New Brunswick High School

New Brunswick High School (NBHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in New Brunswick, in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the main secondary school of the New Brunswick Public Schools.

New Brunswick High School
Address
1000 Somerset Street

New Brunswick
,
Middlesex County
,
New Jersey
08901

United States
Coordinates40.48056°N 74.48167°W / 40.48056; -74.48167
Information
TypePublic high school
Established1875
School districtNew Brunswick Public Schools
NCES School ID341122003454[1]
PrincipalMatt Rusnak
Faculty162.5 FTEs[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment2,409 (as of 2021–22)[1]
Student to teacher ratio14.8:1[1]
Color(s)  Navy Blue
  white[2]
Athletics conferenceGreater Middlesex Conference (general)
Big Central Football Conference (football)
Team nameZebras[2]
Websitewww.nbpschools.net/Domain/8

As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,409 students and 162.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.8:1. There were 1,781 students (73.9% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 210 (8.7% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

History
The 1875 NBHS building
The 1916 NBHS building (before expansions)

The first dedicated high school facility in New Brunswick, known as Livingston Avenue High School, was built in 1875 on the Livingston Avenue property where Roosevelt Elementary School currently stands. Previously, the "high school department" took up the second and third floors of the Bayard Street School, and the New Brunswick's first graduating high school class was in July 1869.[3]

The second high school facility was completed in 1916, and contained 30 classrooms and an 800-seat auditorium. A new gymnasium was built as part of an addition in 1941, and another addition was built in 1945. This facility was repurposed as A. Chester Redshaw Elementary School following the construction of the current high school facility. Redshaw Elementary was closed in 2005 and demolished in 2006, and a new elementary school is planned for the site.

The next facility was located on Livingston Avenue, near the North Brunswick Township border, and was completed in 1964.[4][5] The 166,000-square-foot (15,400 m2) facility contains 67 classrooms (including dedicated classrooms for music and industrial arts classes), a gymnasium, a cafeteria, an auditorium, a library, and office space. The school was originally built to hold 1,200 students, and overcrowding necessitated the use of modular classrooms.

The North Brunswick Township Public Schools had sent students to New Brunswick High School until North Brunswick Township High School was completed in 1973 at a cost of $10 million and had been opened to the district's students in grades seven through nine. The New Brunswick Public Schools sought to prevent the shift of 280 students who would have attended high school in New Brunswick from attending the new facility, arguing that the withdrawal of the almost entirely white students from North Brunswick and Milltown would leave the New Brunswick school with an overwhelmingly black student body.[6]

The current high school building opened in January 2010. The 400,000-square-foot (37,000 m2) facility, constructed at a cost of $185 million, is located on Route 27.[4] The previous high school building was converted into a middle school for grades 6 through 8, to open in September 2010.[7]

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 287th-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.[8] The school had been ranked 293rd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 282nd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[9] The magazine ranked the school 303rd in 2008 out of 316 schools.[10] The school was ranked 302nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[11]

Student body

The Class of 2014 had a 63% graduation rate.[12]

As of 2013–14 school year, the school's population was 82.6% Hispanic, 15.9% African-American, 0.7% were Asian / Pacific Islander, 0.7% were White.[1] Among students, 51.5% speak English as their first language at home, while 48.1% speak Spanish; 17.0% of students had a disability, 86.2% were economically disadvantaged and 10.6% of students had limited English proficiency.[12]

The school has a Student Exchange Program, with various nations. Some neighboring countries went through with the program and students from NBHS went to China, India, and Japan.

Athletics

The New Brunswick High School Zebras[2] compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC), which is comprised of public and private high schools in the Middlesex County area and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[13] With 1,704 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.[14] The football team competes in Division 5D 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.[15] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group V South for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 1,315 to 2,466 students.[16]

Interscholastic athletic programs offered by NBHS include football, baseball, basketball, softball, soccer, cross country, tennis, golf, bowling, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling. The school's mascot is the zebra.[2] The school's athletic facilities include a gymnasium, a football stadium (Memorial Stadium), baseball diamonds and a running track.

