Ocean Township High School Explained

Ocean Township High School
Type:Public high school
Address:550 West Park Avenue
City:Ocean Township
County:Monmouth County
State:New Jersey
Zipcode:07755
Country:United States
Coordinates:40.2683°N -74.0303°W
Pushpin Map:USA New Jersey Monmouth County#USA New Jersey#USA
Established:1965
Grades:9-12
Enrollment:1,021 (as of 2022–23)
Faculty:103.0 FTEs
Ratio:9.9:1
Us Nces School Id:341206004058
Principal:Dawn Kaszuba
Team Name:Spartans
Colors: Red
white and
royal blue
Conference:Shore Conference
District:Ocean Township School District
Newspaper:Spartan Spirit[1]
Yearbook:Sandpiper

Ocean Township High School (OTHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, 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.[2]

As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,021 students and 103.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.9:1. There were 200 students (19.6% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 46 (4.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[3]

As of the 2013–14 school year there were 18 Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered.[4] In conjunction with Monmouth University, 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 or Long Branch High School as part of sending/receiving relationships, 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

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,[8] while Ocean Township taxpayers only paid approximately $16,000 per pupil.[8] The Loch Arbour cost per student was significantly reduced under new sending/receiving relationships 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.[9] 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 school was ranked 55th in New Jersey and 1,637th nationwide.[10] In Newsweek'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.[11]

In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 856th in the nation among participating public high schools and 64th among schools in New Jersey.[12]

The school was the 84th-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.[13] 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.[14] The magazine ranked the school 97th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[15] The school was ranked 69th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[16] 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 (HSPA).[17]

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

The Ocean Township High School Spartans[18] compete in Division B North of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprising public and private high schools in Monmouth and Ocean counties along the Jersey Shore.[19] [20] The conference operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[21] 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.[22] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III South for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 680 to 889 students.[23]

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.[24]

The field hockey team won the Central Jersey Group III state sectional championship in 1980, 1985, 1997 and 2001.[25]

The 1980 boys' tennis team won the Group III state championship, defeating Moorestown High School 3-1 and Millburn High School 4–1.[26] [27]

The 1985 baseball team finished the season with a 24–6 record after defeating Montville Township High School in the championship game by a score of 3–0 to win the Group III state title in a game played at Princeton University.[28] [29] [30]

The girls cross country running team won the Group III state championship in 1992 and 1993.[31]

The football team won the Central Jersey Group III state sectional championships in 1993, 2000 and 2005.[32] 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.[33] 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.[34]

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.[35] [36]

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).[37] 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.[38] 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.[38] [39]

The wrestling team won the Central Jersey Group III state sectional championship 2004–2008, 2012, 2019 and 2020[40]

The boys' bowling team won the Group II state championship in 2011.[41]

Administration

The school's principal is Dawn Kaszuba. Her core administration team includes two assistant principals.[42]

