Freehold High School, sometimes called Freehold Boro, Freehold Borough High School or Boro to distinguish it from Freehold Township High School, is a four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located within Freehold Borough, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as one of the six secondary schools of the Freehold Regional High School District.Comprehensive Annual Financial Report , Freehold Regional High School District, June 30, 2018. Accessed January 15, 2020. "Geographically, the District is comprised of the Townships of Colts Neck, Freehold, Howell, Manalapan and Marlboro and the Boroughs of Englishtown, Farmingdale and Freehold. Established in 1953, the District's total area is 198 square miles." Established in 1923, the school serves students from all of Freehold Borough and from portions of Freehold Township."LGEA Final Report Freehold RHSD-Freehold Borough High School" , Steven Winter Associates, Inc., September 18, 2010. Accessed June 11, 2015. "The Freehold RHSD (Regional High School District) Borough High School is a three-story building slab on grade comprising a total conditioned floor area of 203,000 square feet. The original structure was built in the 1923, with additions/alternations completed in 1989 and 2000." Freehold High School is the home of the Medical Sciences Learning Center, the Computer Science Academy and the Culinary Arts/Hospitality Management Academy. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1928; its current accreditation extends to July 2025.Freehold High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed December 19, 2024.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,376 students and 97.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.1:1. There were 516 students (37.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 46 (3.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Freehold Borough High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History Freehold High School was originally located on the corner of Hudson and Bennett Street in Freehold Borough. At the time it was called the Hudson Street School. It has been at its present location, Robertsville Road and Broadway since 1925. The school is the oldest in the Freehold Regional High School District, having been the original facility that drew students from several Western Monmouth County communities.
Freehold High School, as such, came into being as a result of a referendum vote on October 6, 1953, in which seven districts united to form the Freehold Regional High School District. The referendum allocated $690,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) to be used to purchase Freehold High School by the regional district from the Freehold Borough Board of Education."Regional High Approved By Landslide; Ad Interim Board To Be Appointed; Garrison To Name 9-Man Board; Schoo lTo Change Hands In '54", The Freehold Transcript, October 8, 1953. Accessed March 11, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "When the official returns of Tuesday's referendum are certified to the state commissioner of education in Trenton, the Freehold Regional High School District will be a reality.... The plan to establish the regional district was approved by a huge majority in a referendum held simultaneously in the seven participating districts.... There were two questions on the ballot. The first provided that a regional district be created and the second provided that the sum of $690,000 be approved and appropriated for the purchase by the regional board of the plant of the present Freehold high school."
Freehold Township High School and Manalapan High School, the district's fourth and fifth facilities, were opened in September 1971. Freehold High School was closed for a $300,000 renovation project (equivalent to $ million in ) during the 1971-72 school year, during which it operated with 1,600 students using the new building that had been completed for Freehold Township High School."Freehold Regional Opening 2 New Schools Tomorrow", Asbury Park Press, September 7, 1971. Accessed July 6, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Manalapan Township High School (top) and Freehold Township High School, the two newest schools in the Freehold Regional High School District, will open for the first time tomorrow. The two schools were built at a cost of $10.4 million.... The two new schools will bring to five the number of buildings in the eight-municipality regional district. However, only four of the buildings will be operative this year. The Freehold High School building, built in 1925, will undergo year-long renovations at a cost of $300,000.... Estimated enrollments for this year are: Freehold High School, Freehold Township 1,600; Howell High School 1,750; Manalapan High School 900; and Marlboro High School 1,300. The two new schools are identical in structure."
