Allentown High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

that serves students in

ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...

through

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

s from three communities in Monmouth County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States, operating as part of the

Upper Freehold Regional School District The Upper Freehold Regional School District is a regional public school district in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, which provides educational services to students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Allentown Borough an ...

. The school serves students from Allentown Borough and Upper Freehold Township. Millstone Township sends students to the district's high school as part of a

sending/receiving relationship A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts hav ...

. The school has been accredited by the

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional educational accreditation, accreditation of public and priva ...

Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1959. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,131 students and 81.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...

of 13.9:1. There were 36 students (3.2% of enrollment) eligible for

free lunch A free lunch is the providing of a meal at no cost, usually as a sales enticement to attract customers and increase revenues from other business. It was once a common tradition in saloons and taverns in many places in the United States, with the ...

and 12 (1.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Allentown High School

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...

. Accessed December 1, 2022. The district participates in the

Interdistrict Public School Choice Program The Interdistrict Public School Choice Program is a program designed to expand educational choices for New Jersey students by providing them with the option of attending a school district outside their district of residence without cost to their pa ...

at Allentown High School, having been approved on November 2, 1999, as one of the first ten districts statewide to participate in the program. Seats in the program for non-resident students are specified by the district and are allocated by lottery, with tuition paid for participating students by the

New Jersey Department of Education The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...

History

Students from Plumsted Township had attended the high school as part of a

with the

Plumsted Township School District The Plumsted Township School District is a comprehensive community public school district that educates students in kindergarten though twelfth grade (in addition to special education students in pre-kindergarten) from Plumsted Township, in Oce ...

prior to the passage of a referendum under which

New Egypt High School New Egypt High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school that serves students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades from Plumsted Township, Ne ...

was opened in September 2001 with an initial class of 100 students in ninth grade.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 125th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in ''

New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey. The magazine was started in 1976. It is based in Morristown. In addition to articles of general interest, the publication fe ...

'' magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 135th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 82nd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 90th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was also ranked 103rd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state."Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank"
''

'', September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 175th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 37 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (81.1%) and language arts literacy (92.5%) components of the

High School Proficiency Assessment The High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA, pronounced "hess-pah" (/ˈhɛspə/) or sometimes just "H-S-P-A") was a standardized test that was administered by the New Jersey Department of Education to all New Jersey public high school students in ...

(HSPA). In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 226th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 36th among all high schools in New Jersey and 19th among the state's non-magnet schools. In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' ranked the school 675th in the nation among participating public high schools and 52nd among schools in New Jersey.

Athletics

The Allentown High School RedbirdsAllentown High School

New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports. State championsh ...

. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the

Colonial Valley Conference The Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) is an athletic conference in Central Jersey composed of high schools located primarily in Mercer County, New Jersey, with one member school in Monmouth County (Allentown High School) and one in Middlesex Cou ...

, which is comprised of public and private high schools located in

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

and Monmouth counties, operating under the supervision of the

(NJSIAA). With 824 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2022–24 school years as Group III Central for most athletic competition purposes. The football team competes in the Valley Division of the 94-team

West Jersey Football League The West Jersey Football League is a 94-school superconference that stretches from Princeton, New Jersey to Wildwood, New Jersey encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conferenc ...

superconference and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III South for football for 2022–2024. The school participates in joint cooperative ice hockey and boys / girls swimming teams with Robbinsville High School as the host school / lead agency. These co-op programs operate under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year. The girls' field hockey team won the Central Jersey Group II state sectional championship in 1997, 2003, 2004 and 2005, and won the Central Jersey Group III title in 2013. The team was Group II co-champion in 1997 with

West Essex High School West Essex High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in North Caldwell. The high school is part of the West Essex Regional School District, which comprises the constituent municipalities of Essex Fells, Fairfield, No ...

. Against a program that had won eight previous state titles, the 1997 team stayed even with West Essex at 2-2 after regulation and three overtime periods to be declared as co-champion in Group II and finish the season with a 14-game unbeaten streak and a 22-1-1 record. The 2003 field hockey won the Central, Group II sectional championship, edging

Shore Regional High School Shore Regional High School is a regional public high school and school district serving students from four communities in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The high school serves students from the constituent municipalities of Monmo ...

3–2 in the tournament final. The 2004 team repeated the championship, defeating

Cinnaminson High School Cinnaminson High School is a four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Cinnaminson Township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Cinnaminson ...

2–0. The 2003 girls' tennis team won the Central, Group II title with a 3–2 win over

. In 2006, the girls' softball won the Central, Group II sectional championship over John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, by a 3–0 final score. The team moved on to finish the season with a record of 23-4 after winning the NJSIAA Group II state championship, topping

Pascack Valley High School Pascack Valley High School (PVHS) is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located in Hillsdale in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of two secondary schools in th ...

in the finals by a score of 11–1 in five innings, under the

mercy rule A mercy rule, slaughter rule, knockout rule, or skunk rule ends a two-competitor sports competition earlier than the scheduled endpoint if one competitor has a very large and presumably insurmountable scoring lead over the other. It is called th ...

. The baseball team won the Group II state championship in 2008 (defeating runner-up

Mahwah High School Mahwah High School (MHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students from Mahwah in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the only secondary school of the Mahwah Town ...

in the playoff finals) and won the Group III title in 2017 (vs.