Notable alumni

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://p1cdn4static.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_20292841/File/2021-2022%20School%20Year%20Documents/Athletics/Directory%20of%20Student%20Activities%202021-2022.pdf Directory of Student Activities 2021-2022
  2. Spoto, MaryAnn. "N.J. appeals court sides with Ocean Twp. against Loch Arbour in school funding dispute", The Star-Ledger, July 14, 2011. Accessed October 17, 2011.
  3. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3412060&ID=341206004058 School data for Ocean Township High School
  4. http://www.state.nj.us/education/pr/1314/25/253810030.pdf Ocean Township High School 2013-14 School Performance Report
  5. http://www.oceantwp.org/controls/NewsFeed.aspx?FeedID=882 New Exhibit - Ocean Township High School at 50
  6. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98628408/opening-of-ocean-township-high-school/ "Ocean's Junior-Senior High Opens"
  7. Ciavaglia, James. "Spring Has Sprung but Crop of City Candidates Still Dormant", Asbury Park Press, March 21, 1965. Accessed March 29, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The taxpayers association wanted the Board of Education and the Council to wait until Ocean Township High School students withdrew from the city's schools before making any construction plans. Ocean Township has about 900 students in the city high school, and is expected to pull out 600 all but the seniors when it opens its own high school next fall."
  8. Radel, Dan. "State OKs Loch Arbour's request to leave Ocean's schools", Asbury Park Press, 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."
  9. Radel, Dan. "Loch Arbour votes to leave Ocean Twp. schools", Asbury Park Press, April 4, 2017. Accessed August 1, 2018. "Village voters have decided by an overwhelming margin to leave the Ocean Township School District and forge a (cheaper) different path. The tally Tuesday was 93 in favor to 4 opposed, according to the unofficial results from the Office of the Monmouth County Clerk.... The village's per-pupil education cost for Ocean Township now totals about $143,000, according to Mayor Paul Fernicola. He said the village will instead send students to West Long Branch and Shore Regional High School on a per-pupil tuition rate, not yet determined, that is substantially less than the current tab."
  10. [Jay Mathews|Mathews, Jay]
  11. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/?sort=State&count=1257&search=&start=700&limit=100&year=2007& "The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,200 top U.S. schools"
  12. Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 9, 2013.
  13. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  14. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed December 2, 2012.
  15. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed April 6, 2011.
  16. http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/highschoolrankings/top-new-jersey-high-schools-by-rank.html "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank"
  17. https://archive.today/20120910100009/http://www.schooldigger.com/schoolrank.aspx?Level=3&findschool=1206004058 New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011
  18. https://www.njsiaa.org/schools/ocean-township-high-school Ocean Township High School
  19. http://media.digitalsports.com/79529/files/2017/03/Shore-Conference-Realignment-2018-2020.pdf Shore Conference Realignment for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020
  20. http://www.shoreconferencenj.org/g5-bin/client.cgi?G5genie=249 Member Schools
  21. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-10/2020-2021-lc-officers-schools.pdf League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021
  22. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-11/general-classifications-2018-2020.pdf NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020
  23. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2022-08/Football%20%2722%20%26%20%2723.pdf NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2022–2024
  24. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-12/winter-co-ops-2020-21.pdf NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs
  25. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/21-girls-field-hockey_0.pdf History of NJSIAA Field Hockey Championships
  26. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-11/20-team-tennis-history.pdf History of Boys' Team Tennis Championship Tournament
  27. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66837507/ocean-township-defeats-moorestown-for/ "Ocean net team takes Group III championship"
  28. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-11/20-baseball-history.pdf NJSIAA Baseball Championship History
  29. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/145191424/ "Flannelly a 'natural' at Ocean"
  30. Edelson, Stephen. "Ocean captures Group III title", Asbury Park Press, June 16, 1985. Accessed December 24, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "They were treading where no Spartan had ever gone before, this 1985 edition of the Ocean Township baseball squad, when they stepped onto Princeton University's Strubing Field for yesterday's NJSIAA Group III final.... It was a familiar position for the Spartans (24-6), riding the right arm of senior pitcher Ted Feindt to roll past the Mustangs, 3-0, in Feindt's third NJSIAA tournament victory and his second shutout."
  31. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/21-xc-group-team-champions.pdf NJSIAA Girls Cross Country State Group Champions
  32. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/21-football.pdf NJSIAA Football History
  33. Graham, Tony. "Ocean's title wave; Big Red Spartans wear a state crown; Record crowd of 6,200 sees Ocean outlast Long Branch In battle of unbeaten teams.", Asbury Park Press', December 5, 1993. Accessed January 28, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Ending the season the way it began, with Conti the nucleus of Ocean's multi-dimensional attack, the Big Red Spartans stopped Long Branch 20-12 in yesterday's New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Central Jersey Group III championship battle of the unbeatens. 'It's the best feeling in the world,' Eddie Conti said after Ocean (11-0) won its first sectional football crown before an estimated record crowd of 6,200 at Carelli field.... Under his father, coach George Conti, Ocean was participating in the state playoffs for the eighth time in 11 years but had been 0-4 in championship games."
