Ocean Township High School (OTHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school in the Ocean Township School District. OTHS serves residents of all neighborhoods within Ocean Township, including Oakhurst, Wanamassa, Wayside and West Allenhurst.Spoto, MaryAnn. "N.J. appeals court sides with Ocean Twp. against Loch Arbour in school funding dispute", The Star-Ledger, July 14, 2011. Accessed October 17, 2011.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 996 students and 98.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.1:1. There were 212 students (21.3% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 61 (6.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Ocean Township High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
As of the 2013–14 school year there were 18 Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered.Ocean Township High School 2013-14 School Performance Report, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed March 28, 2014." In conjunction with Monmouth University, Ocean Township High School offers a dual credit program called MODEL to AP students. The school's average graduation rate for the past two years is 99% and 97% of students go on to post secondary education.
The school's Family and Consumer Science kitchens, for culinary instruction, were remodeled in 2005. Over 93% of Ocean's teachers are at or above intermediate skill levels in the use of technology.
History Ocean Township's students leaving eighth grade had the option to attend either Asbury Park High School or Long Branch High School as part of sending/receiving relationships, with most Ocean Township students choosing to head to Asbury Park. By 1962, Ocean Township students accounted for a majority of the student body at an overcrowded Asbury Park High School. Ocean Township was unwilling to commit to the long-term sending relationship that would allow Asbury Park to justify an expansion project. Voters in Ocean Township approved a 1962 referendum allocating $3 million (equivalent to $ million in ) towards the construction of a high school facility.New Exhibit - Ocean Township High School at 50 , Ocean Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Accessed December 13, 2021. "Early September 1965, the doors of Ocean Township High School (OTHS) opened for the first time. It was a momentous day—the culmination of an impassioned campaign and a turning point for both Ocean Township and Asbury Park, the district that up to then had educated most of the township’s teens.... Graduating eighth graders had a choice: Asbury Park or Long Branch. Most chose Asbury. By 1962 Ocean students at Asbury High outnumbered city students 713 to 558. Ocean was booming and more than 1,000 high school-age students were projected by 1966. Asbury High, on split session since 1959, was already overcrowded. Something had to be done.... Ocean High opened in 1965 without a senior class. Ocean seniors had returned to Asbury to graduate with their class." The school opened in September 1965, serving more than 1,300 students in grades 7–11, which included students in grades 10 and 11 who had previously been sent out of the district for high school."Ocean's Junior-Senior High Opens", Asbury Park Press, September 14, 1965. Accessed March 29, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "In buses, cars and on foot, wearing raincoats and occasionally carrying umbrellas, 1,333 township students descended on the newly constructed Ocean Township Junior-Senior High School yesterday morning. When the first bell rang at 7:45 a.m., more than two years of planning reached its climax as the students entered the doors of the $2.5 million school. For many yesterday was the first taste of high school life those 7th, 8th and 9th grade students who had previously attended the township's three elementary schools. For many others, the 10th and 11th graders, yesterday marked the return to the township school system after visits of one or two years at the high schools of Asbury Park and Long Branch." Ocean Township shifted 600 students from Asbury Park to the new high school, with about 300 Ocean Township seniors completing their final year at Asbury Park High School.Ciavaglia, James. "Spring Has Sprung but Crop of City Candidates Still Dormant", Asbury Park Press, March 21, 1965. Accessed March 29, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The taxpayers association wanted the Board of Education and the Council to wait until Ocean Township High School students withdrew from the city's schools before making any construction plans. Ocean Township has about 900 students in the city high school, and is expected to pull out 600 all but the seniors when it opens its own high school next fall."
The school graduated its first class in 1967. Over time, the 7th and 8th grade students were moved to other schools. Beginning in the 1975–76 school year, with the opening of the then 7-9 Ocean Township Intermediate School, the school only served 10–12, with the freshman class returning to OTHS for the 1978–79 school year.
At the end of the 2016–17 school year, Loch Arbour left the Ocean Township district after getting approval from the New Jersey Department of Education and following the overwhelming passage of a referendum. With 14 public school students and school property taxes of $2 million, Loch Arbour had been paying an average of $143,000 per pupil,Radel, Dan. "State OKs Loch Arbour's request to leave Ocean's schools", Asbury Park Press, January 9, 2017. Accessed September 15, 2020. "The state's acting Commissioner of Education Kimberly Harrington agreed to allow the village to leave Ocean schools. Fernicola said they want to leave because of the significant difference in school taxes for his town's students. He said Loch Arbour paid over $2 million last year to send 16 students to Ocean schools. That comes out to about $125,000 per pupil. He said Ocean taxpayers only pay $16,000 per pupil." while Ocean Township taxpayers only paid approximately $16,000 per pupil. The Loch Arbour cost per student was significantly reduced under new sending/receiving relationships established with the West Long Branch Public Schools for PreK-8 and Shore Regional High School for 9–12, under which Loch Arbour pays tuition to each district based on the number of students.Radel, Dan. "Loch Arbour votes to leave Ocean Twp. schools", Asbury Park Press, April 4, 2017. Accessed August 1, 2018. "Village voters have decided by an overwhelming margin to leave the Ocean Township School District and forge a (cheaper) different path. The tally Tuesday was 93 in favor to 4 opposed, according to the unofficial results from the Office of the Monmouth County Clerk.... The village's per-pupil education cost for Ocean Township now totals about $143,000, according to Mayor Paul Fernicola. He said the village will instead send students to West Long Branch and Shore Regional High School on a per-pupil tuition rate, not yet determined, that is substantially less than the current tab." Ocean Township opposed the changes as the subsidy funded approximately 20 staff positions.
Awards, recognition, and rankings In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 55th in New Jersey and 1,637th nationwide.Mathews, Jay. , The Washington Post. Accessed September 10, 2011. In Newsweek's May 22, 2007, issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Ocean Township High School was listed in 838th place, the 21st-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.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools," The Daily Beast ranked the school 856th in the nation among participating public high schools and 64th among schools in New Jersey.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools" , The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 9, 2013.
The school was the 84th-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 95th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 64th 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 97th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed April 6, 2011. The school was ranked 69th 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 148th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 31 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (83.8%) and language arts literacy (93.7%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA)., Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 5, 2012.
Extracurricular activities
Athletics The Ocean Township High School SpartansOcean Township High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in Division B North 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 820 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 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 III South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 695 to 882 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with Monmouth Regional High School and Shore Regional High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
The field hockey team won the Central Jersey Group III state sectional championship in 1980, 1985, 1997 and 2001. The field hockey team was the runner-up in the 2020 COVID-19 Regional Championship, behind Rumson-Fair Haven High School.History of NJSIAA Field Hockey Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.