Cranford High School Cranford High School is a four-year state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school serving students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades, located in Cranford, New Jersey, Cranford, in Union County, New Jersey, ...

). The 2008 team won the Group II title with an 1106 win against Mahwah in the championship game. The boys soccer team won the Group III state title in 2013 as co-champion with

Northern Highlands Regional High School Northern Highlands Regional High School (NHRHS) is a regional public high school and school district in Allendale, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Allendale, Ho-Ho-Ku ...

. The football team won the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional championship in 2016. Allentown defeated Brick Township High School by a score of 41–6 in the tournament final against Brick Township High School. The 2010 football team won the program's first division title, finishing with a record of 6–4. Their biggest win in school history at the time, which also happened in this season, came from defeating

Trenton Central High School Trenton Central High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Trenton, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Trenton Public Schools. As ...

, the final score was 74–44. In 2015, the football team broke the school record for points in a game, defeating

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, also known as WW-P North, is a four-year public comprehensive high school located in Plainsboro Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades. T ...

by 81–56, in a game in which quarterback Jordan Winston had 354 rushing yards on 24 carries, and went 4 for 6 for 93 yards. In 2016 the team won the program's first championship, winning the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional title with a 41–6 win against Brick Township High School in the tournament final. In 2017, the girls' soccer team went 22–1, winning the Central Jersey Group III state sectional championship, the program's first, over

Toms River High School East Toms River High School East is a comprehensive four-year public high school, the third high school built in Toms River in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Toms River Regio ...

by a score of 2–1. They then went on to win the Group III state title over Middletown High School South in the playoff finals by a score of 2–1. These state titles are the first and only in the girls' soccer program at the high school. The team was also named Area Team of the Year by

NJ.com NJ.com is a digital news content provider and website in New Jersey owned by Advance Publications. According to a report in ''The New York Times'' in 2012, it was the largest provider of digital news in the state at the time. In 2018, comScore r ...

. In 2018, the NJSIAA sanctioned girls wrestling and state championships were held in 2019. Jasmine Aizley, the first and only female wrestler on the team, qualified in the inaugural 2018-2019 and also the 2019–2020 seasons, her junior and senior year. She was the team's first female captain, region finalist and champion, and placed fourth and second in the state championships.

Student life

The classes feature

block scheduling Block scheduling or blocking is a type of academic scheduling used in schools in the American K-12 system, in which each pupil has fewer classes per day. It is more common in middle and high schools than in primary schools. Each class is schedu ...

. The third block is split into four lunch periods. After paying a fee, eleventh and twelfth grade students are given the privilege to drive their cars to school and park in assigned spots. Twelfth grade students park in the parking lot at the back of the school, while eleventh grade students park their cars at the adjoining Byron Johnson Recreation Area parking lot.

Extracurricular activities

Marching band

The Allentown High School marching band has received recognition over the years, including winners of the 2000, 2003, 2008 and 2009 USSBA marching band All-State Finals competitions. The percussion section of the band has won the award for Best Percussion at All-State Finals in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014, and 2015. The band has gone on to winning many other awards and appearances, such as the St. Patrick's Day Parade on

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

. The band enjoyed back-to-back victories in New York in 1990 and 1991, then five in a row from 1999 to 2003. Meanwhile, the band repeated their performance in Philadelphia's parade, winning in 1990–93, 1999–2000, and 2005–06.

FIRST Robotics Team

Allentown High School is home to

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weig ...

Team 1807
Redbird Robotics
Since its rookie year in 2006, Redbird Robotics has accepted such honors as the 2006 New Jersey Star Award, the 2007 Regional

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...

Quality Award, and the 2009 New York City Regional Underwriters Laboratory Safety Award and Regional Champion. The team also qualified for and attended the 2006 and 2009

FIRST Championship The FIRST Championship is a four-day robotics championship held annually in April at which FIRST student robotics teams compete. For several years, the event was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to the Edward Jones Dome in ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. In 2017, Redbird Robotics won the FIRST Robotics Mid-Atlantic Regional Competition. As a result, the team moved forward to the World Championships in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri.

Administration

From 1999 to 2022, the principal was Constance DeNicola Embley. Todd Pae succeeded her as the current principal on Aug. 1, 2022. His administration team includes two vice principals.

Notable alumni

* Irwin Lachman (born 1930), one of the inventors of the

catalytic converter A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually ...

. * Ross Scheuerman (born 1993),

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

.O'Gorman, George
"Eagles sign former Allentown High star Ross Scheuerman"
''

The Trentonian ''The Trentonian'' is a daily newspaper serving Trenton, New Jersey, USA, and the surrounding Mercer County community. The paper in 2020 has a daily circulation of under 8,000 and a Sunday circulation under 7,000. As of August 2020, it was ranke ...

'', January 21, 2016. Accessed October 1, 2017. "The Eagles signed former Allentown High and Lafayette College running back Ross Scheuerman on Thursday.... A Cream Ridge resident who was twice an All-CVC selection and Mercer County Player of the Year and All-State, Scheuerman was also the Delaware Valley Scholar Athlete in 2012. His Allentown numbers included 1,770 yards and 26 TDs on 246 carries – CVC records at the time."

References

External links

Allentown High SchoolUpper Freehold Regional School District
*
Upper Freehold Regional School District

{{Authority control Allentown, New Jersey Millstone Township, New Jersey Upper Freehold Township, New Jersey Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools Public high schools in Monmouth County, New Jersey