In addition to the students of Point Pleasant Beach, the high school serves the students of Bay Head and Lavallette for grades 9-12 and those from Mantoloking for K-12, as part of sending/receiving relationships, as well as some students who attend on a tuition basis.[5] The district earned more than $650,000 in revenue by accepting 85 tuition-paying students in 2015–16, many of whom played on the school's athletic teams, leading to claims that the school is competing unfairly with other schools that don't accept outside students.[6]
As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 358 students and 38.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.3:1. There were 22 students (6.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 8 (2.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
History
The building in the block between Trenton and Forman Avenues was originally constructed in 1908, replacing a building nearby built in 1886 when Point Pleasant Beach was still part of Brick Township. It has been renovated and expanded several times since. Students from Brick Township, New Jersey attended the school until Brick Township High School opened in September 1958.[7] The school served students from both Point Pleasant Beach and Point Pleasant Borough students until the Point Pleasant Borough High School was built in 1963.[8]
In March 2009, the school debuted the musical The Wedding Singer as the first amateur performance of the show in New Jersey.[9]
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 83rd-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 78th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 58th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[11] The magazine ranked the school 59th in 2008 out of 316 schools, and was the top-ranked school in Ocean County in 2010 (Point Pleasant Boro High School was next with a ranking of 133rd).[12] The school was ranked 68th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. In 2009, the school was ranked 59th in the state.[13] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 70th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 104 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (89.7%) and language arts literacy (96.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[14]
Athletics
The Point Pleasant Beach High School Garnet Gulls[2] compete in Division B Central of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprising 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 251 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range.[17] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 200 to 463 students.[18] The mascot is the Garnet Gull, and the school colors are red and white.[2]
The school participates in joint cooperative boys / girls bowling, gymnastics, ice hockey and boys / girls swimming teams with Point Pleasant Beach 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.[19][20]
The boys track team won the indoor track Group I state championship in 1978.[21]
The girls' track team won the Group I state indoor relay championship in 1984.[22]
The boys' tennis team won the Group I state championship in 2002 (vs. Jonathan Dayton High School) and 2003 (vs. Middlesex High School).[23] The 2002 team became the county's first tennis program to win a state title, after winning the Group I state championship by defeating Cresskill High School 4-1 in the semifinals and then topping Jonathan Dayton 3-2 in the finals.[24]
The 2008 girls' tennis team won the Central Jersey Group I state sectional title with a 3–2 win over Highland Park High School.[25] The team lost to Leonia High School 3½-1½ in the semifinals of the 2008 Group I state tournament.[26] The 2010 girls' tennis team won the Group I state sectional title and went on to win the Group I state title with a 4–1 win against Haddon Township High School.[27][28]
The 2010–11 seasons proved to be one of the most successful athletic years in the school's history. Girls' soccer, girls' tennis, cross country, ice hockey, boys' and girls' swimming, baseball, and softball all won divisional titles with many of the teams going deep into the Shore Conference Tournament. Several of the teams qualified for the state playoffs, with girls' tennis winning the overall title.
In 2010, the girls' soccer team won their conference title, division title, and the Central Jersey Group I state sectional championship with a 1–0 win against Metuchen High School, the first sectional title in the history of the program.[29]
The 2011-12 boys' soccer team won the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I sectional title, the program's first, with a 1–0 over Burlington City High School and finishing the season with a record of 13-8-1.[30][31]
The 2013 boys' basketball team won both a divisional title and the Central Jersey Group I sectional title, the first in program history, with a 69–40 win over Bound Brook High School.[34] The team won the Group I title in 2013 with a 43-29 win against Jonathan Dayton High School in the finals played at the Rutgers Athletic Center.[35][36]
In 2013, the football team finished the season with a record of 11-2 after defeating division rival Shore Regional High School by a score of 12–7 to win the Central Jersey Group I state sectional title, the program's first in its history, avenging a 31–0 loss to Shore Regional just a week earlier in the Shore Conference divisional title game.[37][38]
The school maintains a rivalry with nearby St. Rose High School and Shore Regional High School.[39] The school has had a longstanding football rivalry with Shore Regional, which leads the series with an overall record of 30-12 through the 2017 season, including the games in which the two teams faced each other in the Central Jersey Group I championship game in both 2013 and 2014. NJ.com listed the rivalry at 29th on their 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football".[40]
The wrestling team won the Central Jersey Group I state sectional championship in 2016-2018 and 2020[41] The 2014 wrestling team set a school record for wins and finished 27–5. They also won their fourth straight divisional title and were Central Jersey Group 1 finalists. The divisional title was their 18th in the past 25 years.[42] The 2015-16 wrestling team defeated Manville High School 37–25 to win the Central Jersey Group I state sectional title, the first in the program's history.[43]
^Stanmyre, Matthew. "Paying for public school? You bet, and it’s impacting sports in major way", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, May 15, 2016, updated August 23, 2019. Accessed February 25, 2020. "So what Eastern and others — Point Pleasant Beach's boys basketball team is another notable example — have done is create a perfectly legal public vs. public imbalance.... Point Pleasant Beach has a staggering 85 tuition students in the high school this year among its total enrollment of 404. Each pays $7,747, amounting to a financial windfall of $658,495."
^Chickaree in the Wall: a History of one-room schools in Ocean County, NJ. Carolyn M. Campbell. Ocean County Historical Society, 1987. p. 134.
^Competello, Alena. "High school to tak crowds back to '80s", The Ocean Star, March 6, 2009. Accessed February 3, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "It is time for an '80s flashback this weekend, courtesy of the students of Point Pleasant Beach High School, who will delight audiences with a performance of "The Wedding Singer... Point Pleasant Beach High School is, in fact, the New Jersey amateur premiere of the show, Mr. Raguseo noted."
