Linden High School is a comprehensive community public high school located in Linden in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Linden Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1928. As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,801 students and 140.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.8:1. There were 769 students (42.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 207 (11.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch. Linden High School has been an IB World School since July 2001, offering students the IB Diploma Programme.

History

Linden High School opened for start of the 1910-11 school year, with a graduating class that included three students. The high school had been located in School No. 1 until a standalone high school building opened to students in 1925, with expansions made to the original building in 1931 and 1960. A plaque in the school honors Lida M. Ebbert, who was the school's principal from when it was established in 1910 until she retired in 1952.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 253rd-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 326th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 284th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 299th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 293rd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.

Athletics

The Linden High School Tigers compete in the Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Union County and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 1,202 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. Prior to the 2010 realignment, the school had participated in the Watchung Conference, which included public high schools in Essex, Hudson and Union counties. The football team competes in Division 4 of the Big Central Football Conference, which includes 60 public and private high schools in Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset, Union and Warren counties, which are broken down into 10 divisions by size and location. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group V North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 1,317 to 5,409 students. The boys track team won the Group III spring / outdoor track state championship in 1941. The boys' baseball team won the Group IV state championship in 1979 (against Middletown High School South in the final game of the tournament), and won the Group III title in 1981 (vs. Moorestown High School) and 1982 (vs. Freehold Township High School). The 1979 team finished the season with an 18-6 record after winning the Group IV title with a 2-1 victory on a run scored in the bottom of the ninth in the championship game against Middletown South. The football team won the North II Group III state sectional title in 1985 and the North II Group V title in 2014. In 2014, the team defeated Elizabeth High School by a score of 27–20 in the tournament final to win the North II Group V championship. The school's rivalry with Union High School, with games played on Thanksgiving Day (or the day before Thanksgiving) for more than 75 years, was listed at 13th on NJ.com's 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football". Union leads the rivalry with a 37–32–5 overall record as of 2017. The boys' bowling team won the overall state championship in 1988 and the Group III title in 2020. The girls' basketball team won the Group IV state title in 1992 (vs. Piscataway High School), 1993 (vs. East Brunswick High School) and 1994 (vs. Washington Township High School). The 1993 team won the Group IV title with a 71-55 win against East Brunswick in the championship game. The 1994 team won the Group IV title with a 58-52 win against a Washington Township team that came into the championship game undefeated. The boys' basketball team won the Group IV state championship in 2000 (defeating Bridgewater-Raritan High School in the tournament final), 2004 (vs. Atlantic City High School), 2007 (vs. South Brunswick High School), 2014 (vs. Trenton Central High School), 2016 (vs. Atlantic City High School) and 2017 (vs. Shawnee High School). Coached by Phil Colicchio, the boys' basketball team won the 2006 North II, Group IV sectional championship with a 64–38 win over Plainfield High School. In 2007, the team won the Group IV NJSIAA state championship, edging Passaic County Technical Institute 57–56 in the semifinals and defeating South Brunswick High School 63-54 for the title. The team won the program's fourth Group IV title in 2014 with a 66-53 win against Trenton Central in the finals of the tournament.

Administration

The school's principal is Charles Koonce. His administration team includes four assistant principals.

Notable alumni

Notable faculty