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Dover High School is a four-year public high school located in Dover in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades and operating as the lone secondary school of the Dover School District.

The high school serves students from Victory Gardens, which has been consolidated into the Dover School District since 2010. Students from Mine Hill Township attend the high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship.

As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,176 students and 90.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.0:1. There were 413 students (35.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 192 (16.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

History

Dover High School had served students from Denville Township, Hanover Township, Hopatcong, Jefferson Township, Randolph and Rockaway Township, before those districts terminated their sending/receiving relationships and either created their own high schools or established relationships with other receiving districts.

Students from Jefferson Township and Randolph left the school after Randolph High School opened in September 1961.

Awards, recognition and rankings

In September 2013, the school was one of 15 in New Jersey to be recognized by the United States Department of Education as part of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, an award called the "most prestigious honor in the United States' education system" and which Education Secretary Arne Duncan described as schools that "represent examples of educational excellence".

The school was the 238th-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 223rd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 220th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 215th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 229th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 172nd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 89 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (85.2%) and language arts literacy (88.8%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

U.S. News released the 2023-2024 Rankings in which Dover High School was ranked #3,363 nationally. At the New Jersey state level, they were ranked #138 and #343 in the NYC Metro Area High Schools.

Extracurricular activities

Dover High School offers many extracurricular activities after school. Below is a list of some of the activities available:

• Key Club
• Tigers For Charity
• Botball
• History Club
• Dover Debate
• Fall Play
• Spring Musical
• Drama Club
• Perfect Step
• Latin Mix
• Chess Club
• Jazz Band
• Marching Band
• Tigers In Christ
• Bowling Club
• Student Council
• Interact Club

Athletics

The Dover High School Tigers compete in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Morris, Sussex and Warren counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). Prior to the 2010 realignment, the school had participated in the Hills division of the Iron Hills Conference, an athletic conference that included high schools located in Essex, Morris and Union counties. With 762 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Ivy White division of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league. The football team is one of the 12 programs assigned to the two Ivy divisions starting in 2020, which are intended to allow weaker programs ineligible for playoff participation to compete primarily against each other. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 893 to 1,315 students.

The boys cross country team won the Group III state championship in 1946-1949.

The football team won the NJSIAA North II Group II state sectional championship in 1984, 1992 and 1996. Down early by a score of 14-0, the 1984 team came back with four touchdowns to defeat Warren Hills Regional High School by a score of 26-17 to win the North II Group II championship game and finish the season with a record of 8-3.

The boys' wrestling team won the North II Group II state sectional championship in 1988.

In 2002, the boys' soccer team won the North II, Group II state sectional championship, defeating Parsippany High School 1-0 in the tournament final. In 2017 they also won the North II, Group II state sectional championship, defeating Harrison High School 3-0 in the tournament final. In the process making school history by making it to the Group II state final for the first time, ultimately losing to Holmdel High School 4-1 at Kean University.

Administration

The acting principal is Michael McAuley, whose core administration team includes the vice principal and the athletic director.

Notable alumni

• Kathleen Clark, playwright.
• Wilbur Lansing (1929–2000), baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues who played with the Newark/Houston Eagles from 1947 to 1950.
• Ben Loory (born 1971), short fiction writer.
• Jacque MacKinnon (1938-1975, class of 1957), American football tight end who played professionally for the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders.
• Gloria Montealegre, former television reporter for New Jersey Network and former deputy press secretary for ex-New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine.
• David Thorburn (class of 1958), scholar and writer, who is a Professor of Literature and Media Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Edgar Tillyer (1881–1970), astronomer, computer and lens designer who was the director of research at the American Optical Company.
• Shirley Turner (born 1941, class of 1960), politician who has represented the 15th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate since 1998.

