Jackson Township High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Jackson Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Jackson School District. It is the district's newest secondary school building and was the former site of Jackson Liberty High School, which was the sister high school of Jackson Memorial High School and merged for the 2024–25 school year.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,012 students and 74.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.6:1. There were 444 students (43.9% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 93 (9.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Jackson Liberty High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History Built starting in 2005, the school opened in September 2006 with 800 students in 9th and 10th grades. The school was constructed at a cost of $70 million (equivalent to $ million in ).Zedalis, Joe. "New Jackson school to open", Asbury Park Press, August 20, 2006. Accessed April 6, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Stained oak doors, terrazzo floors, recessed lighting, a patio and corridors as wide as 40 feet await the 800 students who will attend the $70 million Jackson Liberty High School starting next month. The school, located on Hope-Chapel Road near the Lakewood boundary, will welcome ninth- and 10th-graders in its first year. The school is expected to enroll about 1,700 students two years from now, when grades nine through 12 attend.... Jackson Liberty was built with money approved by taxpayers as part of a $103 million referendum in January 2002. The school is located on 154 acres with 17 athletic fields, a field house and enough room for either an intermediate or elementary school to be constructed on the site."
As part of an effort to deal with a mounting budget deficit, the district announced in February 2025 that for the 2025–26 school year, all high school students would be attending Jackson Liberty High School, with Jackson Memorial High School repurposed for use as a middle school.Oglesby, Amanda. "Jackson to merge high schools, sue New Jersey Dept of Education after Lakewood gets loan", Asbury Park Press, February 20, 2025. Accessed February 27, 2025. "This summer, Jackson officials plan to close Christa McAuliffe Middle School to fill an estimated $13 million budget hole in the 2025-26 school year.... In addition, about 1,400 Jackson Memorial High School students would be merged into the student body at Jackson Liberty High School, the newer of the two high schools. Jackson Memorial would then be used to educate seventh- and eighth-grade students."
Design The school has a maximum capacity of 1,900 students in grades 9–12. The school stands at two stories and on a parcel of land, and features 85 classrooms, a 1,800-seat gymnasium, and about a dozen athletic fields.
The school has two floors.
The bottom floor holds a liberal arts (history, English, language) wing (commonly referred to as the "C" wing) as well as a mathematics and science wing (commonly referred to as the "B" wing).
The upstairs wings hold additional mathematics, language, and science classes. The "D" wing is home to the arts (fine art, television production, CAD, graphic design) classes. Additionally the "E" wing is home to business and finance classes. The names of previous classes are found on murals throughout the main hallway and into the business ("E") wing.
A central atrium ("A" wing) connects the "E", "D", "C", and "B" wings into a central main hallway, with the convergence of the wings (expect the "D" wing) in front of the library (IMC). Also there is a cafeteria in both wings.
The theater (auditorium) holds about 900 people and is equipped to handle presentations as well as performances. The two gymnasiums are next to each other along with a weight room and an athletic trainer's office. The football field is surrounded by a regulation size track used for meets. There is also a music wing behind the auditorium and a lecture hall in the atrium.
Jackson Liberty High School is Wi-Fi ready and wireless LAN stations are set up throughout the school. Teachers are given swivel-head laptops which have a wireless card which connect them to projectors in each classroom, with full multimedia functionality. The student-run television channel, Jackson Liberty Live, as well as a DVD and VCR hook up to the projector for large format display. The school auditorium has a capacity of 799 and is equipped with advanced lighting and sound systems.
Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 128th-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 been ranked 218th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 215th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 22, 2012.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school as tied for 129th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (an increase of 67 positions from the 2009 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2009-2010, Schooldigger.com. Accessed January 20, 2012.
Athletics The Jackson Liberty High SchoolJackson Liberty High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. 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.Shore Conference Realignment for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, Shore Conference. Accessed November 15, 2020.Member Schools, Shore Conference. Accessed November 15, 2020. The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. With 833 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range.NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 695 to 882 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.
The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with Jackson Memorial High School and Point Pleasant Borough High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
Jackson Liberty has its student section, the Red Zone, in which students wearing a red zone shirt receive free admission to home football and basketball games. Liberty has a section at the football games for the red zone in the bleachers behind the left end zone. The red zone plays a part in pep rallies, and all around school spirit.
In football the rivals of Jackson Liberty High School had been Jackson Memorial High School, Lakewood High School and Monsignor Donovan High School. Tim Osborn was the first football coach at Jackson Liberty High School, taking over the team when the program started. After 2–8 seasons and 4–6 seasons, Coach Osborn led the Lions to their first winning season in school history in 2012 at 6-4, and to their first playoff appearance, in a loss to Colonia High School.Witkowski, Wayne. "Jackson Liberty earns bid to grid playoffs", Tri-Town News, November 1, 2012. Accessed December 15, 2020. "Jackson Liberty High School's football team has a new game on its schedule this season — the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV playoffs. The Lions qualified for the first time, getting there dramatically on Oct. 26 with a 38-31 double-overtime victory over Point Pleasant Borough High School." This season however, was Coach Osborn's final season leading the Liberty Lions. On April 13, 2013, Tim Osborn died of a heart attack while at the gym at age 53.Falk, Steven. "New Jersey high school football coach Tim Osborn collapses, dies", USA Today High School Sports, April 15, 2013. Accessed August 19, 2015. "Tim Osborn, the Jackson (N.J.) Liberty High School head football coach and athletic coordinator, died Saturday, Jackson Township School District officials confirmed." In May 2013, Jim Sharples was named as the head coach of the Lions. He was the defensive coordinator under Coach Osborn.Falk, Steve. "Sharples named Jackson Liberty head coach; Damian named Keansburg coach", Asbury Park Press Pigskin Pundits, May 22, 2013. Accessed May 27, 2016. "Jim Sharples was named Jackson Liberty High School's head football coach Tuesday night by the Jackson Township Board of Education, Jackson Township District Athletic Director Mike Walsh said Wednesday morning. Sharples succeeds the late Tim Osborn, who died suddenly on April 13."
The boys' bowling team won the Group II state championship in 2019 and 2020. The team won the 2019 Tournament of Champions, defeating Group IV champion and ToC runner-up South Brunswick High School in the final match.History of NJSIAA Boys Bowling Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed August 1, 2022.Roland, Casey. "Jackson Liberty wins TOC, first state title in program history at state team tournament", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, February 4, 2019, updated February 5, 2020. Accessed October 9, 2020. "The Jackson Liberty boys bowling team put on an overwhelming display, winning three straight games in the final round to win the Tournament of Champions at the NJSIAA Boys Team Bowling State Championships on Thursday at Bowlero in North Brunswick. Brandon Bohn dominated from the anchor position for second-seeded Jackson Liberty, rolling three consecutive strikes in the 10th frame of each game in the best-of-five, Baker-format final to defeat top-seeded South Brunswick, 3-0, to earn its first state title in program history and the first Tournament of Champions victory in any sport in school history."
The girls wrestling team won the inaugural NJSIAA Team Championship in 2026 following a perfect 19-0 season, defeating Gloucester City High School in the South Jersey final before defeating Morris Hills High School in the state championship at Jersey Mike's Arena.
Fine arts
Music