St. Mary High School (Jersey City, New Jersey)

St. Mary High School
St. Mary High School
Address
	209 3rd Street; Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey 07302; United States
Coordinates	40°43′23″N 74°02′38″W / 40.723044°N 74.043756°W
Information
Type	Private, Coeducational
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1956
Status	Closed
Closed	June 2011
School district	Archdiocese of Newark
Principal	Beatrice Esteban-Messina
Faculty	12.8 (on FTE basis)
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	203 (2009-10)
Student to teacher ratio	15.9:1
Athletics conference	Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association
Team name	Ramblers
Accreditation	Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Website	saintmaryhsjc.org

St. Mary High School was a private, Roman Catholic high school in Jersey City, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, that operated as part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark until the school was closed in June 2011.

As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 203 students and 12.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 15.9.^[2]

Athletics

The St. Mary High School Ramblers competed in the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association, which includes public and private high schools in Hudson County, and operated under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.

The baseball team has won the Non-Public B state championship in 1981, defeating Saint James High School of Carneys Point Township in the tournament final.^[3]

The boys basketball team won the Non-Public B state championship in 1967 (defeating St. Peter the Apostle High School of New Brunswick in the tournament final) and 1969 (vs. Gloucester Catholic High School), and won the Non-Public C title in 1972 (vs. St. Patrick's High School) and 1975 (vs. Sacred Heart High School).^[4] The 1975 team finished with a record of 25-4 after holding off a furious rally by Sacred Heart to win the Parochial C title with a 51-50 victory in the championship game played at Brookdale Community College.The 1975 team finished the season with a record of 20-7 after defeating St. Cecilia by a score of 79-41 to win the Parochial B state championship game.^[5]

Closing

Despite a tuition that at $4,300 was little more than half of the rates charges by other schools in the Newark Archdiocese, falling enrollment meant that the school would have been too small to justify remaining open. After its founding in 1956, the school grew to a peak of 450 students in the 1980s, which had declined to 381 by 2000.^[6] In 2008 Sisters of St. Joseph decided to no longer financially support the school.^[7] The 2010-11 graduating class of 72 combined with enrollment of under 15 students for the upcoming school year would have put total enrollment at an unsustainably small 100 students for the 2011-12 year, which led the Archdiocese to decide to close the school.^[6]

Notable alumni

Jim Boylan (born 1955), basketball coach., who served as the interim head coach for the Chicago Bulls for part of the 2007–08 NBA season and as an interim coach for the Milwaukee Bucks for part of the 2012–13 NBA season.^[8]
Lori Serrano, former Commissioner and Chairwoman of the Jersey City Housing Authority.^[9]

Notable faculty

Tony Nicodemo (born 1935), college basketball player who set several records while playing for Saint Michael's College of Vermont in the late 1950s and who was athletic director at St. Mary for 30 years.^[10]

References

^ MSA-CSS. "MSA-Commission on Secondary Schools". Archived from the original on September 17, 2009. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d St. Mary High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed September 2, 2011.
^ Baseball Championship History: 1959–2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
^ Boys Basketball Championship History 1919-2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated March 2024. Accessed March 26, 2024.
^ McDonald, David. "St. Mary's Nip Sacred Heart in Finals, 51-50; Scrappy Lions Edged In Pulse-Pounding Finish", The Daily Journal, March 24, 1975. Accessed March 22, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The gloom in the Sacred Heart locker room here at Brookdale Community College yesterday was thick enough to touch.... Sacred Heart (25-3) had put on a tremendous effort against St. Mary's of Jersey City (25-4) before dropping a 51-50 decision in the State Parochial Class C championship game."
^ ^a ^b Persaud, Vishal. "Announcement St. Mary High School in Jersey City will close in June has some parents, students and staff stunned", The Jersey Journal, February 9, 2011. Accessed September 2, 2011. "Parents, students and staff at St. Mary High School in Jersey City remained stunned yesterday by Monday's news that the school is closing at the end of June.... St. Mary will graduate 72 seniors in June, which would have put the school's enrollment at 93 among the remaining classes. Ten years ago, St. Mary had 381 students, Lalicato said. At its peak in the mid-1980s, the school had more than 450 students."
^ Conte, Michaelangelo (April 20, 2013). "Closing announced for Holy Family Academy, all-girls prep school in Bayonne". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
^ Hague, Jim. "From here to...da Bulls! Jersey City native becomes NBA head coach" Archived November 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The Hudson Reporter, April 1, 2008. Accessed November 7, 2017. "After serving as an assistant coach in the league for 15 years, the Jersey City native and St. Mary's High School graduate recently received his chance to be a head coach, taking over when former Bulls head coach Scott Skiles was fired on Christmas Day."
^ Kaulessar, Ricardo. "Hoping to represent entire city13 candidates running for three council-at-large seats" Archived February 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The Hudson Reporter, April 26, 2009. Accessed February 14, 2018. Lori Serrano - Serrano was born and raised in Jersey City. She graduated from St. Mary’s High School and studied at Monmouth University, and presently works for the Jersey City Board of Education."
^ Hague, Jim. "Scoreboard: Remembering the man they called 'Tiger'" Archived January 4, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The Hudson Reporter, January 18, 2005. Accessed January 3, 2018. "He was one of the greatest high school basketball players to ever come out of Ferris High School, becoming the school's all-time leading scorer in an era when scoring in basketball was as rare as the Hope Diamond.... Nicodemo then came home to become a teacher and coach at Ferris High School, eventually becoming a guidance counselor to thousands of students. He also spent almost 30 years as the athletic director at St. Mary's High School on Third Street, just around the corner from where he grew up."

