Neptune High School


Neptune High School is a comprehensive four-year community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Neptune Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Neptune Township Schools. Neptune Township Schools is one of New Jersey's 31 former Abbott districts. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1929.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,317 students and 106.0 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 12.4:1. There were 543 students eligible for free lunch and 91 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

History

In 1897, the site in Ocean Grove was leased to the school district for the purpose of creating Neptune High School. Completed in 1898, the then school had won an award at the 1906 World's Fair for its architectural splendor. The school opened in 1897, with Lida Doren serving as the state's first female principal and superintendent. The building was used until September 1960, when it was replaced by the district's existing high school building. The building had been used as a school up until the 1980s, after which the state of the building was allowed to decline. In 2004, the original building was repurposed as the Jersey Shore Arts Center.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 292nd-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 283rd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after also being ranked 283rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 268th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 221st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.

Athletics

The Neptune High School Scarlet Fliers 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. The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 1,036 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.
The boys track team won the indoor track Group IV state championship in 1974 and 1976. The girls team won the Group IV championship in 1987, the Group II titles in 1995-96 and the Group III title in 2009
In 1976, the boys' track team won the Group IV state indoor relay championship.
The boys' soccer team won the Group IV state championship in 1980, defeating Columbia High School in the tournament final by the score of 3-1.
The boys' basketball team won the Group IV title in 1981 with a win against Malcolm X Shabazz High School, won the Group III title in 2002 vs. Weequahic High School and in 2009 against Teaneck High School, and won the Group II title in 1949 with a win over Millburn High School. The girls' basketball team won the Group IV state championships in 1984 against Plainfield High School, in 2010 vs. Pascack Valley High School and in 2011 defeated Teaneck. The girls' basketball team won the 2011 state championship, topping St. John Vianney High School by a score of 67-48 in the finals of the Tournament of Champions in a game played at the Izod Center, earning the first ToC championship for the school and for any school in the Shore Conference.
The field hockey team won the Cenral Jersey Group IV state sectional title in 1984 and 1986, and won the Group IV state championship in 1986.
The football team won the Central Jersey Group III state sectional title in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2011.

Notable alumni