Originally intended to be named Iselin High School, the school was constructed in time for the 1964–65 school year to alleviate overcrowding in the district's high schools that had 5,600 students in double sessions during the 1962–63 school year. After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the Board of Education voted to change the name of the school from Iselin High School to John F. Kennedy Memorial High School at their meeting on November 26, 1963. The school opened in September 1964.
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 129th-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 132nd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 146th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 171st in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 142nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 63rd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics and language arts literacy components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.
Athletics
The John F. Kennedy Memorial High School Mustangs compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, which includes public and private high schools located in the greater Middlesex County area, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 982 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North II, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 778 to 1,062 students in that grade range. Together with Woodbridge High School, the school participates in a cooperative ice hockey program with Colonia High School as the host school / lead agency, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2018-19 school year. The boys' baseball team won the Group III state championship in 2009, which is the only group state title in the school's history. They beat John Nigro’s Carteret Ramblers 6-5 as one of their 24 victories that season. The boys' soccer team won the 2005 Central Jersey Group II state sectional championship with a victory over Roselle Park High School, the first soccer state title in the school's history, and earning Ed Bobal honors from the Home News Tribune as its coach of the year. The softball team won the 2007 North II Group III state sectional championship with a 2–1 win over South Plainfield High School. The team repeated as the 2008 North II Group III state sectional champions with a 5–0 win in the tournament final over crosstown rival Colonia High School.
