Middletown High School South is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of the two secondary schools of the Middletown Township Public School District. The other school in the district is Middletown High School North. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1977; the school's accreditation expires in July 2025.Middletown High School South, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed December 21, 2024.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,406 students and 113.7 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.4:1. There were 99 students (7.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 10 (0.7% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Middletown High School South, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History Constructed at a cost of $8.7 million (equivalent to $ million in ) on an site, the school building was designed to accommodate 1,800 students.Buscell, Pruscia. "School to End 12 Years of Double Sessions", Asbury Park Press, October 17, 1975. Accessed June 16, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Twelve years of split sessions will end next fall when the $8.7 million Middletown High School South open its doors. The building, which is scheduled for completion this spring, sits on 80 acres of woods and fields between Nutswamp and Middletown-Lincroft roads. Leading a tour of the unfinished interior of the 230,000-square-foot building, Principal Dennis Jackson - showed where sliding partitions will be installed to allow open space or walled classrooms.... The school is built for 1,800 youngsters, and it will have about 1,000 when it opens next year. There are now about 3,200 students attending morning and afternoon-sessions at Middletown High School North." The school opened its new building in September 1976 for more than 1,400 students, after spending the 1975–76 school year as a school-within-a-school inside Middletown High School North.Bramley, Bob. "Middletown South: A new sense of freedom", The Sunday Register, September 26, 1976. Accessed June 16, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The eagle is flying high as Middletown High School South begins its first school year. The eagle, an all-American balding type with piercing eyes and a hefty wingspan, is the emblem chosen for the townships second high school by a student committee; it symbolizes the separate school loyalty -- distinctly apart from that accorded the lion of Middletown North -- that has already blossomed among the 1,430 students in the new facility.... Dennis Jackson, principal of the phantom High School South which existed last year within High School North, is obviously delighted that his new domain is here in the flesh."
Middletown South and the Middletown School District received national attention in fall 2001 when its teachers, members of the Middletown Township Education Association, went on strike for the second time in three years. The strike disrupted classes for several days, and hundreds of teachers were put in jail. A group of 228 teachers and other school workers were sent to jail in December 2001, marking that largest such action against school staff in over two decades, though they were released after agreeing to submit their differences with the school district to non-binding arbitration.Staff. "Middletown NJ Teachers, Secretaries Released From Jail" , Wisconsin Education Association Council, December 6, 2001. Accessed May 12, 2011. "During the week, 228 teachers and secretaries had been sent to jail for violating a judge's order that they return to work. It was the nation's biggest mass jailing of striking teachers in 23 years." After the strike, many members of the union leadership stepped down. There has not been a strike since 2001.
In October 2006, the Board of Education of the Middletown Township Public School District voted on a random drug testing procedure that would require all students in extracurricular activities or with a parking space at the high school to submit their name to a pool for random selection.Herget, Alison. , Asbury Park Press, October 24, 2006. Accessed May 12, 2011. "The random drug-testing program in Middletown comes roughly a year after then- acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed a bill test for drugs 9th- through 12th-graders involved in extracurricular activities."
Awards, recognition and rankings In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 497th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 51st among all high schools in New Jersey and 34th among the state's non-magnet schools.Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2016", Newsweek. Accessed November 11, 2016.
The school was the 92nd-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 105th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 95th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 29, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 92nd in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed May 12, 2011. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 57th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 17 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (91.5%) and language arts literacy (96.7%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).School Overview; Click on "Rankings" for 2003-11 HSPA results, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 8, 2012.
Athletics The Middletown High School South EaglesMiddletown High School South, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in Division A North of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprised of public and private high schools in Monmouth County and Ocean County along the Jersey Shore.Shore Conference Realignment for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, Shore Conference. Accessed November 15, 2020.Member Schools, Shore Conference. Accessed November 15, 2020. The conference operates under the jurisdiction 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 1,096 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,060 to 5,049 students in that grade range.NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 890 to 1,298 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
In 2015, to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of football in Middletown, alumni of North and South high schools played each other; The Middletown North Lion football alumni defeated the Middletown South alumni 6–3 at The Swamp, to claim the victory in what was the first-ever game of its kind in Middletown.Zedalis, Joe. "Football: Middletown South, Middletown North alumni ready to renew old rivalry", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, August 13, 2015. "Middletown North versus Middletown South is one of the most heated Thanksgiving Day rivalries in the Shore Conference. Saturday, 7 p.m., at South's sunken treasure known affectionately as 'The Swamp,' former Lions and Eagles meet in the first Middletown North-Middletown South alumni game.... The alumni game, promoted by OT Football, figures into the celebration of 100 years of football in Middletown." Each year, students, parents, teachers, alumni, and administrators gather for the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between Middletown North and Middletown South. Middletown South holds the overall lead with a head-to-head record of 37–13–1 through the 2025 Thanksgiving game.Patuto, Greg. "Midd. North snaps Thanksgiving skid with comeback win over rival Midd. South", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 28, 2025. Accessed April 6, 2026. "Middletown South leads the series 37-13-1, 1-1 in the playoffs, 35-12-1 on Thanksgiving."