Brick Township High School
Address
Map
346 Chambers Bridge Road

Brick
,
Ocean County
,
New Jersey
08723

United States
Coordinates40°04′19″N 74°09′03″W / 40.071947°N 74.15075°W / 40.071947; -74.15075
Information
TypePublic high school
EstablishedSeptember 1958
School districtBrick Public Schools
NCES School ID340222004582[1]
PrincipalWilliam Kleissler
Faculty101.5 FTEs[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment1,267 (as of 2022–23)[1]
Student to teacher ratio12.5:1[1]
Color(s)  Green
  White[2][3]
Athletics conferenceShore Conference[2][3]
Team nameGreen Dragons[2][3]
RivalBrick Memorial High School
PublicationRegaler (literary magazine)[4]
NewspaperThe Flame[4]
YearbookChallenge[4]
Websitewww.brickschools.org/bths/

Brick Township High School is a four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Brick Township in Ocean County, New Jersey, operating as part of the Brick Public Schools. The school is one of two secondary schools in the district, the other being Brick Memorial High School.

As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,267 students and 101.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.5:1. There were 345 students (27.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 122 (9.6% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

History

Students from Brick Township had attended Point Pleasant Beach High School for grades 9-12 as part of a sending/receiving relationship, though capacity issues in Point Pleasant Beach meant that Brick would send half of its students to Central Regional High School starting in 1956. By the 1958-59 school year, neither school would be able to accommodate students from Brick due to overcrowding.[5][6]

Constructed at a cost of $1.6 million (equivalent to $16.1 million in 2023), and designed to handle from 868 to a maximum enrollment of 1,086, the school opened in September 1958 with 1,000 students in grades 7-12.[7]

The school underwent a $5.7 million project in 2015 that replaced the original boilers and ventilators, and added air conditioning to the school for the first time.[8]

Brick Memorial High School opened in September 1980 as the district's second high school, by sharing the building of Brick Township High School, with separate morning and afternoon sessions for the two schools. The building, constructed at a cost of $11.4 million, opened in January 1981 for more than 1,000 students in grades 9 to 11.[9]

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 206th-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.[10] The school had been ranked 261st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 248th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[11] The magazine ranked the school 251st in 2008 out of 316 schools.[12] The school was ranked 251st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[13]

Schooldigger.com ranked the school 208th out of 415 public high schools statewide in its 2018 rankings (an improvement of 36 positions from the 2017 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).[14]

Athletics

The Brick Township High School Green Dragons[2] compete in Division A South of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprised of public and private high schools in Monmouth and Ocean counties along the Jersey Shore.[3][15] The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[16] With 951 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.[17] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV South for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 893 to 1,296 students.[18] BTHS's mascot is a green dragon.

Interscholastic sports programs offered at Brick Township include baseball, basketball, bowling, cheering, cross country, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, indoor track, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track, volleyball and wrestling.[2]

Brick Township won the boys Group II cross country state championships in 1959 and won the Group III titles in 1964-1967. The school's Russ Taintor was the individual champion in Group III in 1965, 1966 and 1967, making him the second of eight boys cross country runners in New Jersey to win three individual state championships. He also won three consecutive one mile outdoor state championships and added two indoor two mile championships for a total of eight individual state titles.[19]

The school's football team won the South Jersey Group IV state sectional championships in 1974, 1981–1983 and 1989, won the South Jersey Group III title in 1994 and won the Central Jersey Group IV title in 2013.[20] BTHS is noted for its strong football program formerly headed by head coach Warren Wolf, who led the team for 51 years as the Green Dragon's first head coach and is the school's all-time winningest football coach, with a record of 361-122-11. Wolf retired after the 2008 football season as the state of New Jersey's all-time winningest football coach.[21][22] In the first game played in the first year of playoffs, the 1974 team finished the season with a 10-0 record after winning the South Jersey Group IV state sectional title with a 21-20 victory against Camden High School in the championship game played indoors in Atlantic City's Conventional Hall.[23][24] The 1981 team finished the season with an 11-0 record after winning the South Jersey Group IV sectional title with a 17-0 victory against Toms River High School East in front of 4,500 spectators at the championship game at Giants Stadium.[25] With a 5-0 win in the championship against Willingboro High School, the 1983 team won its third South Jersey Group IV title in a three-year period in which the team had a record of 31-2.[26]

The girls cross country team won the Group IV state title in 1976, 1977, 1987 and 1989, and won the Group III championships from 1994–1996. The program's seven state group titles are the eighth-most in the state.[27] The team was the Meet of Champion winners in 1977 and 1988.[28]