The boys' basketball team won the Group IV state championship in 1930 (against runner-up Union Hill High School in the tournament finals), 1938 (vs. West New York Memorial) and 1944 (vs. Camden High School), and won the Group I title in 1984 (vs. Mahwah High School).[17] The 1930 team won the Class A (since reclassified as Group IV) title with a 26–18 win against Union Hill in the championship game played in front of a crowd of 5,000 at the 144th Regiment Armory in Elizabeth.[18]

The boys track team won the indoor track all-group state championship in 1951.[19]

The boys cross country running team won the Group IV state championship in 1958.[20]

The football team won the Central Jersey Group II state sectional title in 2003 and the North II Group III title in 2006.[21] The team finished the season with a 12–0 record after winning the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional title by a 21–14 score against Long Branch High School in the championship game; the 2003 team earned consideration from the Courier News as one of "the best in GMC history".[22]

Electives and extracurricular activities

NBHS currently offers a significant variety of extracurricular activities for students, including over 40 clubs, and nearly 20 student organizations. There are clubs devoted to languages and cultures, academic fields, sports, fitness, music, art, computers, and other interests and skills. Student organizations include chapters of the National Honor Society, the Key Club, and the International Thespian Society, as well as a student council, a school newspaper, and groups that design the school's yearbook and Spectrum Literary & Art Magazine. NBHS also offers the U.S. Army JROTC program as an elective.

Theatre program

NBHS offers courses and clubs focusing on various aspects of theatre arts, including music and acting. In the spring of 2002, participants in these groups, as well as several art-related classes, became involved in the school's first musical theatre presentation in years – a production of Once on This Island, which was followed by West Side Story the next year.[23] Since then, NBHS has put together productions of such shows as A Chorus Line, Grease, Seussical the Musical, Smokey Joe's Cafe, The Wiz, High School Musical, Footloose, Two By Two, Little Shop of Horrors, The Apple Tree, In the Heights, They're Playing Our Song, Putting It Together, Hello, Dolly!, The Fantasticks, Once Upon A Mattress and The Little Mermaid.

In 2008, the theatre program added a play each season in addition to the musical. Play productions have included A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet Too!, Dracula, Oedipus Rex, The Tempest, Twelve Angry Jurors, Gallery of One-Act Plays, Blinders, Project Othello, Almost, Maine, Love/Sick and State of Independence, a collection of student-written plays.

In 2009, NBHS founded Chapter 7638 of the International Thespian Society (Educational Theatre Association).

The Theatre Program has regularly participated in residencies and talks with many professional arts organizations, including CoLAB Arts, McCarter Theatre, Spotlight on Festivals, State Theatre, Arts Across America, George Street Playhouse, Mason Gross School of the Arts, and TADA! Youth Theater.

In addition to these activities, the theatre program currently collaborates with other NBHS teachers and students (of Fine, Visual and Performing Arts) to curate the Annual Festival of the Arts.

Administration

The school's principal is Matt Rusnak. His administration team includes four vice principals (one for each grade) and the athletic director.[24]

