Allentown High School is a four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from three communities in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Upper Freehold Regional School District. The school enrolls students from Allentown Borough and Upper Freehold Township. Students from Millstone Township attend through a sending/receiving relationship with the Millstone Township Schools.Upper Freehold Regional School District 2015 School Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed March 23, 2015. "The Allentown High School (AHS) welcomes students from Allentown, Upper Freehold, and Millstone as well as qualified Choice students from communities within a twenty mile radius of our campus." The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1959.Allentown High School , Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed June 22, 2011.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,033 students and 75.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.7:1. There were 57 students (5.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 8 (0.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Allentown High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
The district participates in the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program at Allentown High School, having been approved on November 2, 1999, as one of the first ten districts statewide to participate in the program.Interdistrict Public School Choice Program: Approved Choice Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 19, 2008. Seats in the program for non-resident students are specified by the district and are allocated by lottery, with tuition paid for participating students by the New Jersey Department of Education.Interdistrict Public School Choice Program, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 23, 2020.
History The high school opened in September 1924 for students in grades 7-12, having been built for $80,000 (equivalent to $ million in ).About Us, Upper Freehold Regional School District. Accessed May 8, 2023. "Established in 1895 as “School #1 of Upper Freehold Township District," the UFRSD has grown and progressed into one of New Jersey’s highest achieving school districts. The opening of Allentown High School in 1924 was considered a town landmark in Allentown’s history.""New School Building; $80,000 Allentown High School Will Be Ready September 8", The Freehold Transcript and The Monmouth Inquirer, August 22, 1924. Accessed May 8, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "The new Allentown high school building is rapidly nearing completion so that it is confidently reported now that it will be ready for the opening of school there September 8th.... The work which will cost nearly $80,000 is being done by William C. Ehret, contractor of Trenton.... Grades 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 will at present use the new building." The current school facility opened in September 1964, replacing a building that was operating at more than double its capacity of 300 students. Constructed at a cost of $1.4 million (equivalent to $ million in ), the school served students from the constituent districts of Allenton and Upper Freehold Township, along with those from Plumsted Township and Washington Township (since renamed as Robbinsville Township), who attended as part of a sending/receiving relationships."1,500 Attend Allentown High School Dedication", Asbury Park Press, September 28, 1964. Accessed May 8, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "The $1.4 million school was built near the former high school on High street by William C. Ehret. Trenton contractor.... The school, which has been open for two weeks, receives students from Allentown and Upper Freehold Township, which comprises the regional district, and tuition pupils from Millstone Township and Plumsted Township in Ocean County and Washington Township in Mercer County.... The former school was built in 1926 to house 300 students. More than 700 were squeezed into it last year."
Approximately 400 students from Plumsted Township had attended the high school as part of the sending/receiving relationship with the Plumsted Township School District prior to the passage of a referendum under which New Egypt High School was opened in September 2001 with an initial class of 100 students in ninth grade.Woodberry, Warren Jr. "Planning begins now that Plumsted High School has OK", Asbury Park Press, December 28, 1997. Accessed May 8, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "With the township's approval Dec. 16 of a $16.5 million bond referendum to convert the New Egypt Middle School on Evergreen Road into a high school, district officials are now developing plans for the kind of school they, parents and students want built..... For more than 50 years, high school students here have attended Allentown High School as part of a sending-receiving relationship with the Upper Freehold Regional School District. The state Department of Education must first approve the Plumsted school district's plan to withdraw 400 students from Allentown. The new school is planned to be operating by September 1999."Vosseller, Bob. "NHS receives high praise for curriculum" , The New Egypt Press, September 14, 1999. Accessed August 12, 2014. "History will be made this week when 100 ninth-graders enter the New Egypt High School marking its inaugural class. Two years ago Plumsted Township voters in a strong majority vote withdrew from Allentown High School in the Upper Freehold Regional School District through a referendum vote."
In 1981, the Washington Township district (since renamed as the Robbinsville Public School District) filed a petition with the New Jersey State Board of Education seeking to terminate their sending agreement, noting that the departure of students from Washington Township would not adversely impact the racial balance at Allentown High School.Washington Township Board of Education, Mercer County vs. Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education, in New Jersey School Law Decisions January 1, 1982, to December 31, 1982, Volume 2 New Jersey State Library. Accessed May 8, 2023. After receiving approval, starting in the 1990-91 school year, students from Washington Township, began attending Lawrence High School, under which all of the township's students would leave Allentown High School by the end of the 1993-94 school year.Moslowski, Lee Anne. "Washington students adjusting easily to Lawrence school", Messenger-Press, February 7, 1991. Accessed May 8, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "The first year in the transfer of Washington Township students from Allentown High School to Lawrence High School is going smoothly, according to school officials in both districts. In September, Washington's ninth-graders began attending Lawrence as part of a phased withdrawal from Allentown that will be complete in 1993-94. Washington students attending Allentown before the current school year will remain there until they graduate.... Enrollment figures from December show 32 Washington freshmen attending Lawrence, with 48 sophomore, junior, and senior students still at Allentown. There are also a few students in grades 10, 11, and 12 who were sent to Lawrence this year for various reasons. Projections for next year indicate there will be 29 students at Allentown and 72 at Lawrence."
Awards, recognition, and rankings The school was the 125th-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.Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014. The school had been ranked 135th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 82nd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed December 1, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 90th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2011. The school was also ranked 103rd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state."Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 175th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 37 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (81.1%) and language arts literacy (92.5%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 6, 2012.
In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 226th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 36th among all high schools in New Jersey and 19th among the state's non-magnet schools.Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2016" , Newsweek. Accessed November 11, 2016.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 675th in the nation among participating public high schools and 52nd among schools in New Jersey.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 9, 2013.
Athletics The Allentown High School RedbirdsAllentown High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the Colonial Valley Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools located in Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth counties, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. With 824 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2022–24 school years as Group III Central for most athletic competition purposes.NJSIAA General Classifications - Public Schools 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022. The football team competes in the Valley Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconferenceAllentown Red Birds, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023.Home Page, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023. "The WJFL is a 94-school super conference that stretches from Princeton to Wildwood encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conference, the Tri-County Conference, the Colonial Conference, and the Cape Atlantic League. The WJFL is made up of sixteen divisions with divisional alignments based on school size, geography and a strength-of-program component." The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 695 to 882 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
The school participates in joint cooperative ice hockey and boys / girls swimming teams with Robbinsville High School as the host school / lead agency. These co-op programs operate under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.