Morris Hills Regional District

08/25/2026

06/16/2026

Congratulations to the Morris Hills and Morris Knolls Class of 2026! Best wishes as you embark on your next adventure!

06/08/2026

Mr. Michael Bermel, Morris Hills Math teacher, has been busy spreading some fun and joy to staff members this year through his staff sketches. The story behind this portrait idea started in 2021, when he challenged himself to draw someone new every day for 50 days. It initially included a two-minute time restriction to sketch the person from a photo, and he would then spend time adding color. He has since dropped the two-minute limit, spending up to 20 or 30 minutes on each sketch, and has repeated the 50-day challenge several times with recent ones expanding to up to 100 drawings. This past year, for his Character Drawing Journal series, he sketched different Morris Hills staff members for 62 consecutive days. Realizing he was approaching the entire staff, he continued on to try to reach each staff member at the school. He has now surpassed 100 members and will keep sketching until he has completed them all (and is very close to doing so!).

You will notice that his sketches share a common characteristic--people are asked to explode into a silly, sassy, or dramatic pose and to contort their fingers into exaggerated configurations. He often tells his subjects, “Get out of your head and into your fingers.” Staff members could periodically see coworkers posing in the halls for him to sketch from, knowing they would eventually be stopped, and everyone had a lot of fun striking unique poses. Staff members were presented with their completed sketch, with many hanging them outside their classroom doors, on their wall inside their classroom, or using them as their digital profile images. The positive energy from this fun initiative quickly spread among staff with people looking forward to seeing their sketch unveiled.

A gallery of his portraits was hung in the art hallway this school year for students and staff to appreciate the beauty of his work. Seeing the vast quantity of sketches all in one place also showcased the time and dedication that he spent on this project. Mr. Bermel, thank you for this unique idea, for the time spent on each staff member’s sketches, and for sharing your talent with all of Morris Hills.

05/28/2026

Morris Hills Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) member Shreya Sharma placed second overall in the national final round of the Virtual Business Management Challenge, sponsored by Knowledge Matters, and was awarded a $750 prize for this achievement. The top 20 FBLA students nationwide from the fall and spring rounds combined for the final round of competition, which was held virtually in April. The finalists were tasked with making decisions for a new simulated business.

Shreya shares, “The simulation was a powerful lesson in business strategy. Finding the balance between technical simulation demands and conceptual skills taught me that early organization is crucial for the right decision-making. Ultimately, navigating the simulation's downturns proved that setbacks are just opportunities to find a better approach and improve to achieve your goal.” Her FBLA adviser, Mrs. Lauren Jackson, stated “This simulation is offered to our members every year and is a great opportunity for them to learn about business decision making. While it is a simulation and not yet real world experience, I believe the benefits of participating in it allow the students to explore more about running a business than reading about it, and it is a valuable experience that hopefully inspires them to learn more about business management.” This is the first time in several years that Morris Hills has had a student in the final round and they had two students; sophomore Vikram Patel had qualified from the fall round. Congratulations to Shreya on this accomplishment!

05/20/2026

Congratulations to Morris Hills High School's 2026 Valedictorian and Salutatorian!

05/20/2026

Congratulations to Morris Knolls High School's 2026 Valedictorian and Salutatorian!

05/18/2026

Isabelle Wang, an Academy for Math, Science, and Engineering senior, represented NJ and Morris Hills High School at the United States Academic Decathlon National competition on April 23-26 in Anaheim, California, bringing home a bronze medal in the Art objective test competition. Isabelle qualified for the nationals with one of the top overall scores at the New Jersey Academic Decathlon State competition in March. At the competition, USAD decathletes took tests in the areas of Science, Art, Music, Mathematics, Social Science, Language & Literature, and Economics, presented a prepared and impromptu speech in front of judges, participated in an interview, and wrote an essay. The National competition concluded with meeting decathletes from throughout the country and a Roaring Twenties themed champion's reception.

Isabelle stated, “It was such an honor to represent Morris Hills and the state of New Jersey at Nationals. Academic Decathlon has brought me the opportunity to meet decathletes from all across the country, from Alaska to D.C., and I'm forever grateful to have been able to compete alongside so many amazing individuals. I hope the MH Academic Decathlon team will continue to be represented at the national level in the future!”

Earlier this season, additional Morris Hills decathletes took home 23 awards at the NJ Academic Decathlon Region 2 competition which was held at Clifton High School. Winners included:

Isabelle Wang (Senior) - Gold medals in Essay, Science, Language & Literature, Silver in Economics
Amelia Ablas (Senior) - Bronze in Economics
Florence So (Senior) - Silver Essay
Rayna Patel (Freshman) - Bronze in Social Science, Math
Kayla Howe (Sophomore) - Gold in Science, Silver in Math, Bronze in Economics
Yashraj Iyer (Junior) - Honorable Mention Science and Economics
Jiya Feby (Sophomore) - Gold in Language & Literature, Silver in Economics, Bronze in Music
Diya Vipin Pillai (Sophomore) - Silver in Math, Honorable Mention in Economics and Language & Literature
Juan Rubiano (Sophomore) - Honorable Mention in Math
Johana John Peter (Freshman) - Bronze in Language and Literature

Decathletes prepared all year for the competition by studying the USAD curriculum on this year's theme, The Roaring Twenties, preparing and presenting crash courses, testing one another, and participating in mock speeches and superquizzes. Graduating senior decathletes Isabelle, Amelia Alblas, and Florence So have passed the torch to next year's team which will study Journeys of Transformation, an Exploration of Travel and Transportation, led by student captains, Jiya Feby, Diya Vippin Pillai, and Yashraj Iyer under the guidance of coach Lora Santucci.

05/04/2026

On Thursday, April 23rd, students from the Morris Knolls and Morris Hills Art of Film classes, as well as the TV Production classes, had a chance to visit the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC. Students were able to get a behind-the-scenes look at how movie magic is made. Students witnessed how movie props are made, how miniatures are used, and a special Muppets tour illustrating the magic of Jim Henson. The field trip culminated in the viewing of Charlie Chaplin's The Immigrant in the museum's theater. Mr. Collinsworth, Morris Knolls Art of Film teacher, stated, " It is always a pleasure when my students can get a hands-on, close-up look at how movie magic happens".

04/30/2026

The Morris Hills Regional District Music Department has been awarded the 2026 Best Communities for Music Education Award by the NAMM Foundation. This distinction highlights our district's dedication to ensuring that music remains a vital, accessible, and thriving part of a well-rounded curriculum for every student.

Congratulations to our Morris Hills Regional District Music Department - Mrs. Michelle Uhler, Mr. Rich Hartsuiker, Mr. Brett Izsa, Mr. Dan Schwartz, Mrs. Kristen Markowski, Mrs. Jodie Crotty, and supervisors Mr. Dominique Dixon and Mrs. Erin Morgan.

04/28/2026

At the April 27, 2026 Board of Education meeting, the Board approved a revision to the 2025–2026 District Calendar. This revision reflects the return of two unused emergency closing days. As a result, the district will be closed on Friday, May 22, 2026, and Tuesday, May 26, 2026.