freshman class returning to OTHS for the 1978–79 school year. At the end of the 2016–17 school year, Loch Arbour left the Ocean Township district after getting approval from the New Jersey Department of Education and following the overwhelming passage of a referendum. With 14 public school students and school property taxes of $2 million, Loch Arbour had been paying an average of $143,000 per pupil, while Ocean Township taxpayers only paid approximately $16,000 per pupil. The Loch Arbour cost per student was significantly reduced under new sending/receiving relationships established with the West Long Branch Public Schools for PreK-8 and Shore Regional High School for 9–12, under which Loch Arbour pays tuition to each district based on the number of students. Ocean Township opposed the changes as the subsidy funded approximately 20 staff positions. Awards, recognition and rankings In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 55th in New Jersey and 1,637th nationwide. In Newsweek's May 22, 2007 issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Ocean Township High School was listed in 838th place, the 21st-highest ranked school in New Jersey. In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 856th in the nation among participating public high schools and 64th among schools in New Jersey. The school was the 84th-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 95th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 64th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 97th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 69th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 148th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 31 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (83.8%) and language arts literacy (93.7%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). Extracurricular activities The school's extra-curricular programs provide invaluable learning experiences and life-lessons for students. A heavy emphasis on sportsmanship and scholarship is a primary focus at OTHS with students