Notable alumni

References
  1. School data for New Brunswick High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 1, 2022.
  2. New Brunswick High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  3. History Archived March 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, New Brunswick High School. Accessed July 19, 2011.
  4. Keller, Karen. "High school in New Brunswick opens without stoplight, crosswalk", The Star-Ledger, January 20, 2010. Accessed July 19, 2011. "The brand-new, $185 million public high school in New Brunswick will have energy-providing solar panels on the roof, state-of-the-art lighting for its athletic fields and touch-sensitive, internet-connected 'Smart Boards' instead of traditional blackboards. But when it opened last week, it didn't have a couple of comparatively low-tech necessities — a crosswalk and a stoplight.... Devco designed and managed construction of the school, which replaces the old high school on Livingston Avenue that was built in 1964."
  5. Kaltwasser, Jared. "New high school in New Brunswick earns high marks from visitors", Courier News, December 15, 2009. Accessed September 7, 2012. "It will replace the current high school at 1125 Livingston Ave. That building, which was built in 1964, will be renovated and turned into New Brunswick Middle School."
  6. Johnston, Richard J. H. "School Showdown Looms In New Brunswick Dispute", The New York Times, September 17, 1973. Accessed August 28, 2012. "A showdown was expected this week over whether 280 10th-graders from predominantly white North Brunswick should continue to attend New Brunswick's racially troubled, overcrowded high school."
  7. Kaltwasser, Jared. "Work Nearly complete on new high school in New Brunswick", Home News Tribune, August 30, 2009. Accessed July 19, 2011. "When students do leave the current high school at 1125 Livingston Ave it won't be the end for that building. Officials plan to give the building a facelift, then move the middle school into the facility."
  8. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  9. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 7, 2012.
  10. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 10, 2011.
  11. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  12. New Brunswick High School 2013–14 School Performance Report, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed November 2, 2015.
  13. League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020–2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  14. NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  15. Kinney, Mike. "Big Central revises 2020 football schedule for its shortened inaugural season", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, August 12, 2020. Accessed April 18, 2021. "The newly formed Big Central Football Conference has released a revised 2020 schedule for its inaugural season.... the BCFC is comprised of schools from Middlesex, Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties."
  16. NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2022–2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
  17. NJSIAA Group Basketball Past Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  18. "Jersey Title Won By New Brunswick; Gains Class A Championship First Time, Beating Union Hill Five, 26–18. Rahway Class B Victor Triumphs Over Woodrow Wilson by 24–16—St. Benedict's Retains Prep Crown.", The New York Times, March 23, 1930. Accessed January 25, 2021. "For the first time since the inception of the title play eleven years ago New Brunswick has won the New Jersey Class A high school basketball crown and Rahway the Class B championship. They emerged victors in the finals of their respective divisions tonight at the 114th Regiment Armory before 5,000. New Brunswick defeated Union Hill, 26–18, in a closely contested game and Rahway downed Woodrow Wilson of Weehaken by a score of 24–16."
  19. NJSIAA Indoor Group Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  20. NJSIAA Boys Cross Country State Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
  21. NJSIAA Football History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
  22. Tufaro, Greg. "Which football team is the best in GMC history?", Courier News, August 15, 2018. Accessed November 20, 2020. "New Brunswick 2003 (Central Group II)... The Zebras allowed 9.3 points per game on the way to a 12–0 season that culminated with a 21–14 win over Long Branch for the sectional title."
  23. History, New Brunswick High School. Accessed October 2, 2017.
  24. Home page, New Brunswick High School. Accessed January 26, 2023.
  25. Gary Brokaw, Basketball-Reference.com. Accessed September 17, 2007.
  26. Braves name Dana Brown as Vice President, Scouting, Major League Baseball, January 11, 2019. Accessed January 26, 2023. "A native of New Brunswick, N.J., Brown attended New Brunswick High School before playing collegiately at Seton Hall University."
