Asbury Park Named Innovative School District By International Center For Leadership In Education
Public Invited To 6:30 p.m. Friday BOE Town Hall In City Council Chambers
For the third consecutive year, the Asbury Park School District has been named an Innovative School District by the International Center for Leadership in Education [ICLE].
The accolade is given to a handful of school districts across the nation – including the nation’s most rapidly improving schools – who have incorporated rigorous and relevant educational programs.
Take for example, a recent snapshot of a few days with Asbury Park High School students.
In the course of four days, students met with Jon Taft, a 1962 alum who funded their trip to Washington Dc in order to participate in the March For Our Lives national rally, were featured speakers during the local rally in Asbury Park, and traveled to the Statehouse to witness former Superintendent Lamont Repollet confirmation hearing, where, in a show of bipartisan support, Sen Vin Gopal and Freeholder Director Tom Arnone testified on his behalf.
In the midst of a busy schedule that took them across the state and nation’s capital, the students met with local and regional employers for the Second Annual Asbury Park High School Job Fair.
Organized by Kathy Bunton, a career connections coordinator employed by Center For Vocational Rehabilitation, and Genise Hughes, the College and Career Readiness coordinator, the school’s faculty came together to prep students in everything from resume writing to how to dress for success.
“It is a perfect example of what community partnering should be,” Principal Kathy Baumgardner [shown midset in above gallery] said. “The amount of community business that are coming out to support our students and offer them the opportunity of employment is really amazing.”
Through the Lunch and Learn program Bunton and Hughes work to ready students for job interviews, Baumgardner said.
“At the Lunch and Learns they talk about careers, resume building, dressing for success, interview etiquette,” she said. “So throughout the year you have these workshops going on for students that culminates with the job fair. They cannot come unless they are dressed for success.”
Bunton & Hughes
On the list of employers and organizations meeting with the sophomore through senior students were representatives from Madison Marquette – the City’s boardwalk redeveloper that oversees the waterfront venues and businesses; iStar – the City’s master waterfront,redeveloper, contractor Sardoni; the Asbury Park Police Department; Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, Superior Court, and Parks system; NJ Natural Gas; Brookdale Community College; Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County; YMCA Camp Zehnder; United Way; Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten; MOGO Tacos; HMSHost; Pep Boys; Purple Glaze; Saker Shoprite; Seabrook; Six Flags Great Adventure; Sparkling Pool Services; Manasquan Bank; CVR; Advantage Career Institute; members of the Downtown Merchants Guild; Sportz Farm; the ShowRoom Theater; UPS, Wegmans; and words! Bookstore.
“The Asbury Park High School Job Fair was absolutely fantastic,” said Jennifer Lampert, owner of the Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten. “I met so many awesome kids. all eager to work, with great personalities and so much confidence. So many of them didn’t know about my restaurant. It’s such a great opportunity for me to reach out to the community that my restaurant is in, and hopefully employ as many local kids as possible.”
Lampert followed up the event by inviting the students to a pretzels and tour event so they could meet her staff and learn about the jobs at her Lake Avenue eatery.
And then during last week’s spring break student-athletes participated in a College Tour, traveling to institutions like Morehouse College in Atlanta and North Carolina A&T.
A special Town Hall meeting will be held 6:30 p.m. Friday at City Council Chambers, located at 1 Municipal Plaza [Bangs Ave entrance]. The Board of Education, headed by Angela Ahbez-Anderson, will be on hand to field questions from residents, taxpayers, and families; and share the district’s strides and programs, like their Dream Academy, in-district vocational programming, literacy rate accomplishments, and sister school programming with students in Ghana and China.
From 10 a.m to 1 p.m. Saturday a registration event will be held for Pre K to 12 students at the Barack Obama Elementary School, located at 1300 Bangs Ave.
For more information about the school district visit their website, Facebook and Twitter pages.
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