Southern Regional High School is a regional comprehensive public high school located in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in the ninth through twelfth grades and operating as part of the Southern Regional School District. The school is located on a wooded campus. The district serves the five municipalities in the Long Beach Island Consolidated School District — Barnegat Light, Harvey Cedars, Long Beach Township, Ship Bottom, and Surf City — along with students from Beach Haven and Stafford Township, and additionally the sending district of Ocean Township (including its Waretown section).Southern Regional High School 2015 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 2, 2016. "Located in Manahawkin, the Southern Regional School District draws from the constituent districts of Long Beach Township, Beach Haven, Surf City, Ship Bottom, Barnegat Light, Harvey Cedars and Stafford Township, as well as the tuition sending district of Ocean Township (Waretown).About Us, Southern Regional School District. Accessed January 20, 2020. "Our school is a 7-12 comprehensive regional high school district. Our middle school covers grades 7-8 and our high school covers grades 9-12. The district is comprised of the constituent members of Stafford Township, Beach Haven, Long Beach Township, (which includes the municipalities of Loveladies, North Beach, High Bar Harbor and Brant Beach and Long Beach Township) Barnegat Light, Harvey Cedars, Ship Bottom, and Surf City. Waretown is our sending district."
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,865 students and 149.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.5:1. There were 256 students (13.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 90 (4.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Southern Regional High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
History In May 1956, voters approved by a better than 100-1 margin the construction of a building designed to accommodate 1,500 students in a building on a site that would cost $1.5 million (equivalent to $ million in )."New Regional School Approved by Voters", Asbury Park Press, June 1, 1956. Accessed June 1, 1956. Accessed March 11, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Residents of southern Ocean County overwhelmingly endorsed the proposed regional junior-senior high school yesterday. The vote was 1,195 for the new high school and 11 against It. The proposed $1,500,000 school will serve a regional district composed of Stafford Township, Beach Haven boro, and Long Beach Island school districts. The Long Beach Island district includes Harvey Cedars, Cedars, Barnegat Light, Surf City, Ship Bottom, and Long Beach Township. The regional school also will accept students from Tuckerton and Union Townships. The school will be designed to accommodate 1,530 students. It will be located on a 45-acre tract at the intersection of Route 9 and the Manahawkin-Cedarbridge Road." Prior to the opening of Southern Regional, students from Barnegat, Ocean Township, and Long Beach Island attended the former Barnegat High School, while students from Stafford, Eagleswood, Tuckerton, Little Egg Harbor, and Bass River attended the former Tuckerton High School, which currently houses Tuckerton's elementary school.
Southern Regional High School opened in 1957 as a junior-senior high school, housing students from Stafford Township, Barnegat Township, Ocean Township, Tuckerton, Little Egg Harbor, Eagleswood Township, Bass River Township, and all six municipalities of Long Beach Island.
At first, the school only had two sports; boys' baseball and boys' basketball. Football was added in 1958, and wrestling came two years later. Girls had "Sports Nights" instead of competitive teams. It would not be until the 1960s when women's sports would first appear at Southern. Due to the quick growth of the area, a new wing and expanded gymnasium were added in 1966.The History of SRHS, Southern Regional School District. Accessed March 12, 2011.
In 1970, Southern Regional Middle School opened its doors to 7th and 8th graders. However, it soon became overcrowded. Starting in 1979, students from Tuckerton, Little Egg Harbor, Bass River, and Eagleswood, would attend the newly opened Pinelands Regional High School in Tuckerton. At the same time, an expansion was built onto the middle school, all ninth graders were moved from the high school to the middle school.
The high school went through several changes throughout the 1990s. In December 1991, maintenance crews installing a heating system sparked the fire that damaged the guidance area and several science labs, which were later remodeled.Cronin, Steven. "SRHS Fire Blamed On Torches", The Press of Atlantic City, December 25, 1991. Accessed March 12, 2011. The school also caught fire two years later after an explosion occurred in the school's main electric panel.Brunetti, Michelle. "Cleaning Up At Southern / Workers Create Some Order Out Of Mess Of Wires, Soot", The Press of Atlantic City, November 4, 1993. Accessed March 12, 2011. While a new wing of classrooms was added to the high school in 1996, a new two-story building was opened in 1998 adjacent to the existing high school, with the old high school building housing ninth and tenth graders known as the "9/10 building", and the new building which houses eleventh and twelfth graders being known as the "11/12 building. At the same time, the middle school went back to housing the seventh and eighth graders.
In 2004, the Barnegat High School opened, starting with only a freshman class. Each year, a new year was added to Barnegat High School. June 2007 marked Southern Regional's last graduating class with students from Barnegat.The History of SRHS, Southern Regional High School. Accessed June 20, 2011. Barnegat High School became a full 9-12 high school in September 2007 and graduated its first seniors in June 2008.Procida, Lee. "Barnegat High grads ready to set example / First commencement set for Wednesday", The Press of Atlantic City, June 15, 2008. Accessed June 20, 2011. Prior to the termination of the sending relationship with Barnegat, the Southern district had received as much as $30 million for students attending the school.Pais, Matt. , Asbury Park Press, June 7, 2007. Accessed June 20, 2011. "The compounding effects of state aid restrictions and a pair of new laws regulating school budgets were imposed just as $30 million in tuition revenue from Barnegat students went out the door."
Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 192nd-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 236th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 154th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 26, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 192nd in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed May 16, 2012. The school was ranked 213th 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 (an increase of 20 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (79.4%) and language arts literacy (94.2%) 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.
Academic programs Southern Regional offers over 202 courses from which students can select. For the 2026–27 school year, Southern Regional High School offers Honors, Advanced, and College Preparatory course pathways, with Advanced Placement courses available in subjects including English, mathematics, science, social studies, and world languages. The courses are designed to appeal to a wide variety of student interests. Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered include AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP United States History, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Music Theory, AP Studio Art, Spanish Language AP United States Government and Politics, AP Statistics and AP Calculus (AB and BC are both offered). Several AP classes can be taken as independent study courses if a student is very adept at that subject, and or has completed previous AP courses. Courses such as, AP Comparative Government and Politics, is the most commonly taken. There are also honors classes such as Honors Wind Ensemble and Honors Select Choir.
The health and physical education program are required courses. Project Adventure, an outdoor education program, and behind-the-wheel driver education are also offered. Additionally, Southern Regional has an "Honor Unit" Air Force Junior ROTC program, which concentrates on aerospace science, leadership training, and community service. The special needs of students are addressed as well, through self-contained, resource, adaptive success, and in-class support programs. Mainsail (alternative) and ESL (English as a Second Language) programs are offered for eligible students. In addition to the academic programs, Southern Regional offers students over 70 co-curricular and interscholastic programs.
Athletics The Southern Regional High School RamsSouthern Regional High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in Division A South of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprised of public and private high schools in Monmouth and Ocean counties 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 1,438 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 V South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 1,333 to 2,324 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
The school was recognized as the Group IV winner of the NJSIAA ShopRite Cup in 2006–07. The award recognized the school for achieving first place in girls indoor track and field relays, indoor track and field, and girls track and field; second place in wrestling and boys volleyball; and third place in girls volleyball.Fourth Annual ShopRite Cup: 2006-2007 Final Standings, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 12, 2017.