The ice hockey team was the overall state champion in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1986 and 1990, was public school champion 1996-1999 and 2002, and overall champion in 1997. The program's 11 state titles (in 14 appearances) is the second-most of any school statewide[29] The school's ice hockey program produced NHL player Jim Dowd. Head Coach Bob Auriemma Sr. is New Jersey's all-time highest-winning high school ice hockey coach earning his 600th career win (on January 21, 2008), making him at the time the third highest winning high school coach in the nation.[30]

The girls gymnastics team was the team state champion in 1979.[31]

The boys' bowling team won the overall state championship in 1990.[32]

The girls' bowling team has won the Group II state championship ten consecutive years, from 2008 through 2016. The team won the overall state championship in 2003-2005 and has won the Tournament of Champions in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016. The team's 12 group championships and four titles in the Tournament of Champions are the most of any school in the state.[33][34][35][36]

The wrestling team won the Central Jersey Group III state sectional title in 2009, 2013 and 2014[37]

BTHS also is notable for its performing arts program, which includes Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Chorus and Advanced Chorus. Their marching band has had great success competing in the USSBA circuit where they won the regional championship in 1998 and 2000 under their band director David Lyncheski. The Winter Guard program has been successful under the direction of Director Jessica VanFossen and Assistant Director Christian Negri, winning the 2018 USBands Scholastic Novice Championship and the 2019 USBands Scholastic Regional A Championship.

Clubs

Active clubs in Brick Township High School include Art & Poetry Society, Bible Club, CBE, Challenge Yearbook, Chess Club, Computer Club, DECA, GSA Club, Dance Club, Drama, FBLA, Fashion Design, Forensics, HOSA, Interact Club, Key Club, LEO Club, Math Club, Mock Trial, Multicultural Club, National Honor Society, Regaler (Literary Magazine), Student Government Association, School Store, Ski Club, Spirit Club, Sweep, Table Tennis, The Flame school newspaper, TV Club, Marching Band, Chorus, Color Guard, Jazz Band, Junior State of America and Sewing Club, Recreation Club, FEA, STRONG, and Word Analysis Club.[38]

Administration

The school's principal is Dr. David Kaysan. His administration team includes three assistant principals.[39]

