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.[1]
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.[5] 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.[6] The magazine ranked the school 173rd in 2008 out of 316 schools.[7] The school was ranked 132nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[8]
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).[9]
Athletics
The Bogota High School Buccaneers[2] 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).[10][11][12] 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.[13] 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.[14] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 254 to 474 students.[15]
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.[16]
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).[17] The team won the 1935 title with a 28–24 win in the playoff finals against Cranford.[18] 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.[19][20] The 1990 team, led by former North Carolina Tar HeelPat 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.[21][22] 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.[23]
The boys cross country team won the Group II state championship in 1960.[24] 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.[25] 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.[citation needed]
The girls cross country team won the Group I state championship in 1994 and 1996.[29]
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.[30] 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.[31][32][33]
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.[34]
^"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."
^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."
^"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."
^"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."
^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."
^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."
^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."
^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."
^"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."
^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."
^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."
^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."
^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."
^Principal, Bogota Jr./Sr High School. Accessed March 30, 2022.
^"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."
^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."