  27. Lustig, Jay. "Glen Burtnik marries Christina Shafer on Paramount Theatre stage", NJArts.net, September 20, 2015. Accessed April 13, 2023. "Patti Maloney, a friend of Burtnik’s since their days at New Brunswick High School, provided one of the evening’s emotional high points by singing Laura Nyro’s 'Wedding Bell Blues' with Burtnik on piano."
  28. Opinion. "Heaven help me if sports betting becomes legal in New Jersey", Home News Tribune, February 20, 2010. Accessed July 19, 2011. "According to early reports, the ball was recovered by Jonathan Casillas, an all-area player at New Brunswick High School in 2004."
  29. Pace, Eric. "J. Edward Crabiel, 75, Who Held Posts in New Jersey Government", The New York Times, June 20, 1992. Accessed September 7, 2015. "J. Edward Crabiel, a New Jersey Democrat who was the state's Secretary of State and the minority leader of the State Senate, died yesterday at St. Peter's Medical Center in New Brunswick, where he was admitted two weeks earlier.... He attended Milltown public schools, graduated from New Brunswick High School and went on to earn a B.S. degree in civil engineering from Rutgers University in 1936."
  30. Andre Dixon, UConn Huskies football. Accessed June 28, 2019. "Hometown: New Brunswick, N.J. High School: New Brunswick"
  31. The Norwalk Hour
  32. Blank, Gerald. "Norwalk Didn't Vote For Marx", PM, April 16, 1947. Accessed January 14, 2013. "He had been born, on February 18, 1908, one of five sons, in East Brunswick Township, N. J.... Irving Freese had gone to a one-room elementary school and had been graduated from the New Brunswick High School."
  33. "The Ultimate New Jersey High School Year Book – High School Yearbooks". www.jostens.com.
  34. Don Highsmith, Pro-Football-Reference.com. Accessed June 28, 2019. "Born: March 12, 1948 (Age: 71-108d) in New Brunswick, NJ... High School: New Brunswick (NJ)"
  35. Finley, Bill. "College Football; Big East's Defections Send Recruit Elsewhere", The New York Times, February 5, 2004. Accessed September 7, 2012. "Southern California strengthened its impressive group of incoming talent when it signed wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett of New Brunswick (N.J.) High School, another who had been uncommitted."
  36. Gorman, Richard. "Grand Dame Beams at Eight Outstanding Brunswick Graduates", The Daily Home News, June 12, 1967. Accessed August 30, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Willard Lindstrom, fifth from left, New Brunswick High School principal, is joined by Mayor Patricia Sheehan, in white dress, in the happy job of presenting convocation awards to NBHS alumni, left to right, former Judge Klemmer Kalteissen, William N. Margolis, Kenneth Q. Jennings, Capt. Nancy Christ, John Dimitriades, Capt. Linda Christ, Dr. Peter Charanis, Karl E. Metzgar, Samuel Carmell and Dr. Louis Lasagna."
  37. Leroy Lins, Peach Basket Society. Accessed June 28, 2019.
  38. Baltin, Will. "Roy Mack – Another New Brunswick Boy Who Has Made Good", The Central Jersey Home News, May 23, 1937. Accessed August 10, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "Folks don't know him as Leroy McClure in the entertainment world, but rather as Roy Mack.... But few know that Roy is a New Brunswick boy who has really accomplished much in the world of make-believe.... He attended Bayard School and then entered the old high school on Livingston avenue where the present Roosevelt Junior High stands."
  39. George Reynolds, Rutgers University Oral History Archives, October 29, 1999. Accessed June 28, 2019. "Then we had to go to NBHS, New Brunswick High School, for eleventh and twelfth grades. By the time my wife came through Highland Park had its own high school, but I spent my last two years at New Brunswick High School."
  40. "Norman Tanzman, 85, once Middlesex state senator". Home News Tribune, June 7, 2004. Accessed March 1, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Born in New York City, Mr. Tanzman moved to New Brunswick when he was 4, and then to Highland Park. A 1935 graduate of New Brunswick High School, he joined the real estate firm Jacobson & Goldfarb in 1938."
  41. Guetti, Mike. "Vega is hottest star on area racing scene", Home News Tribune, March 7, 2018. Accessed January 21, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "Balance on a horse is what it's all about for successful race-riding but, for apprentice rider Tony Vega, finding his balance on a horse was the easiest part. Vega, a former Home News delivery boy who was born in New Brunswick and attended New Brunswick High School, is the hottest star on the New Jersey horse racing scene as he leads the current jockey standings at Monmouth Park by more than 20 wins."
  42. Curry, Jack. "A Tough Decision For Rutgers Player", The New York Times, August 22, 1988. Accessed June 28, 2019. "Playing more than one sport is a situation Young is accustomed to. He played football, baseball and basketball all four years at New Brunswick (N.J.) High School without any hitches."
  43. Eric Young, The Baseball Cube. Accessed September 16, 2006.
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