References

1. ^ Staff, Dover High School. Accessed March 21, 2022.
2. ^ School data for Dover High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
3. ^ Dover High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
4. Tiger Tales, Dover High School. Accessed March 21, 2022.
5. Martin, Liz. "Voters have their say on the budgets", Neighbor News, April 28, 2010. Accessed May 10, 2015. "The school board goes from 11 members to 10 after this election as the temporary Board seat assigned to the Victory Gardens representative Danielle Press expired permanently on April 20. Now that Victory Gardens has merged with the Dover school district, there will no longer be a dedicated Victory Gardens seat on the Board. Any resident from either Dover or Victory Gardens will be eligible to run for any available Board seat."
6. "Victory Gardens" Archived July 23, 2012, at archive.today, Daily Record. Accessed May 10, 2015. "Students in grades K-12 attend Dover public schools."
7. 13 Non-Operating School Districts Eliminated, New Jersey Department of Education press release dated July 1, 2009. Accessed May 10, 2015.
8. Dover High School 2016 Report Card Narrative Archived September 13, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 13, 2017. "Dover High School, located 40 miles from New York City, services approximately 950 high school students from the Town of Dover, the Borough of Victory Gardens, and the Township of Mine Hill."
9. Schoonmaker, Stanley; and Laurie, George. Dover, p. 39. Arcadia Publishing, 1999. ISBN 9780738501192. Accessed September 13, 2017. "During its long history, Dover has been a receiving district for many other Morris County communities. The towns included: Randolph (until 1964), Rockaway Township, Jefferson Township, Lake Hopatcong, Denville, Hanover, Mine Hill, and Victory Gardens. Today, only the latter two send their students to Dover."
10. "Randolph High School: Timeline", Daily Record, May 17, 2005. Accessed April 26, 2022, via Newspapers.com.
11. Rundquist, Jeanette. "15 N.J. schools named as national 'Blue Ribbon' winners", The Star-Ledger, September 24, 2013. Accessed September 25, 2013. "Five Catholic schools, six county vocational-technical schools and a Yeshiva are among the list of honored schools in New Jersey. Also named as 2013 Blue Ribbon Schools were Dover, Harrison and Wildwood high schools."
12. 2013 National Blue Ribbon Schools All Public and Private, pp. 15-17. United States Department of Education, National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Accessed September 25, 2013.
13. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
14. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 24, 2012.
15. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed April 4, 2011.
16. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
17. New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 6, 2012.
18. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/new-jersey/districts/dover-public-school-district/dover-high-school-12520
19. Home Page, Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference. Accessed August 27, 2020. "The Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference prides itself on being one of New Jersey's premier high school conferences and is comprised of 39 high schools located in Northwest New Jersey."
20. League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
21. NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
22. Cooper, Darren. "Here's what we know about the new Super Football Conference 2020 schedule", The Record, July 23, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. "The Super Football Conference (SFC) is a 112-team group, the largest high school football-only conference in America, and is comprised of teams from five different counties."
23. Cooper, Darren. "NJ football: Super Football Conference revised schedules for 2020 regular season", The Record, July 23, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. "The Super Football Conference has 112 teams that will play across 20 divisions."
24. Cooper, Darren. "Super Football Conference creating 'Ivy Division' for struggling programs", The Record, May 1, 2019. Accessed March 24, 2021. "Seeking to restore participation and enthusiasm to high school football programs that have struggled to compete consistently, the Super Football Conference announced plans to start a 12-team 'Ivy Division' in the 2020 season. Teams that compete in the 'Ivy Division' will play exclusively against each other and won't participate in the NJISAA football playoffs.... Twelve schools from Bergen, Hudson, Essex and Morris counties have applied to compete in the Ivy Division: Bergen Tech, Cliffside Park, Dickinson, Fair Lawn, Ferris, Memorial, Dover, Dwight-Morrow, Fort Lee, Glen Ridge, Marist and Tenafly."
25. NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
26. NJSIAA Boys Cross Country State Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 1, 2022.
27. NJSIAA Football History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 1, 2022.
28. Parachini, Jim. "Tigers claw past Warren Hills, 26-17, in Group II final", Daily Record, December 2, 1984. Accessed March 9, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Things were looking bleak for the Dover High School football team. Warren Hills had taken its first two possessions and cashed them in for a 14-0 lead.... Dover, 8-3 and the top seed, scored three more touchdowns for a 26-17 win, capturing the North Jersey Section 2, Group II crown. For the Tigers it was their first state title since 1970, four years before the current playoff system was put into action."
29. NJSIAA Wrestling Team Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
30. NJSIAA 2002 Group 2 Boys' Soccer, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 25, 2007.
31. Lashley, Josh. "Dover boys soccer sets new standard for success", The Record, December 8, 2017. Accessed September 10, 2020. "Dover finished with an overall record of 21-3-1, winning the NJSIAA North 2, Group 2 championship and the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Liberty Division titles along the way. They won the Liberty with a mark of 9-0-1. The Tigers toppled Harrison, 3-0, to earn the North 2, Group 2 crown. In a Group 2 semifinal, they defeated Newton, 1-0. Holmdel topped Dover in the Group 2 championship game."
32. Dekayne, Brian. "PHOTOS: No. 6 Holmdel rolls past No. 18 Dover in the Group 2 final", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 19, 2017, updated August 23, 2019. Accessed September 20, 2020. "Holmdel, ranked No. 6 in the NJ.com Top 20, kept its red-hot offensive alive in a 4-1 win over No. 18 Dover in the Group 2 final at Kean University in Union on Sunday."
33. Westhoven, William. "Seniors Play the Mating Game in Stage Comedy; Celebrated Morris County playwright's Southern Comforts closes out Women's Theater Company season", Parsippany Patch, May 1, 2012. Accessed March 22, 2017. "'I'm a New Jersey girl at heart and most of my plays take place in New Jersey,' said Clark, who graduated from Dover High School."
34. "Newark Eagles to Tackle House of David Tomorrow", The Herald-News , August 8, 1947, via Newspapers.com. Accessed March 21, 2022.
35. O'Dea, Colleen. "Young playwrights stage plots at workshop", Daily Record, November 14, 1985. Accessed March 21, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "'"I thought we could just take a story and turn it into a play, but this is a lot harder,' said Ben Loory, a ninth-grader from Dover High School, who wrote a play last week entitled 'A Viking Story Kind Of,' which he plans to submit to the statewide competition."
36. Jacque MacKinnon Stats, Pro-Football-Reference.com. Accessed March 14, 2018.
37. ^ Hall of Fame, Dover High School. Accessed March 21, 2022. "Gloria Montealegre Class of 1973... Senator Shirley (Kersey) Turner Class of 1960
38. Hall of Fame 2019 Inductees, Dover High School. Accessed March 21, 2022. "David Thorburn 1958"
39. "Tillyer, '02, A Leader in his Field", p. 220. Rutgers Alumni Monthly, May 1922. Accessed March 21, 2022. "Mr. Tillyer was born in Dover, N. J., on December 7, 1881. He graduated from the Dover High School and after receiving his B.Sc. degree from Rutgers entered George Washington University, where he was awarded his M.Sc in 1903."

