Middletown High School South

Middletown High School South is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Middletown Township, 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. The other school in the district is Middletown High School North. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1977. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,544 students and 125.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.3:1. There were 66 students (4.3% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 20 (1.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch. History Constructed at a cost of $8.7 million (equivalent to $ million in ) on an site, the school building was designed to accommodate 1,800 students. The school opened its new building in September 1976 for more than 1,400 students, after spending the 1975–76 school year as a school-within-a-school inside Middletown High School North. Middletown South and the Middletown School District received national attention in fall 2001 when its teachers, members of the Middletown Township Education Association, went on strike for the second time in three years. The strike disrupted classes for several days, and hundreds of teachers were jailed. A group of 228 teachers and other school workers were sent to jail in December 2001, marking that largest such action against school staff in over two decades, though they were released after agreeing to submit their differences with the school district to non-binding arbitration. After the strike, many members of the union leadership stepped down. There has not been a strike since 2001.