As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,222 students and 92.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.2:1. There were 223 students (18.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 66 (5.4% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[2]
The school's mascot is a lion, the symbol is a paw, for the "Lacey Lions." The school's colors are navy blue, silver, and cardinal [3]
Lacey Township High School has implemented a random drug testing policy. Students participating in any extracurricular activities including after school sports, clubs or any school event must sign a waiver that allows them to be drug tested randomly. The first offense includes suspension from all after school activities for 10 days.[6]
Organized efforts to establish a high school in the township go back to 1971, when a group of residents that included a Central Regional High School District board trustee created the Lacey Township High School Study Committee to consider the options available, based on advice from experts.[7] By March 1976, the Lacey Township Taxpayers Association suggested consideration of a township school for grades 7 and 8 as the first step towards withdrawal of the 1,100 township students attending Central Regional.[8]
Constructed at a cost of $9.5 million (equivalent to $31.8 million in 2023) and designed to handle a maximum enrollment of 1,200, the school opened its doors in September 1981 with 850 students in grades 9-12.[9] Before the new facility opened, students from Lacey Township had attended Central Regional High School in neighboring Berkeley Township as part of a sending/receiving relationship.[10]
A new west wing was added onto the school in 2003, which offers upgraded classrooms.
In 2018, the school was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union after suspending two students who had posted photos of themselves at a gun range, in their own free time and not on school property. One of the students, Cody Conroy, was vocal about the situation. "Sharing our completely legal weekend activities on Snapchat should not result in three days of in-school suspensions."[11]
The school was the 210th-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.[12] The school had been ranked 257th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 225th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[13] The magazine ranked the school 238th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[14] The school was ranked 201st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[15] Schooldigger.com ranked the school as tied for 211th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (an increase of 1 position 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).[16]
Maurice Grillon III was recognized by Princeton University as one of four outstanding New Jersey secondary school teachers, honored at its June 1, 2004 Commencement. Through Grillon's efforts, the school's German language program was expanded to 210 students.[17]
Math teacher Mark Geiger was recognized in April 2011 as a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, in recognition of his efforts to identify "for new and innovative ways to teach mathematics in order to make it relevant and to connect to each of his students."[18] In 2014, Mark Geiger was selected as the first American soccer referee to officiate in the FIFA World Cup since 2002.[19]
The Lacey Township High School Lions[3] 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.[4][21] The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[22] With 876 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.[23] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 695 to 882 students.[24]
The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with Barnegat High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[25]
The football team won the South Jersey Group III state sectional titles in 1988, 1989, 2006 and 2010.[26] The 1988 team finished the season with a 10-1 record after winning the South Jersey Group III sectional title with a 31-28 victory against Woodrow Wilson High School in the championship game on a field goal kicked with two seconds left in the game.[27][28] The 1989 team finished with a record of 11-0 after defeating Woodrow Wilson in the finals by a score of 28-28 to win the team's second consecutive South Jersey Group III title.[29] In 2006, the Lacey Lions beat Seneca High School 12-0 becoming the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III state champions.[30] This is only the second time that the Lions went undefeated. It was the third state championship under Coach Lou Vircillo, the only head football coach the school has had since it opened in 1981.[31] In 2010, the Lions football team reached the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III state championship game and defeated Delsea Regional High School 56–7, finishing a perfect 12–0 season, earning the fourth state championship under Coach Lou Vircillo, and marking the third team in school history to go undefeated.[32] The Lions football team also reached the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III state championship game in both 2005 and 2007, but were defeated by Delsea Regional High School (by a score of 21-6) and Shawnee High School (losing 23-20), respectively.[33][34]
The field hockey team won the South Jersey Group III state sectional title in 1993, 1994 and 1995. The 1994 team finished the season with an 18-2-3 record after winning the Group III state championship game by a score of 2-1 against a West Essex High School team led by Michelle Vizzuso that had not lost in 86 consecutive games in a four-year span.[35][36]
The girls bowling team won the Group II state championship in 2018.[37]
^"Lacey Group Says School Only Studied", Asbury Park Press, May 1, 1971. Accessed April 12, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Vincent Passeri, chairman of a group of citizens on the feasibility of a high school in the township, says its only purpose is to investigate the possibility of a school. Mr. Passeri denied an assertion the committee favors a high school in the township which is now part of the Central Regional High School district. The group, called the Lacey Township High School Study Committee, was organized in January and has retained a lawyer, architect, and educational consultant. Mr. Passeri, who is also a member of the Central Regional Board of Education, said the growth of the township prompted formation of the committee."
^"Towns Move to Secede From Central Regional", Asbury Park Press, March 14, 1976. Accessed April 12, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Meanwhile, the Lacey Township Taxpayers Association plans to meet with the school board there to discuss staged withdrawal from Central -Regional leading to building a Lacey Township high school. About 1,100 Lacey seventh through 12th grade students will enter high school in September. The taxpayers propose an elementary school addition to house first withdrawal of the seventh and eighth graders."