^Grace, Keith. "Gulls make history with first Group I title; Calfano wins pivotal match in victory over Dayton", The Ocean Star, May 31, 2002. Accessed February 3, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Just two days after winning the program's third South Jersey Group I crown last Tuesday, Califano and Point Beach secured the 3-2 win over Dayton, the North Jersey Section 2 Group I champ and defending Group I champ in the final. The team also beat Cresskill. the North Jersey Section 1 Group I champ 4-1 in the semifinals. The Group I Championship marks the first for any athletic team at Point Pleasant Beach High School. The feat is also the first of any tennis program in Ocean County."
^Parker, Chris. "Ed Hanley, Point Pleasant Beach, Girls' Tennis"Archived July 9, 2012, at archive.today, Asbury Park Press, December 11, 2010. Accessed August 2, 2011. "Hanley coached his team to the Class B Central division title and a trip to the NJSIAA semifinal match against top-seeded Glen Ridge.... Carrying the momentum from their dramatic semifinal victory, Point Beach defeated Haddon Township, 4-1, giving their coach his first NJSIAA Group I sectional title."
^Staff. "Point Pleasant Beach 1, Metuchen 0", The Star-Ledger, November 12, 2010. Accessed August 22, 2012. "Erin Springsteen produced a goal just shy of halftime and keeper Cora Wallace made the score stand up as Point Pleasant Beach stamped a breakthrough season with a 1-0 triumph over Metuchen yesterday in the NJSIAA/The Sports Authority Stores Central Jersey, Group 1 final in Metuchen. The victory marked the first sectional title for Point Pleasant Beach (13-3-3) and earned it a date with South Jersey champion Pennsville on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Toms River South."
^Guthrie, Charles. "Bloomfield Tech (54) at Point Pleasant Beach (56), NJSIAA Group Tournament, Final Round, Group 1 - Girls Basketball", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, March 10, 2013, updated August 25, 2019. Accessed December 19, 2020. "With her team clinging to a one-point lead in the waning seconds of the game, Flaherty dove on a loose ball after a missed foul shot, which kept possession in her team's favor and helped Point Pleasant Beach, No. 11 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, secure a 56-54 victory over Bloomfield Tech yesterday in the NJSIAA/ShopRite Group 1 final at Pine Belt Arena in Toms River."
^Christopher, Chris. "Garnet Gulls win first sectional title", Asbury Park Press, March 5, 2013. Accessed December 21, 2013. "The Point Pleasant Beach High School boys' basketball team made history Tuesday night. The top-seeded Garnet Gulls beat Bound Brook, 69-40, to win their first sectional title in school history, the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I championship."
^Parachini, JR. "Dayton boys' end 22-6 after winning sectio", Union County LocalSource, March 14, 2013. Accessed December 19, 2020. "The Dayton boys' basketball team came ever so close to capturing its first-ever state title, falling to Point Pleasant Beach 43-39 in Sunday night's Group 1 state championship game at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway."
^Stypulkoski, Matt. "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 27, 2017, updated May 15, 2019. Accessed December 1, 2020. "29-Point Pleasant Beach vs. Shore Jody Somers / For The Star-Ledger One of the top small school rivalries in New Jersey, Shore and Point Pleasant Beach have met twice for the Central Jersey, Group 1 title – in 2013 and 2014.... All-time series: Shore leads, 30-12"
^Badders, Bob. "Wrestling – Proud Tradition: Point Beach 39, Shore 15", Shore Sports Network, January 15, 2014. Accessed March 29, 2015. "The Garnet Gulls have always hung their hats on competing for and winning what is now the Class B Central title, and in the last 25 years, they have dominated.In the de facto Shore Conference Class B Central title match on Friday night, Point Beach won 10 of 14 bouts against host Shore Regional for a 39-15 win that officially clinched at least a share of its 18th division title and fourth consecutive championship."
^Kratch, James. "Point Pleasant Beach makes history, defeats Manville in Central Jersey Group 1 wrestling final", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, February 13, 2016. Accessed July 25, 2016. "But Friday night's Central Jersey, Group 1 against Manville presented a much more level playing field. Despite being the lower seed, Point Beach entered the evening with the Mustangs even on paper, and perhaps a hair better. And the Garnet Gulls showed up, won the toss, got their matchups, and did everything they had to do from there, knocking off the Mustangs, 37-25, to win the first sectional title in school history."
^Constant, Andrew. "Katelynn Flaherty transfers from Point Pleasant Beach to Metuchen", Courier News, January 3, 2014. Accessed January 17, 2021. "As was first reported by Scott Stump Thursday afternoon, senior point guard Katelynn Flaherty has transferred from Point Pleasant Beach to Metuchen. Flaherty, a University of Michigan commit who has scored 2,174 career points in her first three seasons at Manasquan and Point Pleasant Beach, will join Cassie Smith to form a high-scoring duo for Metuchen.... Flaherty started her high school career at Manasquan and transferred to Point Pleasant Beach before the 2012-13 season. Once at Point Pleasant Beach, she teamed with Marina Mabrey to lead the Garnett Gulls to a 26-2 record."
^Adelizzi, Joe. "Vietnam Wall bound for Berkeley", Asbury Park Press, April 26, 2001. Accessed August 2, 2011. "The opening ceremonies at 10 am May 24 will be highlighted by a visit from retired US Marine Corps Commandant Alfred Gray, a Point Pleasant Beach High School alumnus who was a star athlete before joining the Marines."
^Assemblyman James W. Holzapfel, New Jersey Senate Republicans. Accessed August 2, 2011. "Assemblyman James W. Holzapfel was born and raised in Point Pleasant Beach, where he graduated from high school in 1962."