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The NJAPIE Board | Seven
Districts Recognized
NJAPIE
and NJASA Recognize Seven Each year several distinguished school districts and their corporate/community partners are honored by the New Jersey Association of Partners in Education (NJAPIE) and New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA) for their district partnership programs and their efforts in the area of school-community partnerships. Proudly displaying the district's plaque, are the 2004 Exemplary Program Award recipients, from left, Susan Rosen, Washington Public Schools, (Gloucester County); Sarah O'Donnell, Dunellen School District; Ellen O'Connor, Bayonne Public Schools; Frank Legato, Carlstadt; Cynthia Baumgartner, Freehold Regional High School; Linda Axelrad, Springfield Public Schools, (Union County); and Diane Steinmetz, Lakewood Township Public Schools. The NJAPIE/NJASA Exemplary Program Award Recipients for 2004 are: Bayonne School District; Carlstadt Public Schools; Dunellen School District; Freehold Regional High School District; Lakewood School District; Springfield School District, Union County; and Washington Township Public Schools, Gloucester County. The selection qualifications for this annual statewide competition for school-community partnership programs include the program's uniqueness; stability; relationship to the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards; activities; impact on targeted populations; and evidence of support from those involved in the activity. Recently, the 2004 NJAPIE/NJASA Exemplary Program Award Recipients were recognized at the NJASA/NJSBA Annual Conference. Highlights of the seven recipients' programs are featured within the newsletter. Bayonne School District The Bayonne District Proyecto Access Program is an academically intense, eight-week science, mathematics, and technology summer program for elementary students. Designed by NASA to attract minority and female students to pursue careers in mathematics, science, and technology, it meets on the campus of the New Jersey City University. Proyecto Access stresses the development of abstract reasoning, problem-solving skills, and their application through the study of high school and university level mathematics, computer sciences and engineering, along with numerous applications of technology. Its long-term impact enables Bayonne's participants to become part of
a highly scientific workforce groomed to replace Carlstadt Public Schools The SCIENCE+ (Sun Chemical Initiative for Enhancing Classroom Education) Program was developed in 1996 by the scientists at Carlstadt and the Corporate Communications Department. The team's mission is to provide awareness of and encourage future participation in science and the graphic arts; to use realistic and practical applications to demonstrate the role of science in industry; and to focus our efforts in the schools surrounding the Carlstadt Technical Center. The SCIENCE+ Program consists of two parts. The off-site component where scientists visit the students at their schools, and the on-site component where the students visit Sun Chemical's Research and Development Center. Dunellen School District Alex, age 17, spent three days at "Ground Zero" in September 2001, as an emergency response team member... Melissa, age 15, served meals for the FISH Interim Homeless Program... Shawn, age 16, played chess with veterans at Lyons Hospital... Manuel, age 16, read to first graders in the PALS Program... Kristanas, age 16, taught senior citizens how to use computers... Casey, age 17, volunteered more than 175 hours at Somerset Hospital... Anna, age 15, tutored a seventh grader with severe learning problems... The Dunellen High School Community Service Program encourages students to "...share their talent with the wider community and pursue excellence in every area of their lives." The Dunellen Board of Education formalized it in 1997 as a program for students to earn five credits for performing 60 hours of community service. In June of 1998, 18 students had participated in the program. This year, there were 197 students participating in the program, a figure representing 59% of the total high school population. Freehold Regional High School District The Freehold Regional High School District has forged a unique partnership with the Freehold Barnes and Noble Community Outreach Department to foster teenage literacy through the Enthusiastic Reader Award Program. Students are nominated for this award because they exhibit an enthusiasm for reading independently beyond the classroom and they receive accolades just as students who achieve in sports, music, community service or any other arena. Thus, the Enthusiastic Reader Program was developed to foster teenage literacy and to recognize the achievements of students who read independently beyond the classroom. The activities of the partnership are the recognition of the nominated students by bringing noted authors into the schools, giving the students copies of their books to read, and inviting the youngsters to have breakfast or lunch with these authors to discuss their books. Lakewood School District This program supports student achievement through its alignment with the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS) by making learning in the areas of language arts, mathematics, and science more relevant. Through the Adopt-a-Class, all of the students in K-through-sixth grade are given the opportunity to meet local business people and hear first-hand what these people are doing in our community. At a recent luncheon, sponsors spoke of the products their companies produce and shared the characteristics that they look for in employees. Opportunities like this enable our students to understand how important each facet of their curricula is and how it is all interrelated and necessary for achieving an education that will enable them to pursue successful career choices. While NJCCCS identify specific elements of learning, our program will