External links

[MSA-Commission_on_Secondary_Schools-1] MSA-CSS. "MSA-Commission on Secondary Schools". Archived from the original on September 17, 2009. Retrieved July 31, 2009.

[NCES-2] St. Mary High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed September 2, 2011.

[NJSIAABaseball-3] Baseball Championship History: 1959–2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.

[4] Boys Basketball Championship History 1919-2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated March 2024. Accessed March 26, 2024.

[5] McDonald, David. "St. Mary's Nip Sacred Heart in Finals, 51-50; Scrappy Lions Edged In Pulse-Pounding Finish", The Daily Journal, March 24, 1975. Accessed March 22, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The gloom in the Sacred Heart locker room here at Brookdale Community College yesterday was thick enough to touch.... Sacred Heart (25-3) had put on a tremendous effort against St. Mary's of Jersey City (25-4) before dropping a 51-50 decision in the State Parochial Class C championship game."

[Persaud-6] Persaud, Vishal. "Announcement St. Mary High School in Jersey City will close in June has some parents, students and staff stunned", The Jersey Journal, February 9, 2011. Accessed September 2, 2011. "Parents, students and staff at St. Mary High School in Jersey City remained stunned yesterday by Monday's news that the school is closing at the end of June.... St. Mary will graduate 72 seniors in June, which would have put the school's enrollment at 93 among the remaining classes. Ten years ago, St. Mary had 381 students, Lalicato said. At its peak in the mid-1980s, the school had more than 450 students."

[7] Conte, Michaelangelo (April 20, 2013). "Closing announced for Holy Family Academy, all-girls prep school in Bayonne". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved June 24, 2020.

[8] Hague, Jim. "From here to...da Bulls! Jersey City native becomes NBA head coach" Archived November 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The Hudson Reporter, April 1, 2008. Accessed November 7, 2017. "After serving as an assistant coach in the league for 15 years, the Jersey City native and St. Mary's High School graduate recently received his chance to be a head coach, taking over when former Bulls head coach Scott Skiles was fired on Christmas Day."

[9] Kaulessar, Ricardo. "Hoping to represent entire city13 candidates running for three council-at-large seats" Archived February 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The Hudson Reporter, April 26, 2009. Accessed February 14, 2018. Lori Serrano - Serrano was born and raised in Jersey City. She graduated from St. Mary’s High School and studied at Monmouth University, and presently works for the Jersey City Board of Education."

[10] Hague, Jim. "Scoreboard: Remembering the man they called 'Tiger'" Archived January 4, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The Hudson Reporter, January 18, 2005. Accessed January 3, 2018. "He was one of the greatest high school basketball players to ever come out of Ferris High School, becoming the school's all-time leading scorer in an era when scoring in basketball was as rare as the Hope Diamond.... Nicodemo then came home to become a teacher and coach at Ferris High School, eventually becoming a guidance counselor to thousands of students. He also spent almost 30 years as the athletic director at St. Mary's High School on Third Street, just around the corner from where he grew up."

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