  34. http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=128997&tclass=Central%2C%20Group%20III 2005 Football - Central, Group III
  35. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2024-02/Softball%2023.pdf Softball Championship History 1972–2023
  36. LoGiudice, Daniel. "NJ softball: Greatest Jersey Shore high school teams ever", Asbury Park Press, May 28, 2020. Accessed December 9, 2020. "1993 Ocean Township (25-4) Behind a strong year by ace pitcher Nicole Siniscalco, Ocean Township won its first and only group championship with a 5-3 victory over Ramsey in the Group III championship game."
  37. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/21-boys-soccer-history.pdf NJSIAA History of Boys Soccer
  38. LoGiudice, Daniel. "NJ boys soccer: 30 greatest Jersey Shore teams ever", Asbury Park Press, 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."
  39. LoGiudice, Daniel. "NJ boys soccer: Ocean Township wins wild state final for second ever title", Asbury Park Press, November 18, 2018. Accessed December 9, 2020. "Their hearts might have skipped a beat, or maybe several, but the Spartans held on for a 1-0 victory over the Millers in the Group III final on Saturday at Kean University.... The Spartans (21-3-1) beat CBA in a thrilling overtime battle in this year’s SCT final, they edged Colts Neck in the Central Group III final this fall, and now they have a state title."
  40. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-04/2021-wrestling-history.pdf NJSIAA Wrestling Team Championship History
  41. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2022-07/22%20Bowling.pdf History of NJSIAA Boys Bowling Championships
  42. http://www.ocean.k12.nj.us/cms/One.aspx?portalId=20292925&pageId=29686433 Contact Us
  43. https://www.app.com/story/news/local/people/2021/12/06/next-blue-origin-suborbital-flight-ocean-township-high-school-nj-alumnus/8751671002/ "Ocean Township H.S. alum Lane Bess heading to space on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin"
  44. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/144195434/ "Keep An Eye On: Michelle Davidson"
  45. Larsen, Erik. "Search for truth yields Pulitzer; Book documents atrocities in Kenya", Asbury Park Press, April 30, 2006. Accessed March 7, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "When Caroline Fox graduated from Ocean Township High School in 1987, her teachers had no doubt she was going to go places. She didn't disappoint Princeton was next, then Harvard and after that, halfway around the world to Kenya Today a Harvard University professor and married with two young sons, Caroline Elkins is one of the nation's foremost scholars on African history and a renowned expert on a little-known brutal chapter in the post-World War II history of British colonialism in Africa."
  46. http://trenthindman.com/?p=518 USF2000 – Summer Vacation Over for Hindman
  47. Staff. "Shore's Robert Legato is special-effects wizard behind 'Hugo'", Asbury Park Press, February 26, 2012. Accessed March 5, 2012. "Many decades later, after growing up in Asbury Park, graduating from Ocean Township High School and studying film in Santa Barbara, Calif., Legato has become the magician."
  48. Liebermann, Oren. The Insulin Express: One Backpack, Five Continents, and the Diabetes Diagnosis That Changed Everything, p. 26. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 2017. . Accessed October 29, 2018. "I never went to a single Ocean Township High School Spartans game and I never paid any attention to the NHL, MLB, NASCAR, MLS, NFL, or any other league, with the recent exception of the NBA."
  49. Staff. "Susan Littenberg Nominated for Prestigious ACE Film Award", Atlantic Highlands Herald, January 30, 2011. Accessed October 17, 2011. "Highly acclaimed Hollywood film editor Susan Littenberg, who graduated from Ocean Township High School in 1985, has been nominated for an American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Award, given to recognize excellence in film editing."
  50. https://www.newspapers.com/image/145696924/?terms=ocean%2Bdiplomas "Ocean Township Students Gain Diplomas, Honors"
  51. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/145420013/ "Real World (cont.)"
  52. Anderson, Teja. "People On The Move - John Nies", LivingMedia, June 27, 2010. Accessed August 14, 2012. "John Nies grew up in Ocean Township with his two sisters Kim and Tara and younger brother Eric (yes, the guy from MTV's The Real World), his parents, mother Anna May, a pre-school teacher and father Jack who was one of the longest running referees in NBA history. John Attended Ocean Township High School after his experiences in private school were not so pleasant. 'I went to RBC for two semesters and I got abused and hazed on the bus.'"
  53. http://www.digifind-it.com/redbank/_1960-1979/1968/1968-12-12.pdf&page=39 "College's Chamber Chorus Presents Oratorio Tuesday"
  54. https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/article/3-star-ocean-township-qb-kenny-pickett-discusses-re-opening-his-recruitment/ "3-star Ocean Township QB Kenny Pickett talks re-opening his recruitment"
  55. Radel, Dan. "Waters origins discovered by Ocean Twp. track star", Asbury Park Press, December 24, 2014. Accessed November 16, 2020. "As a pole vault star at Ocean Township High School, Adam Sarafian was used to setting records."
  56. Longsdorf, Amy. "'Dark Knight' producer was 'just a kid from Jersey'", Courier-Post, January 26, 2009. Accessed June 1, 2011. "By the time Uslan graduated from Ocean Township High School in 1969, he had amassed more than 30,000 books..."
  57. Staff. Fitzgerald's Legislative Manual, 1988, p. 245. Accessed September 3, 2016.
  58. http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=VILLAPHI01 Phil Villapiano
  59. Neglia, Ashley V. "Mixing Media", New Jersey Monthly, June 9, 2008. Accessed July 22, 2008.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ocean Township High School".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.