Ocean Township High School (OTHS) is a four-year comprehensive

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

located in the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township, in Monmouth County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, operating as the lone secondary school in the Ocean Township School District. OTHS serves residents of all neighborhoods within Ocean Township, including Oakhurst, Wanamassa, Wayside and West Allenhurst. As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 996 students and 98.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio The student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio refers to the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers or staff in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that ...

of 10.1:1. There were 212 students (21.3% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 61 (6.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Ocean Township High School

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...

. Accessed December 15, 2024. As of the 2013–14 school year there were 18

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...

(AP) courses offered. In conjunction with

Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its university charter, c ...

, Ocean Township High School offers a dual credit program called MODEL to AP students. The school's average graduation rate for the past two years is 99% and 97% of students go on to post secondary education. The school's Family and Consumer Science kitchens, for culinary instruction, were remodeled in 2005. Over 93% of Ocean's teachers are at or above intermediate skill levels in the use of technology.

History

Ocean Township's students leaving eighth grade had the option to attend either

Asbury Park High School Asbury Park High School is a comprehensive, community public high school serving students in seventh through twelfth grades. It is in a landmark building in Asbury Park, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, that was constru ...

or Long Branch High School as part of

sending/receiving relationship A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts hav ...

s, with most Ocean Township students choosing to head to Asbury Park. By 1962, Ocean Township students accounted for a majority of the student body at an overcrowded Asbury Park High School. Ocean Township was unwilling to commit to the long-term sending relationship that would allow Asbury Park to justify an expansion project. Voters in Ocean Township approved a 1962 referendum allocating $3 million (equivalent to $ million in ) towards the construction of a high school facility. The school opened in September 1965, serving more than 1,300 students in grades 7–11, which included students in grades 10 and 11 who had previously been sent out of the district for high school. Ocean Township shifted 600 students from Asbury Park to the new high school, with about 300 Ocean Township seniors completing their final year at Asbury Park High School. The school graduated its first class in 1967. Over time, the 7th and 8th grade students were moved to other schools. Beginning in the 1975–76 school year, with the opening of the then 7-9 Ocean Township Intermediate School, the school only served 10–12, with the freshman class returning to OTHS for the 1978–79 school year. At the end of the 2016–17 school year, Loch Arbour left the Ocean Township district after getting approval from the New Jersey Department of Education and following the overwhelming passage of a referendum. With 14 public school students and school property taxes of $2 million, Loch Arbour had been paying an average of $143,000 per pupil,Radel, Dan
"State OKs Loch Arbour's request to leave Ocean's schools"
''

Asbury Park Press The ''Asbury Park Press'', formerly known as the ''Shore Press'', ''Daily Press'', ''Asbury Park Daily Press'', and ''Asbury Park Evening Press'', is the third largest daily newspaper in the state of New Jersey. Established in 1879, it has been o ...

'', January 9, 2017. Accessed September 15, 2020. "The state's acting Commissioner of Education Kimberly Harrington agreed to allow the village to leave Ocean schools. Fernicola said they want to leave because of the significant difference in school taxes for his town's students. He said Loch Arbour paid over $2 million last year to send 16 students to Ocean schools. That comes out to about $125,000 per pupil. He said Ocean taxpayers only pay $16,000 per pupil." while Ocean Township taxpayers only paid approximately $16,000 per pupil. The Loch Arbour cost per student was significantly reduced under new

s established with the West Long Branch Public Schools for PreK-8 and Shore Regional High School for 9–12, under which Loch Arbour pays tuition to each district based on the number of students. Ocean Township opposed the changes as the subsidy funded approximately 20 staff positions.

Awards, recognition and rankings

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', the school was ranked 55th in New Jersey and 1,637th nationwide. In ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

's'' May 22, 2007 issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Ocean Township High School was listed in 838th place, the 21st-highest ranked school in New Jersey. In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'' ranked the school 856th in the nation among participating public high schools and 64th among schools in New Jersey. The school was the 84th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in ''

New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United St ...

'' magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 95th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 64th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 97th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 69th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state."Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank"
''

'', September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 148th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 31 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (83.8%) and language arts literacy (93.7%) components of the

High School Proficiency Assessment The High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA, pronounced "hess-pah" (/ˈhɛspə/) or sometimes just "H-S-P-A") was a standardized test that was administered by the New Jersey Department of Education to all New Jersey public high school students in ...

(HSPA).

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

The Ocean Township High School SpartansOcean Township High School
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in Division B North of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprised of public and private high schools in

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

and Ocean counties along the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore, commonly called the Shore by locals, is the coast, coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The term encompasses about of shore, oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Perth Amboy in the n ...

