The Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (often abbreviated RFH) is a regional, four-year comprehensive public high school and school district, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from the suburban communities of Fair Haven and Rumson, which are situated on a peninsula bounded by the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers and the Atlantic Ocean, in northern Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Rumson-Fair Haven Regional Board of Education District Policy 0110 – Identification, Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School, adopted October 19, 2010. Accessed April 21, 2026. "Purpose: The Board of Education exists for the purpose of providing a thorough and efficient system of free public education in grades nine through twelve in the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional School District. Composition: The Rumson-Fair Haven Regional School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of the Borough of Rumson and the Borough of Fair Haven."Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School District 2015 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 2, 2016. "The boroughs of Rumson and Fair Haven are residential communities zoned principally for single family dwellings. These adjacent communities are located in Northern Monmouth County, within forty miles of New York City and within a mile of the Atlantic Ocean." The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1940.Rumson-Fair Haven High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed January 11, 2022. The high school is the lone facility of the Rumson-Fair Haven High School District.County School List N-R, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Accessed March 1, 2024.School Performance Reports for the Rumson-Fair Haven High School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 3, 2024.New Jersey School Directory for the Rumson-Fair Haven High School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 1, 2024.
Rumson-Fair Haven High School receives students from two middle schools, Forrestdale Middle School of the Rumson School District and Knollwood School of the Fair Haven Public Schools, as well as from private schools, including Rumson Country Day School and Holy Cross School.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 849 students and 81.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.4:1. There were 2 students (0.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 1 (0.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
History A school building constructed in 1893 served students through tenth grade, after which they attended Red Bank High School. With a new high school on the way, the district received state permission to grant four-year diplomas starting in 1933. Students completing tenth grade advanced a grade each year, with the first graduates completing twelfth grade in 1935."All About Rumson: Lafayette Street School", Rumson Borough Bulletin, Summer 1987. Accessed January 23, 2026. "During the planning and construction period, the state gave temporary permission for a few classes to earn a four-year high school degree while still attending Lafayette Street School. After the tenth grade graduates of the class of 1932, the school advanced the remaining students to eleventh and twelfth grades. The Class of 1935 was the first to graduate with a four-year high school diploma." A new high school facility was approved by voters in July 1934, ground was broken that November and students started attending school in the building in January 1936. The high school enrollment in the 1934–35 school year was 192, which included students from Fair Haven, which began sending students that year.History of Rumson; 1665-1944, Monmouth County, New Jersey Clerk. Accessed January 22, 2026. "The new school of 1893 had ample room for all the grades and was able to retain the pupils for two years of high school work. At the completion of the tenth grade the graduates continued their high school work in Red Bank to complete the full course.... At this election of July 16, 1934, the voters by a large majority accepted the plan and enabled the Board to proceed with the erection of a high school building. Ground was broken at appropriate ceremonies on November 11, 1934, and the new building was ready for occupancy on January 6, 1936, This building is colonial in design and houses the upper six grades. In organization it is an approved six-year high school. Fair Haven cooperated with Rumson by sending high school pupils to Rumson starting in 1934. The enrollment in the high school was 192 in 1934-5."Our School, Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. Accessed January 22, 2026. "Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School proudly serves the boroughs of Rumson and Fair Haven.... Since 1936, this picturesque campus acts as a thriving, symbol of community pride: 'once a bulldog, always a bulldog' is the sentiment that resonates with the RFH extended family." Completed in Rumson with a mix of loans and grants from the Public Works Administration covering more than 80% of the cost, Rumson High School had a total price of $230,000 (equivalent to $ million in ).High School – Rumson NJ, The Living New Deal. Accessed April 8, 2022. "The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $150,000 loan and $59,000 grant for construction of what is now Rumson-Fair Haven High School in Rumson, New Jersey. Total cost of the project was $232,925." Students from Fair Haven began attending as soon as the new school opened and the regional district was established in 1956.Gabrielan, Randall. Rumson: Shaping a Superlative Suburb, p. 150. Arcadia Publishing, 2003. . Accessed December 2, 2015. Since its original construction, the school facility has had three significant additions.
In fall 2004, information about Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School and several other U.S. schools was recovered from a CD found on the body of a dead Iraqi insurgent killed in Baghdad. It was discovered from the body of an Iraqi physicist, the son of a member of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. The man's father had a strong connection to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. The information pertaining to RFH did not include floor plans, but did contain information about the school's vandalism and bullying policies. The CD also contained information about radon and depleted uranium. The recent Beslan school hostage crisis in which 385 people were killed, half of them students, was compared to the school because RFH, like the Russian school, had construction underway. Police patrols around the school were increased in response to the potential threat.Whyte, Layli. "Schools react to terror scare; Plans being put in place to bolster security include ID card, cameras", The Hub, October 13, 2004, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 15, 2011. Accessed May 2, 2016.Staff. "Attack on school improbable, parents, students reassured", Asbury Park Press, October 9, 2004. Accessed May 4, 2016.Madigan, Nick. "Schools, on Alert, Step Up Security Measures", The New York Times, October 9, 2004. Accessed September 17, 2020. "In Monmouth County, N.J., parents gathered Friday evening at the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School in Rumson for a briefing from John Kaye, the county prosecutor. Mr. Kaye said that after hearing on Sept. 16 about New Jersey's inclusion on the Iraq disk, he ordered the police chief to double patrols."
The district had been classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "J", the 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.District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 22, 2024.
Awards, recognition and rankings In 2011, Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School was one of 14 schools in the state, and one of two public high schools, selected by the United States Department of Education with recognition with the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence."Governor Chris Christie Praises New Jersey's 'National Blue Ribbon' Schools", Governor Chris Christie, September 15, 2011. Accessed September 24, 2015.
The school was the 10th-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.Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014. The school had also been ranked 10th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 31st in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 29, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 30th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 23, 2011. The school was ranked 33rd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 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 tied for 49th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 19 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (91.9%) and language arts literacy (97.9%) 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 February 26, 2012.
In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 144th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 26th among all high schools in New Jersey and 13th among the state's non-magnet schools.Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2016", Newsweek. Accessed November 11, 2016.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 269th in the nation among participating public high schools and 21st among schools in New Jersey.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 8, 2013.
In 2026, the school's spring musical, Evil Dead The Musical, was nominated for 4 Basie Awards, awards given out to high school theatre productions in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The musical was nominated as a whole for best production of a musical and best set design, as well as receiving nominations for best actress in a supporting role and best featured ensemble. The musical then went on to win best actress in a supporting role and best set design. Some of the lead actors and actresses in the musical were Wyatt Zeleski as Ash, Dakota Diehl as Cheryl, William Kuskin as Jake, Mary Grace Cosgrove as Shelly, Elliot Quinn as Scott, Charlie Snider as Ed, Ava Fiore as Annie, and Sydney Schirripa as Linda