^Young, Sanne. "New school reflects Lacey needs", Asbury Park Press, August 31, 1981. Accessed April 12, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The $9.5 million school on Haines Street will open its doors Sept. 10 to about 850 students in grades 9 through 12.... The facility has a capacity of about 1,200 students, with an initial enrollment of about 850 students expected, Cangelosi said. Enrollment is projected to increase to about 1,000 students over the next few years, and to remain at that level for at least 9 or 10 years, he said."
^Williams, Kevin. "A Renewal of the Lacey-Central Regional Rivalry", WOBM-FM, September 20, 2019. Accessed December 31, 2020. "I’m sure there are many who don’t know that for many years Lacey Township was a sending district to Central Regional High School. Until 1981 if you lived in Forked River, Lanoka Harbor or Bamber Lakes you attended Central and many of my friends from my high school days lived in Lacey. However in 1981 they got their own high school and as you might expect an immediate rivalry was born, especially when it came to athletics."
^Oglesby, Amabda; Sastrowardoyo, Hartriono B. "ACLU sues Lacey schools for students' gun rights", Asbury Park Press, April 10, 2019. Accessed October 12, 2020. "The Lacey Township School District is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union's New Jersey chapter and a Hackensack-based law firm on behalf of two students who say their rights were violated last year after they posted a picture of guns on social media. Lacey Township High School student Cody Conroy and a friend identified in the lawsuit only as H.S. posted a picture on the Snapchat social-media app of legally owned guns on a table and were suspended by school administrators as a result, according to the ACLU."
^"Tarricone FG gives Lacey SJ III crown", Asbury Park Press, November 20, 1988. Accessed December 31, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "The big difference yesterday was that Lacey had a kicker and Woodrow Wilson of Camden didn't. With two seconds remaining on the clock, the Lions' Carl Tarricone calmly stepped back and booted a 30-yard field goal to give his team a 31-28 victory over the visiting Tigers and the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association South Jersey Group III championship."
^Edelson, Stephen. "NJ Football: Greatest Jersey Shore coaches ever - Part 2", Asbury Park Press, September 26, 2017. Accessed December 31, 2020. "Vircillo went 35-15 in five seasons, before heading to Ocean County to take over at the new Lacey High School in 1981, and he’s been the only coach the Lions have ever had. He guided the program to back-to-back NJSIAA South Group II titles in 1988 and 1989, going 10-1 and 11-0, respectively."
^Zedalis, Joe. "Gardi ushers in new era for Lacey with victory", Asbury Park Press, December 11, 1989. Accessed March 22, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The Lacey Township High School football team was minute and a couple of ticks away from history, a minute and change away from an 11-0 season and a second straight New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association South Jersey Group III title.... Gardi's two touchdown passes the second one with 9:02 left sparked Lacey to a 28-24 win over Woodrow Wilson of Camden."
^Staff. "Lacey uses 8 takeaways to beat Delsea Regional 56-7 for South Jersey Group III football title", The Press of Atlantic City, December 4, 2010. Accessed November 9, 2011. "Lacey Township High School used eight takeaways to beat Delsea Regional 56-7 in the South Jersey Group III football championship game today.... Lacey (12-0), ranked second in The Press Elite 11, finished undefeated for the third time in school history. The Lions won their fourth sectional championship under Lou Vircillo, the only coach in the program's history."
^Siegle, Fred. "Revenge tastes sweet as Lions roar to title", Asbury Park Press, November 21, 1994. Accessed January 14, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "This time Lacey left the field crying tears of joy. The Lions did the improbable yesterday, beating West Essex 3-1 in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group III field hockey championship game at Trenton State College. The win avenged the Lions' 3-0 loss to West Essex (21-1-1) in last year's championship game and handed the Knights their first loss in four years and 86 games."
^Goodnough, Abby; and Weber, Bruce. "Before Prom Night, a Suspect Was the Girl Next Door", The New York Times, July 2, 1997. Accessed January 31, 2011. "A month ago, 18-year-old Melissa Drexler was just a quiet, somewhat introverted high school senior who wanted to graduate from Lacey Township High School here, get on with her summer job at a retail store on the beach and hang out with her boyfriend."
^Larsen, Erik. "Elias, Chrebet fined $200 over bar scuffle", Asbury Park Press, May 12, 2000. Accessed January 31, 2011. "Former Lacey Township High School football star Keith Elias and Jets receiver Wayne Chrebet were each fined $200 yesterday after pleading guilty to a nuisance violation for their roles in a scuffle outside the Bamboo Bar."
^Carchidi, Sam. "It's Time: The Basketball Playoffs Are Here", The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 29, 1988. Accessed December 21, 2014. "There isn't a clear-cut favorite among a contingent that features second-seeded Lacey Township - which is led by swingman Chris Fleming, a University of Connecticut-bound senior who is averaging 31.9 points per game - third-seeded Eastern, sixth-seeded Willingboro and seventh-seeded Middle Township, which won the Group 2 title last year."
^Sporer, Jeff. "Former Lacey Township quarterback Warren Smith has Maine challenging for conference title", The Press of Atlantic City, November 7, 2011. Accessed September 2, 2015. "Three years later, the 21-year old Lacey Township High School graduate is leading the University of Maine in a November charge toward the Colonial Athletic Association championship.... 'We call it November tough here at Maine,' said Smith, a senior from the Forked River section of Lacey Township."