.Shore Conference Realignment for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020
Shore Conference. Accessed November 15, 2020. The conference operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 820 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 695 to 882 students. The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with Monmouth Regional High School and Shore Regional High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year. The field hockey team won the Central Jersey Group III state sectional championship in 1980, 1985, 1997 and 2001. The field hockey team was the runner-up in the 2020 COVID-19 Regional Championship, behind Rumson-Fair Haven High School.History of NJSIAA Field Hockey Championships
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023. The 1980 boys' tennis team won the Group III state championship, defeating Moorestown High School 3-1 and Millburn High School 4–1. The 1985 baseball team finished the season with a 24–6 record after defeating

Montville Township High School Montville Township High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Montville Township, in suburban Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school was founded in 1971 and serves students in ninth through twel ...

in the championship game by a score of 3–0 to win the Group III state title in a game played at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

.Baseball Championship History: 1959–2024
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. The girls cross country running team won the Group III state championship in 1992 and 1993.NJSIAA Girls Cross Country State Group Champions
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023. The football team won the Central Jersey Group III state sectional championships in 1993, 2000 and 2005. After losing all four of its previous state finals, the 1993 team finished the season with an 11–0 record after winning the Central Jersey Group III state sectional title in front of more than 6,000 spectators with a 20–12 victory against a Long Branch High School team that came undefeated into the championship game. As the tournament's seventh seed, Ocean Township High School defeated Nottingham High School (Hamilton High School North) by a score of 41–20 in the 2005 Central Jersey Group III sectional final. The softball team won the Group III state title in 1993, defeating Ramsey High School by a score of 5–3 in the championship game to finish the season with a record of 25–4. The boys' soccer team won the Group III state championship in 1996 (defeating Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in the tournament final) and 2018 (vs. Millburn High School).NJSIAA History of Boys Soccer
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023. The 1996 team finished the season with a 16–6 record after defeating Scotch Plains-Fanwood by a score of 2–0 in the Group III championship game.LoGiudice, Daniel
"NJ boys soccer: 30 greatest Jersey Shore teams ever"
''

'', June 16, 2020. Accessed December 8, 2020. "1996 Ocean Township (16-6) - Ocean Township won its first ever group title when it upset defending-champion Scotch Plains-Fanwood, winners of five group finals, 2-0 in the Group III final." In 2018, the team won the Shore Conference Tournament with a 1–0 overtime win against Christian Brothers Academy and won the program's second Group III title by a score of 1–0 against Millburn in the championship game to finish the season 21-3-1. The wrestling team won the Central Jersey Group III state sectional championship 2004–2008, 2012, 2019 and 2020 The boys' bowling team won the Group II state championship in 2011.

Administration

The school's principal is Dawn Kaszuba. Her core administration team includes two assistant principals.

Notable alumni

* Lane Bess (born 1961, class of 1979),

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

ist known for his work in technology. * Michelle Davidson (born 1970, class of 1989), masters swimmer and a long distance, open water swimmer who accomplished the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, which includes crossing the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

and Catalina Channel, and circumnavigating

Manhattan Island Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

. * Caroline Elkins (born 1969, class of 1987), Pulitzer-prize winning historian and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

professor. * Trent Hindman (born 1995), racing driver who won the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in the GS class. * Robert Legato (born 1956), Academy Award Winner for Visual Effects in 1998 for ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'' and in 2012 for '' Hugo''. * Oren Liebermann (born 1982, Class of 2000), journalist who works as the Pentagon correspondent for

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. * Susan Littenberg (born 1967, class of 1985), film editor. * Chris Malachowsky (born , class of 1976), electrical engineer who was one of the founders of the computer graphics company

Nvidia Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

. * Eric Nies (born 1971), model and reality television personality. * John Nies (born 1967), former NFL punter for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

. * Trebor Pena (born 2002, class of 2020), college football wide receiver for the

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East ...

Radia Perlman Radia Joy Perlman (; born December 18, 1951) is an American computer programmer and network engineer. She is a major figure in assembling the networks and technology to enable what we now know as the Internet. She is most famous for her inventi ...

(born 1951, class of 1969), inventor of the

Spanning Tree Protocol The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a network protocol that builds a loop-free logical topology for Ethernet networks. The basic function of STP is to prevent bridge loops and the broadcast radiation that results from them. Spanning tree al ...

. * Kenny Pickett (born 1998),

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

. * Adam Sarafian (born 1986), geologist who has advanced theories about the

origin of water on Earth The origin of water on Earth is the subject of a body of research in the fields of planetary science, astronomy, and astrobiology. Earth is unique among the Terrestrial planet, rocky planets in the Solar System in having oceans of liquid water on ...

and

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

er who won the national championship in 2004. * Michael Uslan (born 1951), writer and producer of the ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

'' film franchise. * John Villapiano (born 1951) former professional football player who played in the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...

and politician who served on the

Monmouth County, New Jersey Monmouth County () is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is bordered to its west by Mercer and Middlesex Counties, to its south by Ocean County, to its east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to its north ...

Board of Chosen Freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the ...

and the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

from 1988 to 1992. * Phil Villapiano (born 1949), former NFL

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

who played in four

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

s and was a part of the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

Super Bowl XI Super Bowl XI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1976 Oakland Raiders season, Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1976 Minnesota Vikings season, Minnesota Vikings ...

winning team. * Wendy Williams (born 1964), radio and television host.Neglia, Ashley V
"Mixing Media"
''

'', June 9, 2008. Accessed July 22, 2008.

References

External links

Ocean Township High SchoolOcean Township School District
*
School Data for the Ocean Township School District

* {{Authority control Loch Arbour, New Jersey Ocean Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey 1965 establishments in New Jersey Educational institutions established in 1965 Public high schools in Monmouth County, New Jersey