heighten student ability to effectively synthesize and apply what they have learned to achieve life-long goals and dreams. Springfield School District The Volunteer Club was established six years ago to foster student involvement and awareness of community and school needs. The program's main objective is to make the students cognizant of the fact that "richness" cannot be measured just by a monetary equation but must focus more on the non-tangible quality of life. The students sponsor four senior citizen breakfasts and one senior citizen prom each year. Some type of program accompanies each breakfast, speaker or entertainment, which is geared to meet the needs of the senior citizens. The unique feature is that it brings the young together with the old and affords both groups the opportunity to interact and learn from each other and dispel the "myths." Washington Township Public Schools "The Prejudice Reduction Through Holocaust/Genocide Education: A Collaborative Model" program was initially instituted as part of Washington Township Public Schools' middle-level program to promote students' understanding of the Holocaust. Since its inception in the fall of 1990, the program has grown into a memorable, personalized educational experience that has garnered the 2004 NJASA and New Jersey Association of Partners in Education Exemplary Program Award. Included within the eighth-grade reading curriculum's "Voices of Courage" unit, the program highlights the collaborative efforts of reading, English and social studies teachers, as well as community volunteers. From these sources, the students develop not only a thorough understanding of the Holocaust as a historical event, hut also an understanding that intolerance, prejudice, and passive indifference towards others can have a significant personal and societal impact for generations to come. Come Learn What Makes Successful Partnerships Teaching colleagues in K-12 education, higher education, and the business community; school administrators; board members; and parents should plan to attend this one-day conference which will provide critical information needed to start, sustain, and enhance successful partnerships among diverse groups. Registration is $25.00 for NJAPIE Members and $35.00 for Nonmembers.
Nonrnembers will President's Message During this time of uncertainty in America, there certainly is enough to fill your plate of worries. Whether it's the still-shaky economy that poses a continuing threat to our families (and our public schools) or the daily concern over war and foreign affairs, we have a lot to contemplate. But put me in the "silver lining" camp when it comes to confidence in our future, at least as far as our students are concerned. If there's one thing I've learned from our annual Exemplary Program Awards, it's that there's no limit to the great things New Jersey students can do when their public schools and communities join hands to help them reach new levels of achievement and understanding. In a world that seems increasingly cold and uncaring, this year's award recipients are a beacon of hope and promise for the future. They span the spectrum of interests and involvement, too. In some cases, these programs cultivate students' skills in specific subject areas, from math and science to literature and history. That's wonderful in and of itself, because learning for learning's sake is at the very heart of what it means to be an educated citizen. But I have to tell you I was moved beyond words when I realized how some of our exemplary programs also foster the growth of the human spirit, whether through volunteerism or generating an enriched sense of compassion for our fellow men and women. The Springfield Volunteer Club is a good case in point. By bringing together students and senior citizens in a variety of settings, including breakfasts and "senior proms," it helps dispel all manner of myths about the aging process. As we grapple with how to meet the concerns of different generations through our social policies, a program like this should have an invaluable impact on ensuring that generational cooperation, rather than generational conflict, is the more rational approach to societal problem-solving. And then there's the program for eighth-graders in Washington Township in Gloucester County - "Prejudice Reduction Through Holocaust/Genocide Education." I can't think of a more appropriate topic to share with adolescent students, as they begin to discover that the world is a lot more complex than they may have been led to believe. Bringing Holocaust survivors' stories into their classrooms is an indelible lesson in human courage, compassion, and triumph, as students come to understand that intolerance, prejudice, and passive indifference to the plight of others can impact the world for generations. In the end, partnership programs are about helping others, and about helping students in particular as they grow beyond their own experience, and the experiences of their families, and into full citizenship in the world. I'm enormously proud of all of these programs, and the people who make them possible. Each of them reaffirms my fundamental belief in the power of public education - backed by community involvement - to transform the lives of young people. As we begin a new school year, I take enormous comfort in knowing that
adult New Jerseyans are willing to reach out to our young people to teach
them that the world can be made a better place through their own efforts,
and as a direct result of their own deeper understanding.
NEW JERSEY ASSOCIATION OF PARTNERS
IN EDUCATION NJAPIE, a not-for-profit organization, represents many schools, businesses, community groups, educators, and individual volunteers who work together as partners to help students achieve educational excellence. The New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA) provides management services to NJAPIE, which retains its own governing board, bylaws and policies.
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