Red Bank Regional High School


Red Bank Regional High School is a comprehensive regional four-year public high school and school district that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from the boroughs of Little Silver, Red Bank and Shrewsbury, three municipalities in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1928.
The school includes a vocational program, which students from anywhere in Monmouth County can attend as a major in one of the many programs, including the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, the Academy of Information Technology, Academy of Finance, Engineering, and Graphic Communications. The school also offers a freshman academy which reduces the size of the school for incoming freshmen by dividing them among three houses. In the spring of 2009, RBR was approved by the International Baccalaureate North American Division as an IB school and began offering the IB program to juniors and seniors in the fall of 2009. In the fall of 2009, RBR also launched its three-year academies for sophomores, juniors and seniors in the areas of Math & Science, Humanities & Social Studies, International & Cultural Studies, and Sports Medicine & Management.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,208 students and 119.6 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 10.1:1. There were 311 students eligible for free lunch and 38 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "FG", the fourth-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.
Red Bank Regional High School is overseen by the New Jersey Department of Education and is a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology and the National Academy Foundation.

History

Prior to the establishment of the regional district, students from Holmdel Township, Little Silver and Shrewsbury attended Red Bank High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship. The school district was established in 1969 and used space rented from the Red Bank Borough Public Schools until construction of the new high school building was completed in 1975. This building, at 101 Ridge Road in Little Silver, was constructed on the site of the former Lovett Nursery. The new school replaced one that had opened in 1917, at 101 Harding Road in Red Bank, one mile away on the same road, that now serves as Red Bank Middle School.

Awards, recognition and rankings

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 45th in New Jersey and 1,394th nationwide. RBR was named to Newsweeks list of top high schools in the country in its June 2010 article "America's Best High Schools 2010", ranked number 1,557 in the country.
The school was the 88th-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. The school had been ranked 41st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 61st in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 64th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 84th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 135th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics and language arts literacy components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.
In the spring of 2010, Red Bank Regional received the designation of model program resource center for its English Language Learning Program. The designation was determined by the New Jersey Language Model Program Committee, and extends from 2010-2012. Additionally, the RBR Visual and Performing Arts Academy was recently honored by the New Jersey Art Education Partnership as a Model School in the Arts.

Curriculum

Red Bank Regional High School offers full year and semester courses. A wide variety of courses are offered to serve the needs and interests of the student body, including the AVID college preparatory program and many Honors, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate courses. Successful completion of required courses for graduation, passing scores on the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment, and a total of at least 140 credits are necessary to qualify for graduation.
Students may specialize in one of four four-year programs: Academy of Finance, Academy of Information Technology, Graphic Communications, or Engineering, or concentrate their studies in one of four three-year small learning communities in Math & Science, Humanities & Social Studies, International & Cultural Studies and Sports Medicine & Management.
Visual and Performing Arts majors specialize in one of eight programs: Creative Writing, Dance, Drama, Vocal Music, Piano, Instrumental Music, Commercial Art or Commercial Photography. These majors typically include multiple classes per day and participation in certain extracurricular events and activities as part of the requirements.
World Language students may choose Spanish, French, Chinese, or Italian. The Italian program was introduced in the 2012-2013 school year. Many students, especially those in the Humanities and Social Studies and International and Cultural Studies academies, enroll in more than one language.

Athletics

The Red Bank Regional High School Bucs compete in the Shore Conference, an athletic conference made up of private and public high schools centered at the Northern Jersey Shore. All schools in this conference are located within Monmouth County and Ocean County. The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 928 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as Central Jersey, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which includes schools with an enrollment of 776 to 1,073 students in that grade range.
The football team won the Central Jersey Group II state sectional championships in 1975.
The boys' basketball team won the Group II state championship in 1983 against Elmwood Park Memorial High School and won the Group III title in 1993 with a win over Henry Snyder High School in the tournament final; the girls' basketball team won the Group III state championship vs. Sparta High School in 1998.
The field hockey team won the Central Jersey Group III state title in 1988, 1991, 1995 and 2000; the team won the Group III state championship in 1995.
The boys' cross country team won the Group III state championship in 1999 and 2003.
Both the boys' and girls' track teams won the Group II indoor relay state championships in 2000.

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:
The district's board of education, with nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held as part of the November general election. Seats on the board of education are allocated based on the population of the constituent municipalities, with five seats allocated to Red Bank and two each to Little Silver and Shrewsbury.

Notable alumni

Alumni of Red Bank Regional High School include: