As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 856 students and 80.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.7:1. There were 60 students (7.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 15 (1.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 98th-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.[4] The school had been ranked 154th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 133rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[5] The magazine ranked the school 172nd in 2008 out of 316 schools.[6] The school was ranked 117th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[7] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 64th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 132 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (89.8%) and language arts literacy (97.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[8]
The Point Pleasant Borough High School Panthers[2] compete in Division B South of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprised of public and private high schools in Monmouth and Ocean counties along the Jersey Shore.[3][9] The conference operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[10] With 598 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 486 to 758 students in that grade range.[11] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group II South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 514 to 685 students.[12]
The school participates in a joint ice hockey team with Jackson Memorial High School in which Jackson Liberty High School is the host school / lead agency. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[13]
The boys' baseball team won the Central Jersey Group I state title in 1966.[14]
The boys' soccer team won the Group II state championship in 1968 (defeating runner-up Verona High School in the championship game) and 1972 (vs. Lawrence High School).[15] The 1968 team won the Group II title with a 2-0 win against Verona in the championship game played at Hightstown High School.[16] The 1972 team finished the season with a record of 18-2 after defeating three-time returning champion Lawrence High School by a score of 2-0 in the Group II tournament final played at Glassboro State College.[17][18]
The football team has won the South Jersey Group II state sectional championship in 1977, 1978 and 2005.[19] The 1977 team finished the season with a 9-2 record after winning the South Jersey Group II state sectional title with a 7-0 victory against Salem High School in the playoff finals.[20] The 1978 team won the program's second consecutive South Jersey Group II title with a 21-16 win against Maple Shade High School in the championship game.[21] The team won the 2005 title with a 43-0 win against Camden High School in the playoff finals, finishing the season with a record of 12-0.[22]
The 1996 girls' basketball team became the first Ocean County team to win a state title in the sport when it took the Group II state championship, defeating James Caldwell High School by a score of 42-39 in the tournament final[23][24] before advancing to the Tournament of Champions as the sixth seed and falling by 64-36 in the quarterfinals to third-seeded Notre Dame High School to finish the season with a 21-7 record.[25][26]
The wrestling team the South Jersey Group II state sectional championship in 2007 and 2018[27] The team won the 2007 South Jersey, Group II sectional title with a 31-26 win over Cinnaminson High School.[28]
Marching band
The marching band was the Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast Invitational Class A winners in Group 3 in 2019.[29]
Administration
The school's principal is Kurt Karcich. His core administration team includes two vice principals.[30]
MRSA
In October 2007, a female on the soccer team was diagnosed with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The school, one of several in the area to experience these infections, was reopened after classrooms and other portions of the school were disinfected.[31]
Diamond Dallas Page (born 1956 as Page Falkinburg), former professional wrestler and actor.[39]
Christie Pearce (born 1975), USA soccer player.[40] As a senior, she became the first person to lead the Shore Conference in scoring in soccer, basketball and field hockey.[41]
^"Verona Booters Do Fine In State Soccer Tourney", Verona-Cedar Grove Times, November 26, 1968. Accessed February 3, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Fresh from a semi-final victory over Hanover Park last Thursday in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association soccer tournament, the booters from Verona High School were shutout by Point Pleasant Boro on Saturday in the game to determine the Group II state championship. A flock of crows chattered from the South Jersey countryside and greeted the teams and the spectators who had traveled to the Hightstown High School field to see the thrilling final match that ended 2-0 in favor of Point Pleasant."
^LoGiudice, Daniel. "NJ boys soccer: 30 greatest Jersey Shore teams ever", Asbury Park Press, June 16, 2020. Accessed December 8, 2020. "1972 Point Pleasant Boro (18-2) - After winning its first group title in 1968, Point Boro responded with its second title in 1972 by defeating Lawrence 2-0 in the Group II championship game, ending Lawrence's three-year run as state champions."
^"Howell, Point Pleasant Boro Capture State Soccer Titles", Asbury Park Press, November 25, 1972. Accessed January 15, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Point Pleasant Boro, Shore Conference Class D champion, added a much bigger title to its list yesterday defeating Lawrence, 2-0, to win the N.J. State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group II soccer crown at Glassboro State College. It was the second state title for Boro since the Panthers won the Group II crown in 1968 over Verona. Boro (18-2) got the jump on the Lawrence Cardinals then played one of its strongest defensive games of the season in blanking the 11-6-1 club."
^Makin, Rick. "Leming, Defense Win for Panthers", Asbury Park Press, December 4, 1977. Accessed February 16, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Al Saner, head football coach for Point Pleasant Boro High School, called it, 'my proudest moment in 21 years of coaching. I'm the emotional one, not the kids,' said Saner, his cheeks glistening with tears moments after his charges wrapped up the NJSIAA South Jersey Group II championship yesterday, defeating the stubborn Rams of Salem High School, 7-0.... Saner's Panthers closed out a 9-2 season with their first state title in the four-year history of football playoffs, dominating the play most of the way and holding the vaunted rushing attack of the Tri-County Conference champion Rams to 33 yards."
^Makin, Rick. "Point Pleasant Takes 2nd Straight Crown", Asbury Park Press, December 3, 1978. Accessed December 30, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "The head coach of the Point Pleasant Boro High School football team started to sniffle back the tears while talking to reporters after his team won its second straight South Jersey Group II championship yesterday with a hard-fought 21-16 victory over a physical and stubborn Maple Shade team."
^Considine, Bob. "They're At The Point Of Attack; Cheasty's helping hands vital part of Point Boro offense", Asbury Park Press, March 13, 1996. Accessed February 6, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "By getting the ball inside to its big scorers junior forward Jessica Drennan and senior center Suzanne Manzi Point Boro has gone farther than any girls basketball team in Ocean County. The Panthers captured the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group II title with a 42-39 victory over Caldwell Sunday, the first county girls basketball team to win a state championship."
^McLaughlin, Bill. "Point Boro's dream season thwarted by Notre Dame; Irish's pressure 'D' too much for Panthers", Asbury Park Press, March 14, 196. Accessed February 6, 2021. "Point Pleasant Boro's dream season ended at the hands of Notre Dame 64-36 last night in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament of Champions at Elizabeth High School.... Notre Dame, the Parochial A champions from Lawrence Township, took control early and dominated in two areas: pressure defense and on the boards."
^Staff, Point Pleasant Borough High School, Accessed June 3, 2022.
^More MRSA Cases Reported at Area Schools, WPVI, October 19, 2007. Accessed October 19, 2007. "In South Jersey, Point Pleasant Boro High School is open after buildings were disinfected because a student has been diagnosed with a drug-resistant bacteria infection. On the district's Web site, school officials say the student, who is not identified, is receiving treatment for MRSA.
^Voger, Mark. "The Shore roots of Stone Temple Pilots", Asbury Park Press, October 6, 2002. Accessed February 13, 2021. "The DeLeo brothers .- guitarist Dean DeLeo and bassist Robert DeLeo - grew up at the Jersey Shore and played all over the area in their earliest bands. Bassist Robert - a member of the class of 1984 at Point Pleasant Boro High School (and onetime regular reader of the Asbury Park Press) - was born in Montclair and grew up in Point Pleasant Beach."
^Hochron, Adam. "Kirschner takes lessons learned in Boro to D.C.", The Ocean Star, December 18, 2009. Accessed January 18, 2022. "Since his time as a Boro student athlete, Glenn Kirschner has gone a long way both in, and for, his career. Before graduating from the Boro in 1979, Kirschner, now 48, was a member of the Panther football and wrestling teams."
^"Nowalk graduates from Brown", The Ocean Star, August 25, 2000. Accessed February 15, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Peter Nowalk of Point Pleasant was a May graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island with a bachelor's of arts in American Civilization. Mr. Nowalk is a 1996 graduate of Point Pleasant Borough High School."
^Davies, Ross. "Diamond Dallas Page", p. 22. "By twelfth grade, he was starting every game for the Point Pleasant Boro High School team."
^Staff. "Sports Shorts: Edgar drops 1st MMA fight", Asbury Park Press, April 4, 2008. Accessed February 27, 2011. "Also on that same card Kurt Pellegrino, a former Point Pleasant Boro High School wrestling star, was defeated by a submission choke hold by Nate Diaz in a 155-pound fight."
^Zedalis, Joe. "Soraya stood out at Point Borough and around world", Asbury Park Press, May 14, 2006. Accessed February 27, 2011. "The Point Pleasant Borough High School graduate and Latin Grammy Award winner whose fight against breast cancer raised awareness about the disease in the Latino community died Wednesday in Miami said a spokeswoman for her record label EMI Latin said...."
