Grades 9-12 Business administrator Kim Jensen Faculty 119.6 FTEs Phone +1 609-927-4151 Athletics conference Cape-Atlantic League | Superintendent Mark Marrone Enrollment 1,356 (as of 2014-15) Student-teacher ratio 11.3:1 Number of students 1,356 Colors White, Kelly green | |
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Address 1301 Oak Ave, Linwood, NJ 08221, USA District Mainland Regional School District Similar Ocean City High School, Egg Harbor Township High Sch, Charterte High School, Ocean City Public Schools, Jordan Road School Profiles | ||
Mainland Regional High School is a regional public high school and school district serving students in grades nine through twelve from the communities of Linwood, Northfield and Somers Point in Atlantic County, New Jersey, serving a total population of over 25,000 in the three communities. The high school is located in Linwood. Mainland Regional High School has been recognized by the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.
Contents
- Awards recognition and rankings
- Athletics
- Marching band
- Mock trial and drama
- 2006 graduation controversy
- 2008 graduation controversy
- October 2006 bomb threats
- Death of four football players in 2011
- 2013 chemical spill
- Administration
- Notable alumni
- References
As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,356 students and 119.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.3:1. There were 3 students (0.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and none eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
The school is fully accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education.
The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "DE", the fifth-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.
Awards, recognition and rankings
For the 1997-98 school year, Mainland Regional High School was formally designated by the United States Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 26th in New Jersey and 910th nationwide. In Newsweek's May 22, 2007 issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Mainland Regional High School was listed in 719th place, the 14th-highest ranked school in New Jersey. The school ranked as number 310 in Newsweek magazine's 2005 listing of "America's Best High Schools". The Washington Post writer Jay Mathews ranked Mainland sixth in New Jersey and 111th in the nation in his book, Class Struggles: What's Wrong (and Right) with America's Best Public High Schools, based on the school's efforts at exposing students to challenging course work. In New Jersey Monthly's September 2002 issue, Mainland was ranked fifth among high schools in South Jersey.
The school was the 95th-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 81st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 139th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 116th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 104th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 111th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 47 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (86.1%) and language arts literacy (96.0%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
Athletics
The Mainland Regional High School Mustangs compete in the Atlantic Division of the Cape-Atlantic League, an athletic conference consisting of both parochial and public high schools located in Atlantic County, Cape May County, Cumberland County, and Gloucester County, operating under the aegis of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 1,015 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as South Jersey, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 794 to 1,076 students in that grade range.
The field hockey team won the South II sectional championship 1973 and won both the South Jersey Group III sectional title and the overall Group III state championship in 1975.
The football team won the South Jersey Group III state sectional title in 1980, 1996, 1997 and 2002, and won the South Jersey Group IV title in 2008. The team won the 2002 South Jersey Group III state championship, defeating Delsea Regional High School 21-7 in the final. In 2008, the football team won their first South Jersey Group IV sectional championship with a 21-14 win against Southern Regional High School, going 12-0 for the first time.
The boys' basketball team won the 1981 Group III state championship, defeating Randolph High School in the title game.
The boys' track team won the Group III state indoor relay championship in 1996.
The boys' tennis team won the Group III state championship in 1997, winning the tournament's final against Princeton High School.
In 2002, the golf team won the state championship, giving them the #1 ranking in the state for the 2003 season. In 2010, Mainland's Kylie Strijek won the girls state tournament of champions.
In 2003, the cross country team made history when fifth man Alex Palmentieri crossed the finish line to clinch the team's second consecutive Meet Of Champions title. The team's average time of 16:19, was a second off of the record set by Christian Brothers Academy in 1982 for the state championship course in Holmdel Township, New Jersey.
Also in 2003, the boys swim team won Mainland's first ever swimming state championship by beating Princeton High School 91-79 in the Public B state final.
In 2007, the girls soccer team won the Cape-Atlantic League American Conference for the first time in Mainland's history. A 1-0 win over Oakcrest High School guaranteed that Mainland would take the Cape-Atlantic League American Conference title in 2009.