Notable alumni

See also: Category:Brick Township High School alumni

Notable faculty

References

  1. ^ a b c d e School data for Brick Township High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed February 1, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Brick Township High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d Shore Conference Realignment for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, Shore Conference. Accessed November 15, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Clubs, Brick Township High School. Accessed September 29, 2015.
  5. ^ "Brick Township Plans High School; Completion Date Set for Fall 1958; Referendum to Determine Site", Asbury Park Press, May 16, 1956. Accessed May 2, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Brick students attend Point Pleasant Beach High School. Because of a classroom shortage there half the township students next year will attend the Central Regional High School which is under construction in the Pinewald section of Berkley Township. After 1957-58, however, neither school will accept Brick students."
  6. ^ "Brick Voles Tomorrow On High School", Asbury Park Press, October 29, 1956. Accessed May 2, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "A referendum on the construction of a high school will be held tomorrow. The State Board of Education has notified the local Board of Education that because of increased enrollment, Brick Township high school students will not have a school to attend within two years. They have been going to Point Pleasant High School."
  7. ^ "It Took 2 Years, $1 1/2 Million to Build And It's Overcrowded Before Opening", Asbury Park Press, September 7, 1958. Accessed May 2, 2022, via Newspapers.com "Brick Township used to send its pupils to Point Pleasant Beach and Berkeley Township Regional High Schools. Beginning tomorrow, Brick students will attend this new 36-room $1,600,000 high school.... It will open its 38 classrooms to almost 1,000 students tomorrow at 8 a.m., and school authorities predict the 1,086 student capacity will be exceeded in less than a year.... This year the high school will house seventh and eighth grades as a temporary measure.... The school was built for an ideal enrollment of 868."
  8. ^ Nee, Daniel. "Brick Township High School Getting $5.7M In Upgrades This Summer", Brick Shorebeat, July 16, 2015. Accessed December 2, 2015. "Electrical lines and boilers in Brick Township High School have never been upgraded since the school was built in 1956 – until now. The school is undergoing a $5.7 million construction project this summer, the latest portion of an overall $11 million improvement plan for the school."
  9. ^ "First day of school a success", Asbury Park Press, January 6, 1981. Accessed April 25, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Students of Brick Township Memorial High School attended classes in their own building for the first time yesterday.... The school district has been waiting four years for the $11.4 million building on Lanes Mill Road to be constructed. The two-story structure was built to eliminate split sessions in Brick Township High School. This year, 1,069 students in grades 9 through 11 were separated from the Brick Township High School student body to enter Memorial.... Although Memorial students and staff had been attending afternoon classes this year while they shared space at Brick Township High School, yesterday they found themselves getting up early enough to start classes at 7:35 a.m."
  10. ^ Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  11. ^ Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 9, 2012.
  12. ^ Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed April 12, 2011.
  13. ^ "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  14. ^ New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2017-2018 Archived December 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Schooldigger.com. Accessed December 26, 2018.
  15. ^ Member Schools, Shore Conference. Accessed November 15, 2020.
  16. ^ League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  17. ^ NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  18. ^ Football Public School Classifications 2022–2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
  19. ^ NJSIAA Boys Cross Country State Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
  20. ^ NJSIAA Football History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 1, 2022.
  21. ^ Finley, Bill. "The Fountain of Youth? Keep Coaching High School Football", The New York Times, July 15, 2007. Accessed December 2, 2015. "His career at Brick Township has been long and successful. Mr. Wolf, who is the only football coach the school has ever had and who has the most victories in New Jersey high school football history, has led the Dragons to 13 state sectional titles and 350 wins with only 113 losses and 11 ties."
  22. ^ Sullivan, William J. "Legendary Brick coach Warren Wolf retires after 51 seasons", The Star-Ledger, December 1, 2008. Accessed December 2, 2015. "Warren Wolf, New Jersey's winningest coach with a record of 361-122-11 in 51 seasons, officially retired Monday during a ceremony at Brick High as the only coach the school, which opened in 1958, has ever known."
  23. ^ "Brick Township Football Victor", The New York Times, December 7, 1974. Accessed March 4, 2021. "Tony Aulisi's third placement kick provided unbeaten Brick Township High School with its 10th victory and the South Jersey Group 4 championship, a 21-20 triumph over Camden tonight before 5,200 at Convention Hall."
  24. ^ Brinster, Dick. "Brick Dream Comes True By Slimmest of Margins", Asbury Park Press, December 7, 1974. Accessed March 4, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The Dragons thus finished the night 10-0, South Jersey Group IV champions and winners of the first NJSIAA high school playoff game ever played."
  25. ^ Graham, Tony. "Brick smothers East wins Group IV title", Asbury Park Press, December 6, 1981. Accessed January 3, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "In its hour of need the Brick Township High School football team turned to its defense. The Green Dragons smothered a Toms River East first-and-goal threat at the three-yard line in the third quarter and Pete Panuska and Tim Jones each rushed for 117 yards to power Brick to a 17-0 victory in yesterday's NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV championship game at Giants Stadium. The victory gave Brick (11-0) its second SJ IV championship."