Freehold High School is by far the most ethnically diverse school in the district. The school has had to face significant Increases in enrollment, going from 941 in 2000–2001 to 1,581 during 2012–2013 school year, a 68% increase.Elementary and Secondary Information System (ELSI), National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed March 19, 2015. (Statistics as of 2012–2013 school year)
On January 10, 2007, three Freehold High School students were killed in a car accident on Kozloski Road. James Warnock and Michael Dragonetti, both seniors, and Andrew Lundy, a junior, were driving home from school when they hit a van going in the opposite direction. Freehold Boro students held a memorial service for their classmates and gathered at the scene of the accident for days afterwards. The driver of the van, Ruth MacArthur, was killed on impact; the van's only passenger survived.Services Held for Four Crash Victims, Asbury Park Press, January 16, 2007
Awards, recognition and rankings In May 2007, Newsweek ranked the school 47th-highest in New Jersey."The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,200 top U.S. schools", Newsweek, May 22, 2007. Accessed August 3, 2007.
In September 2014, the school was the 89th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014. The school had been ranked 164th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 132nd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed November 13, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 129th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed April 5, 2011. The school was ranked 95th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state."Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 112th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 34 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (86.9%) and language arts literacy (95.1%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 4, 2012.
In 2008 the school was recognized by the Jostens Yearbook Company for their flashback-themed yearbook putting live pictures on both the front and back covers.
Academic Learning Centers and Academies The Medical Sciences Learning Center is a magnet program in which exceptional students in the sciences and mathematics are able to advance their studies in those fields. Some required classes in this program include Biochemistry/Organic Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology, and Statistics. A unique required class, Research, involves the creation and experimentation of year long individual research projects culminating in presentations of each students findings. In previous years, students' research projects have been selected for statewide presentations and competitions as well as the Intel Science Talent Search.
Freehold also houses the Computer Science Academy. This specialized academy teaches students about computers, with most of its focus on programming in languages such as Java, Visual Basic, and C++. The program also features study in topics such as data structures and discrete mathematics.
The Culinary Arts / Hospitality Management Academy allows students to work in the student-run, one hundred-seat, fine dining restaurant serving the public, catered events, and school functions. In 2005, the program was selected to present sample menu / recipes at Princeton University's Garden State Series."High Schoolers Are 'Guest Chefs' at Princeton" , Food-Management.com, May, 2005
Medical Sciences Learning Center The Medical Sciences Learning Center (or Med Sci), a specialized academic program within Freehold High School, is a specific course load designed for students interested in continued study of the Medical Sciences. Admittance to the program is highly selective and requires a high enough score on a Mathematics/English Standardized Test and compelling short essays regarding motivation for application.Medical Sciences Magnet Program, Freehold Regional High School District. Accessed May 12, 2024. "It is students from the Medical Sciences Magnet Program receiving real-life learning experiences during their senior externship program at CentraState Medical Center. Students in the Medical Sciences Magnet Program, housed at Freehold High School, are supplied unique learning opportunities thanks to partnerships like those with the local community hospital."
The program course load comprises the following:Medical Sciences Learning Center fact sheet , accessed May 9, 2007.
This program accepts 20 kids per year, and you are tested into the program. In the senior year of the program, a monthly externship with the local hospital, CentraState Healthcare System, is required of all the medical sciences students.DCH Freehold Toyota donates to CentraState externship program , press release dated October 29, 2004. "DCH Freehold Toyota recently donated $3000 to the externship program, which brings students participating in the school's medical sciences program to CentraState Medical Center for hands-on learning experience." Students are separated into small groups in which they are sent to different divisions of the hospital to learn hands-on about the different health care occupations. Several areas students have been sent to include the Morgue, Orthopedics, Cardiology, Radiology, etc.
In Junior year, every student must develop his/her own research project over the course of the year. These projects culminate in an individual presentation at the end of the year at the annual Medical Sciences Research Symposium. The best work is then selected and submitted to statewide competitions. In previous years, individuals have also competed in the Intel Science Talent Search for semifinalist placement.
Computer Science Academy The Computer Science and Technology Academy (also CSA or Comp Sci) is a four-year program meant to immerse students in the field of computer science early, allowing them to be highly prepared when they enter an undergraduate program. As an academy as opposed to a learning center, students still take those classes that they are most prepared for outside of the academy. Many of the classes the students take are honors or advanced placement.