Hillsborough High School, Part 3

Hillsborough school board members must have been excited and relieved after voters finally approved a construction referendum on June 28, 1966, to allow the construction of the township's first high school. The Somerville Board of Education had imposed a deadline of June 1968, after which Hillsborough students would no longer be admitted. Indeed, overcrowding in Somerville had already forced  Hillsborough's ninth graders to be retained and attend school with the seventh and eighth grade.

11 July 1967 Courier News

At the school board meeting following the referendum, a construction schedule was laid out: the architect would submit the plans to the state on January 6, 1967, construction bids would be received on April 3rd, and work would commence on April 15th. The deadline for completion was thrust upon the district by Somerville - September 1968.

14 May 1968 Courier News

Although construction bids came in around $200,000 over the $3.56 million amount authorized in the 1966 referendum, work on the school did commence in the spring of 1967, with a groundbreaking ceremony held on July 10. To make up the difference, board members decided to add a second question to the February 1968 school election asking voters to allow the transfer of $168,733 from current expenses to capital outlay. The question failed, as did the entire budget.

17 June 1968 Courier News

As work progressed on the school, it was evident that without additional funds, the cafeteria kitchen could not be furnished, and the gym and outdoor athletic facilities could not be completed. The school board decided to go back to the voters one final time with a three-part bond financing referendum set for June 25, 1968.

6 October 1969 Home News

Here's how The Courier News described the three proposals:

"The first will provide $110,000 for a language laboratory with all necessary facilities and for the purchase and installation of various types of education equipment and shop equipment. The second proposal provides $65,000 for the purchase and installation of kitchen equipment. This will be used in conjunction with the school cafeteria. The third proposal calls for $50,000 for the construction and installation of folding partitions in the auditorium [gym?], curbing at the school site, fencing in the area of the athletic track, bleachers at the football field and additional bleachers and bleacher steps in the gymnasium."

Voters approved all three parts of the referendum by a two-to-one margin 

Image from the first Hillsborough High School Yearbook, 1970

The school board also acknowledged that there was no chance that the building would be ready for students by September 1968. Fortunately, in consideration of the fact that construction was underway, Somerville extended their deadline for one more year and confirmed that Hillsborough students that had already begun their high school careers in Somerville could remain and graduate there. P.S. They also got a new school!

Accordingly, the high school opened in September 1969 with 8th, 9th, and 10th grades, and was formally dedicated the next month.

The school has had three major expansions which have more than doubled capacity, the last one being in 2002.

Hillsborough High School will celebrate its 50th anniversary in September 2019.