Montclair High School

100 Chestnut Street

School District

Montclair Public
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:10
Type

public

School Map for Montclair Public School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on December 14, 2022

The people in the system (educators, their support staff and counselors) are fantastic. They are most important. 5 stars. The course offerings, student support, special education, all seem very good. There are some weaknesses I found in computer science and music. 4 stars. The upper admin staff (principals, etc...) are meh. I rate them 2 stars. The biggest reason for this is the turnover is ridiculous. Something keeps them from sticking around.Facilities at MHS are awful. When you walk into the building you feel like you went back in time to the 1950s or something. Some of the hallways and other areas are poorly lit. There are often structural issues with staircases, flooding and other infrastructure issues. Everything in there is old and worn out. Counselors sometimes have meetings with staff, students, and parents in closets because of lack of space. Or, if the closet is already taken, you have to find a desk and drag it into the hall to have your meeting there. If there happens to be a carpet it's old and severely worn out. This is supposed to be an affluent community, but yet the kids get the terrible facilities. It's embarrasing. I feel bad for the kids and teachers that have to go there every single day. They all deserve better. This building needs the wrecking ball 100%. 1 star or less at best. The saddest part of this is Montclair is a fantastic community. School taxes are crazy high for what your kids get, however.
Submitted by parent on November 13, 2019

All three of my children have had a very strong experience at Montclair schools.
Submitted by parent on May 27, 2016

Our children took Latin Honors, AP course, Mandarin, Old German and participated in the Yale Model Congress, the Classical League, the players at Montclair High School. Our eldest child learned programming and digital advertising and excelled in Honors economics here. The architectural design of the campus provides for a neurologically enriching and inspiring environment where the wealthiest in town (i.e.- the Billionaires) send their children to attend with the Middle and Upper Middle class and lower income kids, providing for a real world experience. All of the sports teams from Crew/Rowing to girls and boys lacrosse, etc are championship programs that consistently send their senior classes to not only attend but to play in the IVY, little IVY and other prestigious academic collegiate programs. In fact, there's not a private school in this state that can compare with the ratio or the amount of students that Montclair High School sends to Stanford, MIT, Seven Sisters schools, Oxford, Trinity, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, Penn, Cambridge, Northwestern, Univ of Chicago, Madison Wisconsin, Duke, etc.. Our oldest went on to attend Princeton from Montclair. Our middle child went on to Smith before attending the London School of Economics. Montclair High School is the best public school in the Nation. Our youngest is currently enrolled and enjoying every moment.
Submitted by other on June 29, 2015

I graduated from the high school in 2012. In my experience, teachers hardly ever held authoritative roles in the classrooms. The school was pretty much a free for all. It remained up to the student to apply themselves in classrooms as necessary otherwise it was easy to fall behind.
Submitted by parent on December 17, 2014

Great school system ,has everything you need that can be offered that other public schools don't offer.....
Submitted by other on February 23, 2014

i am really sorry for the bad review, that review was for Montclair High school CA. i apologize.
Submitted by other on February 06, 2014

Counselors/ Staffs are great. Very accomodating and they would really help you out. I also like the teachers.. but... STUDENTS ARE MEAN!!! Some students are nice but MOST students are rude, They always talk back to their teachers, get mad for having their phone taken. They need to be disciplined. And you would always see couples kissing... Everywhere, in every corner, every seat during lunch. Well not only during lunch. Every morning, during breaks. all the time.
Submitted by parent on February 06, 2014

Teachers are awesome! They're very great, they would help you out with your concerns. Students here are very studious with their kissing not with their lessons. Very poor with accomodating new students,
Submitted by parent on February 20, 2013

The teachers are poor, overall and the administration stuck in the past or powerless to move forward. The school teaching approach hasn't changed since the 70's...and they compensate for modern teaching by throwing hours and hours of homework at the high honors kids, often on holidays and definitely over school break. It's a travesty to see how they set kids up to fail....no modern technology, outdated teaching, no guidance counseling to speak of, mounds of homework, inappropriate scheduling. And did I mention 0 period? So that after your kid has to stay up till 1:00 a.m. Just to get homework done, they have to be in at 7:00 a.m. Because the school can't figure out how to schedule. Oh yes....and because there are no standards between classes, classes that should be consistently taught (like HH English) are taught completely differently, depending on the teacher. It's an embarrassment. I can't wait for the core standards to kick in, but until they do...I would NOT send your kid here unless they are traditional learners, who are completely focused and organized, and who can compensate for poor teaching by having the ability to teach themselves. And even then, it's a risk.
Submitted by student on October 11, 2011

Poeple are always talking badly about my school, but the truth is, it isn't the schoo, it is the students. It doesn't matter what school you go to, if you do not try, then you will not succeed. If you try and do well at Montclair High, and you go for help after school, and you attempt to understand what is going on around you, you will shine your brightest. But it all depends on who you are, and how badly you want to do well.