Middletown High School North, home of the Lions, is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of the two secondary schools of the Middletown Township Public School District. Other students from Middletown Township attend Middletown High School South. The school also houses a 750-seat theater. Approximately 90% of North students attend college after graduation. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1936.
As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,399 students and 104.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.4:1. There were 176 students (12.6% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 55 (3.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
History
Originally known as Leonardo High School, since 1966 Middletown High School North was known as Middletown Township High School until the year 1976 when Middletown South opened. The town became so over populated the high school had to be split into two, the north and south side, making the fated rivals of Middletown North and South.
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 136th-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 128th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 159th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 143rd in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 164th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 93rd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 73 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (87.4%) and language arts literacy (96.4%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
Athletics
The Middletown High School North Lions compete in Division B North of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprised of public and private high schools in Monmouth and Ocean counties along the Jersey Shore. The conference operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 1,032 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. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV North for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 895 to 1,296 students.
Each year, students, parents, teachers, alumni, and administrators gather for the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between Middletown North and Middletown South. The game is one of the most important events of the year for North students, and a pep rally is held before the game. At halftime, the homecoming court comes to the field to greet the fans. Through the 2015 season, South leads the series with a 27-11-1 record, including 14 consecutive victories in the Thanksgiving matchup.