History
Southern Regional High School opened in 1957 as a junior-senior high school, housing students from Stafford Township, Barnegat, Waretown, Tuckerton, Little Egg Harbor, Eagleswood Township, Bass River Township, and all six towns of Long Beach Island.
Prior to the opening of Southern Regional, students from Barnegat, Waretown, and Long Beach Island attended the former Barnegat High School, while students from Stafford, Eagleswood, Tuckerton, Little Egg Harbor, and Bass River attended the former Tuckerton High School, which currently houses Tuckerton's elementary school.
At first, the school only had two sports; boys' baseball and boys' basketball. Football was added in 1958, and wrestling came two years later. Girls had "Sports Nights" instead of competitive teams. It would not be until the 1960s when women's sports would first appear at Southern. Due to the quick growth of the area, a new wing and expanded gymnasium were added in 1966.
In 1970, Southern Regional Middle School opened its doors to 7th and 8th graders. However, it soon became overcrowded. Starting in 1979, students from Tuckerton, Little Egg Harbor, Bass River, and Eagleswood, would attend the newly-opened Pinelands Regional High School in Tuckerton. At the same time, an expansion was built onto the middle school, all ninth graders were moved from the high school to the middle school.
The high school went through several changes throughout the 1990s. In December 1991, maintenance crews installing a heating system sparked the fire that damaged the guidance area and several science labs, which were later remodeled. The school also caught fire two years later after an explosion occurred in the school's main electric panel. While a new wing of classrooms was added to the high school in 1996, a new two-story building was opened in 1998 adjacent to the existing high school, with the old high school building housing ninth and tenth graders known as the "9/10 building". At the same time, the middle school went back to housing the seventh and eighth graders.
In 2004, the Barnegat High School opened, starting with only a freshman class. Each year, a new year was added to Barnegat High School. June 2007 marked Southern Regional's last graduating class with students from Barnegat. Barnegat High School became a full 9-12 high school in September 2007 and graduated its first seniors in June 2008.
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