External links

• Dover High School
• Dover School District
• School Performance Report for Dover High School, New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Dover School District, National Center for Education Statistics

v t e Education in Morris County, New Jersey
School districts	K-6 Mine Hill Township K-8 Boonton Township Chester Borough / Township Denville Township East Hanover Florham Park Hanover Township Harding Township Lincoln Park Long Hill Township Mendham Borough Mendham Township Morris Plains Mount Arlington Netcong Riverdale Rockaway Borough Rockaway Township Washington Township Wharton K-12 Boonton Town Butler School District of the Chathams Dover Jefferson Township Kinnelon Madison Montville Township Morris School District Mount Olive Township Mountain Lakes Parsippany-Troy Hills Pequannock Township Randolph Township Roxbury 9-12 Hanover Park Regional Morris County Vocational Morris Hills Regional West Morris Regional None Victory Gardens (to Dover)
Public high schools	Academy for Math/Sci./Engr. Boonton Butler Chatham Dover Hanover Park Jefferson Township Kinnelon Madison Montville Township Morris Hills Morris Knolls Morris Tech Morristown Mount Olive Mountain Lakes Parsippany Parsippany Hills Pequannock Township Randolph Roxbury West Morris Central West Morris Mendham Whippany Park Defunct Chatham Borough Chatham Township Netcong
Private	Academy of Saint Elizabeth Craig School Delbarton Morris Catholic Morristown–Beard Parsippany Christian Trinity Christian Villa Walsh
Tertiary	County College of Morris
School districts by county: Atlantic Bergen Burlington Camden Cape May Cumberland Essex Gloucester Hudson Hunterdon Mercer Middlesex Monmouth Morris Ocean Passaic Salem Somerset Sussex Union Warren High schools by county Atlantic Bergen Burlington Camden Cape May Cumberland Essex Gloucester Hudson Hunterdon Mercer Middlesex Monmouth Morris Ocean Passaic Salem Somerset Sussex Union Warren

• Dover, New Jersey
• Public high schools in Morris County, New Jersey
• Mine Hill Township, New Jersey
• Victory Gardens, New Jersey