EHS, which serves ninth through twelfth grade students, operates as part of the Paterson Public Schools.

[7][8][4] A May 1927 article in The Paterson Evening News refers to the Eastside team as the "Galloping Ghosts".

The Eastside High School Ghosts[4] compete in the Big North Conference, a super conference comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties that operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey.

[20] Until the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had participated in Division B of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League, which included high schools located in Bergen, Essex and Passaic counties, and was separated into three divisions based on NJSIAA size classification.

[22] The football team competes in the Liberty Blue division of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league.

[25] Eastside plays an annual Thanksgiving Day football game against Kennedy High School.

[29] The Paterson Eastside softball team won the program's first North I Group IV state sectional title in 1981 with a 6-5 win in the championship game against Passaic Valley Regional High School.

[35] The team won the finals of the Group IV tournament in 2004 with a 43–36 win against Marlboro High School.

[38] The team won the Group IV title in 2011 with a 56-52 win against Rancocas Valley in the championship game[39] and came into the Tournament of Champions as the fourth seed, and failed to hold an 11-point fourth-quarter lead in the quarterfinals before losing to fifth-seeded Newark Central by a score of 73–67 in overtime to finish the season with a record of 21–9.

[40][41] The team won its second Group IV title in 2015 with a 50–34 win against Cherry Hill East in the tournament final[42] and lost as the third seed in the ToC to number-six Newark Tech High School in the quarterfinals 66–56.

[45] Former student, Fetty Wap, filmed the music video for his song "Wake Up" in the school in 2016.