Closter High School

Closter High School was a comprehensive public high school in Closter, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, that operated from 1912 to 1955 as part of the Closter Public Schools.

Established1912

Closed1955

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Closter High School
Location

40.975°N 73.966°W / 40.975; -73.966
Information
Established	1912 (1912)
Closed	1955 (1955)

History

The high school program opened in 1912 after a series of classrooms were added to accommodate the higher grades in the existing Closter School. The building became Closter Junior-Senior High School after Tenakill Grammar School opened in 1929.^[1]

The school served students from neighboring communities as part of sending/receiving relationships with their home districts, including those from Northvale, Norwood and Rockleigh.^[2] Students from Norwood were assigned by lottery to attend either Closter High School or Tenafly High School.^[3]

The school was closed in 1955 when the district became a constituent municipality in the Northern Valley Regional High School District and students began attending Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest. The defunct high school became Village Middle School, which operated until 1996.^[4]^[5]

References

[1]
Garbe-Morillo, Patricia. Closter and Alpine, p. 29. Arcadia Publishing, 2001. ISBN 9780738508580. Accessed March 29, 2022. "When six classrooms were added to the north side in 1912, the school opened to high school students. It also operated as a receiving high school for surrounding communities for many years—students from communities with no high school attended school here. With the construction of nearby Tenakill Grammar School in 1929, this school became the Closter Junior-Senior High School from 1929 to 1955."
[2]
"Closter Dinner To Hear Former Big League Star; Alex Gaston Speaker Tonight At Party For Top Squad; Program Follows", The Record, June 16, 1941. Accessed March 29, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Alex Gaston former major league baseball star, will lend a big-time atmosphere to tonight's festivities in honor of Closter High School's championship baseball team at Tenaklll Junior High School.... Also invited are the Boards of Education from Norwood, Northvale, and Rockleigh, Closter High School's three sending districts."
[3]
"Board Defends School Lottery As Fairest Way; Norwood Appeals Argued Before Commissioner At Hackensack; Faced A Problem", The Record, September 25, 1941. Accessed March 29, 2022, via Newspapers.com. " In using a lottery to determine which grammar school graduates should attend Closter High School and which should go to Tenafly, Norwood Board of Education was merely seeking, by the fairest means it. could determine, to satisfy the majority of parents and students."
[4]
Beuscher, Kristin. "Back in Time: A wartime Christmas at Closter High School", Northern Valley Press, December 26, 2017. Accessed March 29, 2022. "The Closter High School on Durie Avenue operated from 1912 until 1955 when the Northern Valley Regional High School in Demarest opened. The Closter Jr./Sr. High School was then renamed the Village Middle School and housed the sixth, seventh and eighth grades until it closed in 1996."
[5]
Beuscher, Kristin. "Back in Time: School Days at Demarest", Northern Valley Press, June 17, 2019. Accessed March 29, 2022. "Before this, students from the seven Northern Valley towns attended high school in Closter (that building became Village Middle School after 1955), Dumont, or Tenafly.... Kids from Closter, Demarest and Haworth remained at NVD, the system that continues to this day."

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