In 2007, the boys rowing team won the state championship with the Varsity and Second Varsity Eight.
In 2008, the JV girls rowing team, won the National Championships.
In 2010, the girls tennis team were South Jersey Group IV champions. In 2015, the team won the South Jersey Group II title with a 4-1 win in the tournament final against Seneca High School.
The baseball team were 2014 South Jersey Group III champions and won the Group III state championship with a 5-3 win in the tournament final against Mount Olive High School.
The boys swimming team finished the season with a 15-0 record and were 2016 Group B state champions with a 99-71 victory over Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, the program's first state title since 2003.
Marching band
The school's marching band was Tournament of Bands Chapter One Champions in 1979 (Group 2), 1980 and 1984 (Group 3) and 1989 (Group 1). The marching band also won the USSBA New Jersey state championship in 2005 and 2006, and were Northern All-State Group 1A Champions in 2008. The Mainland Regional Marching Band's color guard won Best Color Guard at US Bands National Championship for group 2A in 2012. The Marching band won chapter 1 South Jersey and New Jersey state championships for group 1A in 2014. The marching band won states and regionals in 2015 and were awarded 3rd in the Atlantic Coast Championships in group 2A.
Mock trial and drama
Mainland's mock trial team won the Vincent J. Apruzzese Mock Trial Competition covering the whole state of New Jersey in 2003 and went on to compete in the National High School Mock Trial Championship in New Orleans. On March 31, 2009, the Mainland "mockers" won the state championship in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They went undefeated (11-0) to get there, after winning county and regional tournaments and went on to participate in the American Mock Trial Invitational.
In 2015, the school won the Looby Cup for the fourth consecutive time, the state title of the New Jersey Drama and Forensic League, which includes competitions in various aspects of theater and speech.
2006 graduation controversy
In Mainland Regional High School's graduation of 2006, valedictorian Kareem Elnahal gave an unauthorized speech instead of the approved one. In his speech he criticized Mainland saying "the education we have received here is not only incomplete, it is entirely hollow." After delivering his speech, Elnahal received an ovation from some of the students in the audience. Kareem then left the graduation ceremonies before receiving his diploma.
2008 graduation controversy
During the 2008 Graduation ceremony, Salutatorian Jennifer Chau's speech was cut off, after she strayed from her approved text and issued a criticism of the school's administration. Students and parents in the audience protested the cut off, requesting that she be allowed to finish her remarks. Chau's issue revolved around her not receiving credit for a freshman honors class, which she believed allowed another student, the child of a Board of Education member, to be chosen as valedictorian.
October 2006 bomb threats
Mainland experienced several bomb threats during the beginning of the 2006–2007 school year. A series of four written threats in a five-school day time span were left by students throughout the school. After several school lockdowns, evacuations, and the installation of cameras with government funding throughout the school, it seems the problem has been resolved. Two girls held responsible were placed on probation and face fines of up to $11,000 to cover costs incurred by police departments from Linwood, Somers Point, Northfield, The State Police, Prosecutors Office, Atlantic City Bomb Squad, Egg Harbor Township K-9 units and Cape May County, who responded to the incidents. This includes the Atlantic County Emergency Response Units' vehicle. The two girls also must provide hours of community service and various other forms of restitution. School officials have implied that the students arrested will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Five Mainland students were arrested for making bomb threats and also two Mainland students are arrested for causing a fire in the girls' bathroom.
Death of four football players in 2011
Four players from the school's football team were killed in a crash on the Garden State Parkway when the SUV they were driving in to an annual team breakfast in August 2011, lost control, overturned and crashed.
2013 chemical spill
In May 2013, incorrectly mixed pool chemicals caused chlorine vapors to spread through the school's hallways. The school was promptly evacuated and 30 students and staff were treated at area hospitals for symptoms related to exposure to the fumes. School sessions resumed after the weekend once the chemical fumes had been vented successfully.
Administration
Core members of the district's / school's administration are: