Holmdel High School is a comprehensive community four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Holmdel Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school in the Holmdel Township Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1977.Holmdel High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed April 4, 2020.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 934 students and 89.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.5:1. There were 20 students (2.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 6 (0.6% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Holmdel High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
Holmdel sports teams, notably the field hockey and boys tennis teams have been New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) state champions.
History Until 1962, the district had sent students in grades nine to twelve to Keyport High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship. The district started sending students to Red Bank High School in 1962 and then Red Bank Regional High School when that district was established in 1969, which ended when the district opened Holmdel High School."School Regionalization Idea Remains Alive at Union Beach", Asbury Park Press, October 21, 1973. Accessed November 22, 2020. "It has been in effect since November 1964, after six years of negotiations, during the interim when Keyport and Holmdel Township were studying the possibility of a Keyport-Holmdel high school arrangement. Since then Holmdel has built a high school which opened in September.... But Keyport became the receiving district not only for Holmdel, but Raritan, and Union Beach. Holmdel transferred to Red Bank as a sending district in 1962."History of RBRHS, Red Bank Regional High School. Accessed November 10, 2019. "Prior to November 25, 1969, high school students from Little Silver, Shrewsbury and Holmdel attended Red Bank High School, along with Red Bank students, in a special arrangement with the Red Bank Board of Education known as a sending-receiving district agreement. The arrangement was discontinued with the formation of the Red Bank Regional High School District in 1969."
The high school opened in September 1970 with a ninth grade that was housed in a middle school building that had been constructed two years earlier. While less than 60% of graduating eighth-graders in 1969 moved on to Red Bank High School, nearly all of the students who completed eighth grade in Holmdel in 1970 moved on to attend the new high school."First High School Pupils at Holmdel", The Keyport Weekly, September 10, 1970. Accessed January 19, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Holmdel High School, new in the number of secondary schools in this area, opened its doors Wednesday. There is only a ninth grade for this year, as a building projected to house the four grades will not be completed until late 1972. The current ninth grade school is housed in the Intermediate School, opened two years ago on the same tract at Crawford's Corner Rd. and Holland Rd. where the new high school building will be erected.... Dr. Crespy commented that in the class of 1969 there were 138 eighth grade graduates from Holmdel grammar schools, but only 81 entered Red Bank High School, the receiving institution, or any other public high school. This year, according to Dr. Crespy, there were 148 eighth grade graduates of Holmdel schools, and there are 147 pupils enrolled in the ninth grade of the new Holmdel High School."
The high school was constructed at a cost of $8.2 million (equivalent to $ million in ) and a design capacity of 965 students, with a building that featured many large roof spans above open spaces and unusually shaped rooms that added substantially to the cost above those of other facilities constructed at the same time for comparable numbers of students. Ground was broken for the new facility in September 1971 and the first group of 701 students started attending the school two years later, in September 1973.Ellis, Linda. "Contrasting Jersey Schools Show Dollar's Almightiness", The New York Times, February 3, 1974. Accessed August 28, 2012.
Awards, recognition and rankings In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016," the school was ranked 91st out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 19th among all high schools in New Jersey and sixth among the state's non-magnet schools.Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2016", Newsweek. Accessed November 11, 2016. In Newsweek's annual list of the top public high schools in America for 2015, Holmdel High School ranked at number 41 in the nation, the 13th-highest in New Jersey and the third-ranked of the state's non-selective high schools.Staff. "America's Top High Schools 2015", Newsweek. Accessed August 23, 2015.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools," The Daily Beast ranked the school 244th in the nation among participating public high schools and 19th among schools in New Jersey.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools" , The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 8, 2013. The school was ranked 179th in the nation and 13th in New Jersey on the list of "America's Best High Schools 2012" prepared by The Daily Beast / Newsweek, with rankings based primarily on graduation rate, matriculation rate for college and number of Advanced Placement / International Baccalaureate courses taken per student, with lesser factors based on average scores on the SAT / ACT, average AP/IB scores and the number of AP/IB courses available to students.Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2012" , The Daily Beast / Newsweek, May 20, 2012. Accessed May 22, 2012.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 20th in New Jersey and 735th nationwide.Mathews, Jay. , The Washington Post. Accessed August 2, 2011. In Newsweek's May 22, 2007, issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Holmdel High School was listed in 480th place, the ninth-highest ranked school in New Jersey."The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,200 top U.S. schools" , Newsweek, May 22, 2007. Accessed May 24, 2007. The school was ranked as the 45th-best public secondary school in New Jersey and the 380th-best in the U.S. in Newsweek magazine's listing of "America's Best High Schools" in 2006, Newsweek, May 23, 2006. and was ranked 426th in the 2005 rankings."America's Best High Schools" , Newsweek, August 5, 2005.
The school was the 12th-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 13th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 17th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 28, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 11th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 15, 2011. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 38th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 1 position from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (94.3%) and language arts literacy (97.2%) 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 February 26, 2012.
The chess team competes with other schools in the Shore Chess League of New Jersey (SCLNJ). The chess team won the 2005 New Jersey High School Booster Championship, and in 2006 won the New Jersey High School Varsity Championship.
Holmdel High School is home to Baseball Primetime, a regional cable television show that won the 2005 New York-area National Television High School Award for Excellence in the Sports category.2004-05 National Student Television Award for Excellence , accessed January 2, 2006.
The American Computer Science League 2005–06 competition was held May 27, 2006, at Lakota East High School, with the Holmdel High School team placing third in the three-member team competition.2005-06 All-Star Contest, American Computer Science League. Accessed January 2, 2006.
Campus
Holmdel High School is physically connected to the William R. Satz Middle School and is notable for its unusual hexagonal architecture. The oldest part of the building structure is the English/Humanities Hallway, with classroom numbers running in the 100s. The main part was completed in 1973, including the Commons, the 400s, the 500s, the Library, the Gym, the Complex Auditorium, and the TV Studio. The 400s (and 500s on the second floor) are eccentrically designed in a circular fashion, with both ends reaching the Commons. They surround the Library and Conference area. In addition to classrooms, the 400s wing also houses the Humanities Department Office, The Sting newspaper office, and Creation yearbook office.
The Commons is the main meeting area of the school, with lunch, school events, and many after-school activities taking place there. Within the Commons is the Chartwells Lunch Service, where students buy food. The Commons is also a main advertising area for school events, such as club fundraisers, activities, sports events, and annual functions like Powderpuff and Spirit Week. The Complex Auditorium features state-of-the-art sound systems and hosts a multitude of events, ranging from the Holmdel Theater Guild annual productions to Holmdel Board of Education meetings. The large gym hosts basketball games and daily physical education classes. The TV studio hosts classes and TV production after school. The Library consists of several thousand volumes, and also contains nearly 40 desktop computers for student use. In 2000, construction of a new 600s/700s wing was completed, bringing new science facilities to the school. In 2004, construction of a new 800s/900s wing was completed, hosting both language and science classrooms. A new multipurpose gymnasium/cafeteria and the adjacent kitchen were constructed in 2004. However, the gymnasium's length is three feet short of the minimum that is required to host varsity basketball games and the kitchen has never been used because it was constructed without the proper ventilation systems. The Board of the Holmdel was disappointed with the implications of the construction error. States former president Mark Mawerds, "The carelessness that took place has resulted in a space that is not functional. The next rebuild will be done by professionals only."