Brick Township High School


Brick Township High School is a four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Brick Township in Ocean County, New Jersey, operating as part of the Brick Public Schools. The school is one of two secondary schools in the district, the other being Brick Memorial High School.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,290 students and 110.5 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 11.7:1. There were 308 students eligible for free lunch and 75 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

History

Originally constructed in 1956, the school underwent a $5.7 million project in 2015 that replaced the original boilers and ventilators, and added air conditioning to the school for the first time.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 206th-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 261st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 248th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 251st in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 251st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 208th out of 415 public high schools statewide in its 2018 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.

Athletics

The Brick Township High School Green Dragons compete in the Shore Conference, an athletic conference made up of private and public high schools centered at the Northern Jersey Shore. All schools in this conference are located within Monmouth County and Ocean County, and the league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 1,044 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as Central Jersey, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 822 to 1,068 students in that grade range. For football, the school was classified by the NJSIAA as South Jersey Group IV for 2018-20. BTHS's mascot is a green dragon.
Interscholastic sports programs offered at Brick Township include baseball, basketball, bowling, cheering, cross country, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, indoor track, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track, volleyball and wrestling.
Brick Township won the boys Group II cross country state championships in 1959 and won the Group III titles in 1964-67. The school's Russ Taintor was the individual champion in Group III in 1965, 1966 and 1967, making him one of only seven boys runners in New Jersey to win three individual state championships. He also won three consecutive one mile outdoor state championships and added two indoor two mile championships for a total of eight individual state titles. The girls team won the Group IV state title in 1976-77, 1987 and 1989, and won the Group III championships from 1994-96; the team was the Meet of Champion winners in 1977 and 1988.
The school's football team won the South Jersey Group IV state sectional championships in 1974, 1981–83 and 1989, won the South Jersey Group III title in 1994 and won the Central Jersey Group III title in 2013. BTHS is noted for its strong football program formerly led by head coach Warren Wolf, who led the team for 51 years as the Green Dragon's first head coach and is the school's all-time winningest football coach, with a record of 361-122-11. Wolf retired after the 2008 football season as the state of New Jersey's all-time winningest football coach.
The boys' bowling team won the overall state championship in 1990.
The school's ice hockey program which produced NHL player Jim Dowd. Head Coach Bob Auriemma Sr. is New Jersey's all-time highest-winning high school ice hockey coach earning his 600th career win, making him at the time the third highest winning high school coach in the nation.
The girls' bowling team has won the Group II state championship ten consecutive years, from 2008 through 2017. The team won the overall state championship in 2003-2005 and has won the Tournament of Champions in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016. The team's 13 group championships and four titles in the Tournament of Champions are the most of any school in the state.
BTHS also is notable for its performing arts program, which includes Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Chorus and Advanced Chorus. Their marching band has had great success competing in the USSBA circuit where they won the regional championship in 1998 and 2000 under their band director David Lyncheski. The Winter Guard program has been successful under the direction of Director Jessica VanFossen and Assistant Director Christian Negri, winning the 2018 USBands Scholastic Novice Championship and the 2019 USBands Scholastic Regional A Championship.

Clubs

Active clubs in Brick Township High School include Art & Poetry Society, Bible Club, CBE, Challenge Yearbook, Chess Club, Computer Club, DECA, GSA Club, Dance Club, Drama, FBLA, Fashion Design, Forensics, HOSA, Interact Club, Key Club, LEO Club, Math Club, Multicultural Club, National Honor Society, Regaler, Student Government Association, School Store, Ski Club, Spirit Club, Sweep, Table Tennis, The Flame school newspaper, TV Club, Marching Band, Chorus, Color Guard, Jazz Band, Junior State of America and Sewing Club, Recreation Club, FEA, STRONG, and Word Analysis Club.

Administration

The school's principal is William Kleissler. His administration team includes three assistant principals.

Notable alumni