewood high school's first bid for a state title by firing in a spectacular one-handed shot from the side three seconds before the game ended to enable Bogota high school to nose out the Piners, Central Jersey champions, for the Croup 2 crown at the Elizabeth armory yesterday afternoon."
21. Mattura, Greg. "Bogota basketball coach Jay Mahoney resigns", The Record, April 1, 2011. Accessed June 12, 2011. "He is the only coach from a Group 1 school to twice win the Jamboree title (1990, 1993) in its 55-year history. He won the State Group 1 title in 1990.... Bogota's finest season under Mahoney was 1989–90, when the Bucs won Jamboree and State titles and forged a 31-game winning streak before losing to Snyder in the Tournament of Champions."
22. Schwartz, Paul. "Bogota holds on for Group 1 championship", The Record, March 11, 1990. Accessed December 16, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "Bogota became the first Bergen County team in 30 years to win both a State group championship and the Bergen County Jamboree Saturday night with a 47–44 win over defending Group 1 champion Haddonfield."
23. Cooper, Darren. "The Last One: How Bogota won the Bergen Jamboree title 25 years ago", The Record, February 22, 2018. Accessed March 4, 2021. "It was one basketball game 25 years ago for the Bergen Jamboree title. It remains Ramapo’s one trip to the final. It is the last time a Group 1 school, Bogota, won the championship.... The last 30 seconds of the 1993 final featured one amazing event after another as the Bucs came back from five points down to force overtime.... The game went to overtime, which was largely uneventful. Bogota won 60–57."
24. NJSIAA Boys Cross Country State Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
25. Drogo, Ron. "Graham Cool As Ice In 3–0 Bogota Triumph", The Record, June 8, 1969. Accessed November 10, 2020. "A lot of ice, a few errors, the suicide squeeze and even an occasional base hit brought Bogota the Bergen County baseball titie Saturday. Rich Graham, making his third start in four days, hurled a six-hit shutout as the Bucs defeated Bergenfield, 3–0, in the finals of the County tournament."
26. NJSIAA Girls Volleyball Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
27. "Bogota (1) at Immaculate Heart (2), Tournament of Champions, Final Round – Girls Volleyball", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 18, 2012, updated August 25, 2019. Accessed November 10, 2020. "The debate over who was the best team in the state that raged on for most of the season is over. Immaculate Heart Academy ended it on Sunday with a resounding 25–22, 21-25, 25-15 victory over Bogota to repeat as champions in the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions at William Paterson University in Wayne.... Immaculate Heart (33–4) was No. 1 in The Star-Ledger Top 20 for the entire season and defeated Bogota (32–3) twice before losing to it in the Bergen County Tournament final, which resulted in them losing the top spot."
28. Gantaifis, Nick. "Looking at Bogota volleyball's win over Kinnelon to clinch trip to the TOC", The Record, November 16, 2019. Accessed November 10, 2020. "That devotion was on full display Saturday when the Bucs defeated Kinnelon, 25–18, 25–11 in the Group 1 title match at the William Paterson Rec Center. For top-seed Bogota (29–4), it’s their second consecutive Group championship and eighth since 2007. The reward is a ninth trip to next weekend’s NJSIAA Tournament of Champions.... Bogota has now won eight of the last 10 Group 1 titles and has appeared in every championship game this decade."
29. NJSIAA Girls Cross Country State Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 1, 2022.
30. 2006 Football Tournament – North I, Group I, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 14, 2006
31. Czerwinski, Mark J. "Destiny finally gets its due – String of frustrations ends", The Record, December 2, 2006. Accessed September 17, 2014. "Even in the darkest moments three years ago when the Bogota football program was on life support, the Bucs dared to dream of Friday night.... And perhaps it's only fitting that the seniors, the ones who almost had their football lives turned upside down, led the way to a 28–0 romp past Mountain Lakes in the North 1, Group 1 title game."
32. Aberback, Brian. "Bogota to honor football team that won state championship", The Record, December 10, 2006. Accessed November 10, 2020. "Bogota Champions Day will honor the Bogota Bucs, who won the North 1, Group 1 state title this month by defeating Mountain Lakes, 28–0, at Giants Stadium. The victory marked the Bucs' first state football championship since it shared the 1957 title with Lyndhurst."
33. NJSIAA Football History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 1, 2022.
34. Mills, Ed. "Good as Gold", The Record, March 9, 2009. Accessed June 1, 2011. "Earning a pulsating and spectacular 5–3 comeback overtime victory over Kittatinny's Troy Hernandez at 145 pounds, Ajagbe became the first Bogota High School wrestler to win a state championship."
35. Clubs and Activities, Bogota High School. Accessed February 16, 2022.
36. Principal, Bogota Jr./Sr High School. Accessed March 30, 2022.
37. "Extension Oral History Project – Walt Schroeder – Part 1", Oregon Digital, October 28, 2007. Accessed May 17, 2016. "I went to school in Maywood; we did not have a high school in that town of Maywood, so all our tenth grade kids after we graduated from ninth grade went over to Bogota High School and they had about the same size population as we had and so we made a full high school – 120 in my graduating class."
38. Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, 1990, p. 274. Accessed May 1, 2022. "William P. Schuber, Rep., Bogota – Assemblyman Schuber was born April 15, 1947. He attended Dewey School, Bogota, and Bogota High School."
39. Harvey Silverglate, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Accessed July 3, 2023. "Harvey Silverglate was born in New York (1942) and was educated at Bogota (N.J.) High School (1960), Princeton University (1964), and Harvard Law School (1967)."
40. "Meet Parade's high school boys' All-America basketball team". South Bend Tribune. March 4, 1990. p. 116. Retrieved December 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
41. Buonauro, Gabe. "Al Yates Cut By N. Y.; Outfielder Is Sent To Jacksonville", The Record, October 18, 1966. Accessed February 21, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Al Yates, the former all-County outfielder from Bogota High School, was among eight players sent to Jacksonville of the International League by the New York Mets yesterday."

External links

• Bogota High School
• Bogota Public Schools
• School Performance Report for Bogota High School, New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Bogota Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics

v t e Public and private high schools in Bergen County, New Jersey
Public	Becton Bergen Arts and Science Bergen County Academies Bergen Tech Paramus Bergen Tech Teterboro Bergenfield Bogota Cliffside Park Cresskill Dumont Dwight Morrow Elmwood Park Emerson Fair Lawn Fort Lee Garfield Glen Rock Hackensack Hasbrouck Heights Indian Hills Leonia Lodi Lyndhurst Mahwah Midland Park New Milford North Arlington Northern Highlands Northern Valley at Demarest Northern Valley at Old Tappan Palisades Park Paramus Park Ridge Pascack Hills Pascack Valley Ramapo Ramsey Ridgefield Ridgefield Park Ridgewood River Dell Rutherford Saddle Brook Teaneck Tenafly Waldwick Wallington Westwood Wood-Ridge
Private	Academy of the Holy Angels Barnstable Bergen Catholic Bergen County Christian Academy Community Don Bosco Dwight-Englewood Frisch Immaculate Conception Immaculate Heart Ma'ayanot New Jersey Japanese School Newbury Academy Paramus Catholic Queen of Peace Saint Joseph St. Mary Saddle River Day School Torah Academy
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