Jackson Memorial High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Jackson Township, in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, opened in 1963 as part of the Jackson School District. It is the sister high school of Jackson Liberty High School, which opened in late summer 2006. As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,499 students and 108.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.8:1. There were 175 students (11.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 58 (3.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

History

Before the high school opened, students living in Jackson Township attended Lakewood High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship. Jackson High School first opened in September 1963 with 700 students in grades 7-9, though other district school facilities were used on a temporary basis as the building that housed Jackson Junior-Senior High School wasn't completed and opened to students until the spring of 1964. The school was originally a single, one story building with three wings. Around 1970, a second story was added to one wing. In the 1980s, it was expanded to include the nearby middle school which became known as the Clayton building. The original high school building was known as the memorial building in the early 1990s; later it was renamed the Bernie Reider Hall, for a longtime wrestling coach and former principal. The Fine Arts building, added c. 1993, connects the once separate Clayton building, previously a middle school, and the two-story Bernie Reider Hall.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 115th-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 188th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 181st in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 216th in the magazine's September 2008 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 166th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 22 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (80.8%) and language arts literacy (94.1%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

Athletics

The Jackson Memorial High School Jaguars 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. The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 1,186 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. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 890 to 1,298 students. The school participates in a joint ice hockey team with Point Pleasant Borough High School in which Jackson Liberty High School is the host school / lead agency. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year. Jackson is a powerhouse in many sports and its key rivals are Southern Regional, Toms River South, Toms River North, Toms River East, Brick Memorial and Brick Township.

Marching band

The Jackson Memorial Jaguar Band has performed at many events including: 2013 New Year's Day (Tournament of Roses Parade) in Pasadena Presidential Inaugural Parade for George W. Bush, Cherry Blossom Parade: Washington DC, Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade, NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade, D-Day Invasion Ceremony: Normandy-France, Hula Bowl Halftime and pregame: Waikiki-Hawaii, 4 Ticker Tape parades for the New York Yankees, 2 Ticker Tape parades for the New York Giants (NFL), Opening Night performance for "42nd Street": Ford Theater-NYC, Opening Night performance for "The Music Man" NYC, Performance at the Funeral of Levon Helm: Woodstock-NY, Conan O'Brien: 10th Anniversary Special, Radio City Music Hall: Performance for Dolly Parton The Jackson Jaguar Marching Band won the USBands Group 6A National Championship Title in 2013 with a score of 96.3, their first national championship. They won first place in the percussion and music category then second in colorguard, general effect, and marching. In 2017, the band won the state title and won the national 6A championship, with a score of 92.375.

Administration

Kevin DiEugenio is the principal of Jackson Memorial High School. His core administration team includes three assistant principals.

Notable alumni

Sources