David Brearley High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Kenilworth in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Kenilworth Public Schools. The school is named for David Brearley, a signer of the United States Constitution.
Students from Winfield Township attend the school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Winfield Township School District.David Brearly Middle/High School 2016 School Report Card , New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed August 7, 2017. "David Brearley Middle-High School serves students in Grades 7-12 from Kenilworth, Winfield, and surrounding communities that who participate in the School Choice Program."
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 774 students and 69.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.1:1. There were 200 students (25.8% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 57 (7.4% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for David Brearley Middle/High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
The district participates in the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program at David Brearley High School, having been approved on November 2, 1999, as one of the first ten districts statewide to participate in the program.List of Choice Districts: Choice Program Profiles for 2025-2026 School Year, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed January 1, 2025. Available slots are announced annually by grade.Kenilworth School District Choice Profile for 2025-26 School Year, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed January 1, 2025. Prospective Choice participants must be residents of Union County eligible for placement in grades 7-10 who were enrolled in a public school during the full year prior to entry to the Kenilworth Public Schools."School choice eases student shortage; State program boosts enrollment at Kenilworth's David Brearley High.", The Star-Ledger, April 23, 2000, p. 33.
History Planning for a fourth Regional District high school to be located in Kenilworth began in April 1957, when voters approved the purchase of a 15-acre site as part of an expansion referendum that also included the construction of Governor Livingston Regional High School and an addition at Arthur L. Johnson Regional High School. Voters approved the purchase of 3.7 additional acres in a February 1962 referendum. Finally, on May 28, 1963, voters approved a referendum to issue $2,850,000 in bonds to fund the construction of a high school. The name David Brearley Regional High School was chosen in March 1964 by the Regional District to honor David Brearley, one of four New Jersey residents to sign the Constitution of the United States, along with Jonathan Dayton and William Livingston, who had already had high schools in the district named for them."Name Picked For Regional High School", Courier News, March 25, 1964. Accessed April 29, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The proposed Union County regional high school in Kenilworth has been named for a New Jersey signer of the U. S. Constitution. The new school which will open in September, 1965 will be called the David Brearley Regional High School. The name was selected last night by the Union County Regional High School Board of Education. Brearley is the third of four signers of the Constitution to have his name on a regional high school. The Jonathan Dayton Regional High School in Springfield and the Governor Livingston Regional High School in Berkeley Heights also are named for signers of the Constitution." A groundbreaking ceremony was held in May 1964 for the new school facility, which was expected to be the first in the state with air conditioning and electric heating."Groundbreaking Scheduled For New County High School", Courier News, May 21, 1964. Accessed April 29, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new David Brearley Regional High School in Kenilworth will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The school, to be the fourth in the Union County Regional High School system, will be located at Monroe Ave. near 16th St. in Kenilworth.... The new school first in the state to be built with electric heating and air conditioning will open in September 1965." The school opened to students in June 1966 for summer school courses, with 640 students from Kenilworth attending regular classes that fall. John L. Dixey served as the inaugural principal. The original building contained 40 classrooms, an auditorium with a capacity of 820, a cafeteria with a capacity of 430, a gymnasium with a capacity of 2,000, and offices."First Regular High School Class Starts Sept. 7 at David Brearley" , Citizen and Chronicle, September 1, 1966. Accessed April 29, 2021. "David Brearley Regional High School opens its doors to its first regular high school class on Wednesday when the freshman class reports for orientation at 8:20 a.m., John L. Dixey, principal, announced. All students will report on Thursday at 8:20 a.m. A total of 640 students, all from Kenilworth, are enrolled." The building was also designed to be accessible by handicapped students, with all physically handicapped students in the district assigned to Brearley regardless of residency. Garwood students began to be phased into Brearley in September 1967.
By 1971, the school was becoming overcrowded, despite the addition of three temporary classrooms. On May 4, 1971, voters approved a $4.7 million bond referendum to expand and renovate each school in the district. At Brearley, a two-story addition, containing a special education room, business education room, two health classrooms, an expanded art room, and a large, flexible group area, opened in September 1973. A second gymnasium was added to the school in September 1976. By 1990, however, it had become apparent that closing one of the four Regional high schools would be an efficient cost-cutting measure. Brearley had shown a sixty percent decrease in enrollment since its opening, making it a prime candidate for closure. A Save our Schools campaign was quickly formed by concerned parents with the goal of keeping Brearley open. Despite pleas from parents, students, and community members, the Regional Board of Education voted 7-2 on November 17, 1992 to close Brearley in June 1993. Incoming Kenilworth students were sent to Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield and incoming Garwood students were sent to Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark, while current Brearley students were permitted to select which school they would like to attend. Over the next three years, the Save our Schools committee lobbied for the dissolution of the school district and the transfer of its four high schools to local control. A dissolution referendum was approved by voters May 1996. As such, the ownership of the Brearley building was transferred to the Kenilworth Board of Education. In September 1997, the school re-opened as the David Brearley Middle-High School. To boost enrollment, the seventh and eighth grades were moved from Harding School to Brearley, participation in the Interdistrict Public School Choice program began in September 2000, and a sending/receiving relationship with Winfield Township began to be phased in during September 2000.
In recent years, the Brearley Annex was completed to house the Alternate Education Program, the instructional media center was converted to a makerspace, library, and e-sports lab, and a $14.6 million bond referendum was approved for renovations and expansion of the building. The building projects were completed by September 2025 and included a two-story addition to house new high school science labs and segregate the middle school population (with sixth grade students moving to the building), along with renovations to the auditorium and athletic fields. As part of the building expansion, David Brearley Middle School and David Brearley High School were officially split into separate institutions for administrative and operational purposes effective September 2025."Kenilworth Board of Education Regular Meeting Minutes for March 10, 2025"
Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 194th-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 127th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 113th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 23, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 178th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 22, 2011.
Curriculum and programs In 2001, students from David Brearley High School and Hillside High School collaborated to develop literary and art projects about bigotry presented at an exhibit, "Making Connections: Two Culturally Diverse Schools Address Prejudice and Hatred by Studying the Holocaust Together." The exhibit was presented at Kean University, and was viewed together with local Holocaust survivors and concentration camp liberators."Two-school project fights prejudice; Kenilworth, Hillside art and computer classes team up.", The Star-Ledger, June 7, 2001
Athletics The David Brearley High School BearsDavid Brearley High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Union County and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by 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. Prior to the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had participated in the Mountain Valley Conference, which included public and private high schools in Essex and Union counties in northern New Jersey.Home Page, Mountain Valley Conference, backed up by the Internet Archive as of February 2, 2011. Accessed December 15, 2014. With 358 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range.NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020. The football team competes in Division 1A of the Big Central Football Conference, which includes 60 public and private high schools in Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset, Union and Warren counties, which are broken down into 10 divisions by size and location.Kinney, Mike. "Big Central revises 2020 football schedule for its shortened inaugural season", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, August 12, 2020. Accessed April 18, 2021. "The newly formed Big Central Football Conference has released a revised 2020 schedule for its inaugural season.... the BCFC is comprised of schools from Middlesex, Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties." The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 254 to 474 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. School colors are navy and gold.David Brearley High School , New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 15, 2014.