Admiral William Halsey Leadership Academy

The Admiral William F. Halsey Health and Public Safety Academy is a four-year comprehensive public high school in Elizabeth, New Jersey, operating as part of the Elizabeth Public Schools. The Leadership Academy shares a large building with the John Dwyer Technology Academy, the Peter B. Gold Administration Building, and the Thomas Dunn Sports Center, which together form the Main Complex.As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,279 students and 106.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.1:1. There were 951 students (74.4% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 114 (8.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.Awards, recognition and rankingsThe school was the 335th-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. The school had been ranked 311th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after not being ranked in 2010.HistoryThe High school was established in 2009 as the Admiral William F. Halsey Leadership Academy and was named after Admiral William Halsey Jr., Commander of the South Pacific Area and the Third Fleet during World War II, who was born in Elizabeth. During the war, he commented, "There are no great men. There are only great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet."