North Brunswick Township High School (NBTHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in North Brunswick, in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the North Brunswick Township Public Schools. The school is accredited until July 2025 by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools.North Brunswick Township High School, 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 1,876 students and 156.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.0:1. There were 863 students (46.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 152 (8.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for North Brunswick Township High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History North Brunswick had sent students to New Brunswick High School until it completed a high school of its own in 1973 that was constructed at a cost of $10 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The new high school opened to the district's students in grades seven through nine. The New Brunswick Public Schools sought to prevent the shift of 280 students who would have attended high school in New Brunswick from attending the new facility, arguing that the withdrawal of the almost entirely white students from North Brunswick and Milltown would leave the New Brunswick school with an overwhelmingly black student body.Johnston, Richard J. H. "School Showdown Looms In New Brunswick Dispute", The New York Times, September 17, 1973. Accessed October 20, 2020. "A showdown was expected this week over whether 280 10th-graders from predominantly white North Brunswick should continue to attend New Brunswick's racially troubled, overcrowded high school."
Student body The school is both economically and ethnically diverse. As of 2014-15, the student body was 30% Hispanic, 24% White, 24% Asian, and 21% Black. Economically, the school enrolls students who come from high-income to low-income backgrounds.
Nearly 90% of the 1,800 students at NBTHS go on to institutions of higher education, with many choosing to attend Rutgers University, the nearby state university. The school has sent students to the summer programs at the Governor's School of New Jersey summer program and the Johns Hopkins University Center For Talented Youth. The school offers over fifteen Advanced Placement (AP) courses and had over 20 AP scholars for the 2005-06 school year.
Awards, recognition, and rankings For the 1999-2000 school year, North Brunswick Township High School was awarded the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,National Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982 Through 2019 (PDF) , United States Department of Education. Accessed September 1, 2024. the highest award an American school can receive.Staff. "CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department", Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve.""Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test", The Washington Post, September 29, 2005. "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
U.S. News & World Report in 2022 ranked North Brunswick Township High School 166th of 445 schools in the state for their Best High School Report and #4,701 nationally."North Brunswick High School", U.S. News & World Report. Accessed September 11, 2014.
The school was the 145th-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 158th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 143rd 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 132nd in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 22, 2011. The school was ranked 130th 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 177th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (a decrease of 9 positions from the 2009 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2009-2010, Schooldigger.com. Accessed January 9, 2012.
In the 2018-2019 school year, the school was recognized as a Green Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education for its efforts on sustainability.Amato, Jennifer. "North Brunswick Township High School awarded Green Ribbon", Sentinel News, June 26, 2018. "North Brunswick Township High School has been rewarded for taking a comprehensive approach to sustainability. Now cited as a New Jersey Green Ribbon School and a U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School, the school will continue improving its impact on the environment."
Property and facilities NBTHS is located on a sprawling property off of U.S. Route 130 South. The school was first built in 1973 to accommodate the growing student population (which, at the time, attended New Brunswick High School). Due to the growing population of students in North Brunswick, the school has undergone two expansions in 1990 and 2004-2006. During the latter renovation project, it was discovered that the land under the high school had served as a garbage dump prior to the construction of the building. This was a chief cause of the delays in the construction project. Another major cause for delay was multiple budgetary issues that required a public vote by township citizens. Apart from standard classrooms, the school has a fully equipped library, six electronic classrooms, several computer labs with both Microsoft Windows and Macintosh computers, industrial-technological rooms, naturally lit art studios, a photography studio with a Darkroom, three gymnasiums, a pool, two music rooms, an auditorium with an orchestra pit, television production studios, and a commons area that serves as a link between the school and outside community.
Athletics The North Brunswick Township High School RaidersNorth Brunswick Township High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in the Middlesex County area and operates under the auspices 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 1,320 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 football team competes in Division 5D 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 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.
NBTHS has a wide range of athletic facilities, available to both its student body and the North Brunswick community. With over six multipurpose athletic fields, a six-lane track, a football stadium, five tennis courts, a gymnasium that seats over 1,500 people, and three multipurpose baseball/softball diamonds, the school has long been considered one of the premier athletic facilities in the county. Furthermore, the school is one of the only GMC members that has a six-lane indoor swimming pool and has thus frequently been the host of GMC Championships and state sectional meets. Annually, the school's boys' soccer and girls' swimming teams are among the stronger representatives of the school's athletics, with which numerous state championships have been captured over the last decade. The girls' swim team was undefeated in the 2007-08 season, in addition to being the GMC champions. The school also fields interscholastic sports teams in football, girls' soccer, boys' and girls' tennis, boys' and girls' basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls' lacrosse, boys' swimming, boys and girls' winter and spring track and field, cross-country, gymnastics, wrestling, boys' and girls' bowling, and golf. Volleyball was introduced in the 2005-06 season. The school's main rivals include the New Brunswick High School Zebras, East Brunswick High School Bears, and the South Brunswick High School Vikings.
The boys' soccer team won the Group III state championship in 1993, defeating Parsippany High School by a score of 2-1 in the tournament final to finish the season with a record of 15-5-2.NJSIAA History of Boys Soccer, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.Kitchin, Mark. "Parsippany falters in state final", Daily Record, November 20, 1993. Accessed January 26, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The sullen looks of despair and the sad faces of the Parsippany High School boys soccer team more than told the story after the Redskins' 2-1 loss to North Brunswick in the Group III state final at Trenton State College last night.... The Redskins seemed comfortable going into the half and also looked strong to start the second half, but little by little, North Brunswick, 15-5-2, and players like Norman and Brian Cuddy, made inroads into the Parsippany defense."
The girls swimming team won the Public Group B state championship in 1997.NJSIAA Boys and Girls Team Swimming History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
Extracurricular activities