  26. ^ Burrows, Walt. "Brick tops Willingboro on Iannarone field goal", Courier-Post, December 4, 1983. Accessed February 22, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Tom Iannarone kicked a 30-yard field goal in the first period to help Brick Township High School defeat Willingboro, 5-0, and collect its third straight South Jersey Group 4 football championship here yesterday.... It was Brick Township's 31st victory in 33 games during its three-year reign as the Group 4 champion."
  27. ^ NJSIAA Girls Cross Country State Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 1, 2022.
  28. ^ NJSIAA Girls Cross-Country Meet of Champions Winners (1972-2019), New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  29. ^ NJSIAA Ice Hockey State Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  30. ^ Herrmann, Michael. "Milestone win for Brick's hockey coach", Asbury Park Press, January 22, 2008. Accessed December 14, 2011. "The Brick High School ice hockey team skated past Jackson Memorial, 9-0, in a Shore Conference nondivisional game, giving legendary head coach Bob Auriemma career win No. 600. "
  31. ^ History of NJSIAA Girls Gymnastics, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
  32. ^ History of NJSIAA Boys Bowling Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed August 1, 2022.
  33. ^ History of NJSIAA Girls Bowling Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  34. ^ Parker, Chris. "Brick girls beat Manchester in final", Asbury Park Press, February 15, 2011. Accessed November 20, 2017. "The Brick Township girls bowling team emerged victorious in an all-Shore Conference final of the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions on Monday. The Dragons won their enth TOC title, defeating Man-Chester 3-2 in the best-of-5 Baker-style final."
  35. ^ Moroney, Murphy. "Brick Township girls bowling beats Jackson Memorial to win Tournament of Champions", NJ Advance Media, February 13, 2015. "Cara Lukosius' decision to coach the Brick Township girls bowling team one more season certainly paid off.Her team won the Group 3 title on Friday to earn the second seed for the Tournament of Champions, then proceeded to defeat top-seeded Jackson Memorial to win the overall title at the NJSIAA Team Championships at Carolier Lanes."
  36. ^ Costa, Chris. "Girls Bowling: Brick Township captures Tournament of Champions title", NJ Advance Media, February 13, 2016. Accessed November 20, 2017. "After winning the Group 3 sectional title earlier in the morning, Brick Township was not satisfied with its team score of 3,065 and was hungrier to bring more gold home on the bus ride from Carolier Lanes in New Brunswick. Brick was awarded the No. 2 seed in the Tournament of Champions stepladder tournament, behind rival No. 1 seed Brick Memorial, and made a statement in the first round, knocking off No. 3 seed Manchester Township 671-497 to set up a finals meeting with the TOC on the line with the Mustangs, who swept the No. 4 seed Manasquan 627-386. It was Brick Township that ultimately got the best of Brick Memorial, as the Green Dragons knocked off the Mustangs 234-232, 148-269, 214-195-195-162 to win the best-of-five series and take home their second straight TOC title."
  37. ^ NJSIAA Wrestling Team Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2021.
  38. ^ Clubs, Brick Township High School. Accessed July 24, 2019.
  39. ^ Administration, Brick Township High School. Accessed May 2, 2022.
  40. ^ Simpson, Craig. "MoCo Gay Teacher Fired 1972; Justice Denied for 40 Years", Washington Area Spark, December 20, 2012. Accessed November 20, 2017. "Acanfora hadn't started at the University as an activist. He had graduated from Brick Township High School in New Jersey as class valedictorian in 1968 and entered Penn State in the fall on a Navy ROTC scholarship."
  41. ^ Johnny Buchanan, Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football. Accessed December 20, 2023. "Played freshman football at Brick Township High School before moving to St. John Vianney"
  42. ^ Yannis, Alex. "Hockey; No Weak Links for Devils, Including 2 Newest Players", The New York Times, December 19, 1993. Accessed July 24, 2019. "The only New Jersey native on the Devils, Dowd was drafted in the seventh round in 1987 out of Brick High School, but he went to Lake Superior State, where he scored 91 goals and led the team to the national title in the 1987-88 season."
  43. ^ Wall, Karen. "She's The Best N.J. High School Soccer Player You've Never Heard Of, And She's From Brick", Brick, NJ Patch, July 25, 2016. Accessed December 20, 2023. "Craig Scarpelli was an outstanding soccer player in his own right. A 1979 graduate of Brick Township High School, he played for the University of Tampa before becoming a goalkeeper for the U.S. National team in the early 1980s; that team went to the FIFA Youth World Cup in 1981, according to a June 1981 New York Times article."
  44. ^ Wall, Karen. "Brick Football Star Ja'Sir Taylor Chosen In NFL Draft; Ja'Sir Taylor, a 2017 Brick graduate who played at Wake Forest, was chosen to play for the LA Chargers.", Brick, NJ Patch, May 1, 2022. Accessed May 2, 2022. "Ja'Sir Taylor, a Brick High School football star, was drafted Saturday to continue his football career in the NFL. Taylor, a 2017 Brick graduate who played for Wake Forest for the last five seasons, was chosen in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers."
  45. ^ Art Thoms player profile Archived February 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, database Football. Accessed August 11, 2007.
  46. ^ Art Thoms Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Oakland Raiders. Accessed August 11, 2007. "I started playing football in high school. It was the freshman team at Wayne High School in Wayne, N.J. I played two years there and then my family moved to Brickjohn [sic], NJ. I played the last two years of high school ball there."
  47. ^ via Associated Press. "Ex-Husker coach Danny Nee joins Rutgers staff; Ex-Husker basketball coach Danny Nee was named the director of player development for the Rutgers men's program on Wednesday.", Lincoln Journal Star, September 3, 2008. Accessed November 20, 2017. "A New York City native, Nee was a teammate of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at Power Memorial High School before becoming a member of the late Al McGuire's first recruiting class at Marquette. The Vietnam veteran began his coaching career in New Jersey at Red Bank Regional (1972-73) and Brick Township (1973-76) high schools."

External links

Education in Ocean County, New Jersey
Shore Conference (NJSIAA)
Authority control databases
Categories