Marlboro High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Marlboro Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of the six secondary schools of the Freehold Regional High School District. The school serves students from portions of Marlboro Township. Marlboro High School hosts the Business Administration Magnet Program, a selective magnet program offered within Freehold Regional High School District, so there are students attending Marlboro High School from across the county. Students that are a part of the Business Administration Magnet Program take advanced classes that are more in-depth than regular classes. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1974 and is accreditted until July 2025.Marlboro High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed December 21, 2024.
Students at Marlboro High School all come from Marlboro Township, with other students from Marlboro attending Colts Neck High School. The Freehold Regional High School District serves students from Colts Neck Township, Englishtown, Farmingdale, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Howell Township, Manalapan Township and Marlboro Township.Freehold Regional High School District 2016 Report Card Narrative , New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 9, 2017. "The Freehold Regional High School District, the largest regional high school District in New Jersey, has six high schools with over 11,000 students and over 1,500 employees and spans 200 square miles. District members include the townships of Colts Neck, Freehold, Howell, Manalapan, and Marlboro, and the boroughs of Englishtown, Farmingdale, and Freehold."Annual Comprehensive Financial Report , Freehold Regional High School District, June 30, 2018. Accessed January 15, 2020. "Geographically, the District is comprised of the Townships of Colts Neck, Freehold, Howell, Manalapan and Marlboro and the Boroughs of Englishtown, Farmingdale and Freehold. Established in 1953, the District's total area is 198 square miles."
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,700 students and 108.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 15.7:1. There were 158 students (9.3% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 27 (1.6% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Marlboro High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History With the original Freehold High School holding double sessions and rapid growth projected in the district, even with the new Southern Freehold Regional High School (to be renamed Howell High School) on the way, voters approved a referendum in December 1963 by a nearly 3-2 margin under which the district would spend $161,000 (equivalent to $ in ) to acquire sites covering in Marlboro and in Manalapan that would be used for future high schools."Voters Okay School Sites Acquisition", The Daily Register, December 4, 1963. Accessed February 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The purchase of two school sites in Marlboro and Manalapan by the Freehold Regional Board of Education was approved last night by voters of seven municipalities in the regional school district by a vote of 595 to 437. A $161,000 bond issue, to be amortized in 13 years, will finance the land acquisition. Additional high school facilities to be built on the sites will be needed by September 1967, to avoid resumption of double sessions, the new Southern Freehold Regional high school notwithstanding, educators claim. The board will purchase 43 acres in Marlboro, fronting, 1,100 feet on Rt. 79, south of Rt. 520, from Big Brook, Inc., area developers, at a price not to exceed $101,500. The Manalapan site, 65 acres of the Woodrow Luhrs farm fronting 887 feet on the Englishtown-Millhurst Rd., will be purchased at $59,500."
Due to delays in opening Marlboro High School at the start of the 1968–69 school year, students assigned to the school attended split sessions in the afternoon at Freehold High School."Marlboro High School Late, to Shift Classes", The Daily Register, August 14, 1968. Accessed February 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "As a result, students scheduled to attend Marlboro High will attend Freehold Regional High School on split sessions until the new school is ready. Future Marlboro High students will attend the afternoon session (12:45 p.m. to 5:47 p.m.), while those already scheduled to attend Freehold High will attend the morning session (7:20 a.m. to 12:22 p.m.)."
Constructed at a cost of $3.4 million (equivalent to $ million in ), the school opened in late October 1968."Marlboro's New School Opening Set", Asbury Park Press, October 15, 1968. Accessed February 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The newly built Marlboro High School is expected to open Oct. 29. Dr. Eugene Errickson, president of the Freehold Regional High School Board of Education, announced the opening date last night.""Thousands at Shore Return To Their Classrooms Today", Asbury Park Press, September 4, 1968. Accessed February 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Freehold Regional High School Enrollment up 500, from 3,551 to 4,051. The new $3,440,000 Marlboro High School, the district's third high school won't open as scheduled."
Marlboro High School served all students from Colts Neck Township until Colts Neck High School opened in 1998.Master Plan Background Studies-Community Facilities, Colts Neck Township, Revised June 1996. Accessed October 22, 2011.
Awards, recognition and rankings In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 421st out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 46th among all high schools in New Jersey and 29th among the state's non-magnet schools.Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2016" , Newsweek. Accessed November 11, 2016.
In Newsweek magazine's report on "America's Top High Schools" for 2014, Marlboro High School was ranked 46th in the nation and 6th in New Jersey, among participating public high schools including some of the nation's top magnet schools."America's Top High Schools", Newsweek, September, 2014. Accessed August 18, 2015.
The school was the 9th-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 123rd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 93rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed December 2, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 117th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 19, 2011. The school was ranked 76th 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.
In its 2014 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 118th in the nation among participating public high schools and 15th among schools in New Jersey, improving from the previous year's 343rd and 26th-place rankings, respectively.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast, August 27, 2013. Accessed August 18, 2015.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 34th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 16 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (93.2%) and language arts literacy (98.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).School Overview; Click on "Rankings" for 2003-11 HSPA results, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 7, 2012.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 71st in New Jersey and 2,049th nationwide.Mathews, Jay. "The High School Challenge 2011: Marlboro High School", The Washington Post. Accessed September 11, 2011.
In 2001, Marlboro High School's Academic Challenge team won runner-up (second place) from an original field of 113 teams in the statewide final competition."State champions in the Rutgers Academic Challenge to be honored with a Senate resolution June 7 in Trenton", Rutgers University press release dated June 7, 2001. Accessed June 27, 2011. "Livingston High School, the 2001 state champion of the Rutgers Academic Challenge, runner-up Marlboro High School and third-place Brick Township Memorial High School will be honored with a Senate floor resolution at the Statehouse in Trenton Thursday (June 7)." The team was honored with a New Jersey Senate floor resolution at the Statehouse in Trenton on June 7, 2001.Scanlon, Joni. "State champions honored", Rutgers University Focus, June 15, 2001. Accessed June 27, 2011. "Livingston High School, the 2001 state champion of the Rutgers Academic Challenge, runner-up Marlboro High School and third-place Brick Township Memorial High School were honored with a Senate floor resolution at the Statehouse in Trenton June 7." The Rutgers Academic Challenge was an interscholastic statewide competition for high school teams that promoted academic excellence and team building through hands-on, multidisciplinary activities that engaged their knowledge and critical thinking skills. The competition included segments of problem-solving activities in the areas of mathematics, science, social studies and language arts.Rutgers Academic Challenge, New Jersey Network. Accessed June 27, 2011.Scanlon, Joni. "Nine enter Academic Challenge final rounds", Rutgers University Focus, March 30, 2001. Accessed June 27, 2011. "The Academic Challenge was developed by Rutgers faculty and staff in partnership with K-12 educators using New Jersey's core curriculum content standards as its foundation. It provides for a rigorous scholastic competition that allows students to think creatively, strategize in teams and present their ideas as part of a group."
In 2006, Principal James Mullevey was named Administrator of the Year by the New Jersey Association of Student Councils (NJASC).Mullevey Named Administrator Of The Year, Monmouth University Magazine, Volume 27 Number 3, p. 21
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Marlboro High School's Debate Team was nationally recognized as a consistent powerhouse and frequent invitee to elite, invitation only events. In 1981, the team of Meredith McClintock and Andrea Alterman completed their high school debate careers as one of the top-ranked teams in the nation.Geslewitz, Gina. "Crossing Swords (Without the 'S')", The New York Times, February 17, 1980. Accessed May 1, 2021.