Barnegat Township School District was honored this year and received the "Township of Excellence"Award. Below is a statement released to the press:
On Tuesday, December 12 the Barnegat School District and Township of Barnegat were honored by the RWJ Barnabas Health Institute for Prevention’s DART Prevention Coalition. This year the only town in Ocean County receiving the Township of Excellence Award was Barnegat.
Two years ago, the Barnegat School District lost important funding previously provided by the Township’s Municipal Alliance. These necessary funds assisted with Project Graduation, the mentor-mentee program, and other prevention programs provided for nearly 3200 students who attend Barnegat Schools.
In an effort to retain these important programs, the Barnegat School District has aggressively sought other funding sources. In July, the Prevention and Wellness Coalition of Barnegat was founded by Superintendent, Karen Wood. The school district will be applying for a Drug Free Communities grant in the spring. Generally issued to townships, the school district sought support from RWJ Barnabas Health to begin preparing for grant submission.
In order to qualify for the grant, twelve sectors must collaborate. Some of those sectors include the school district, municipality, local business, health care provider, faith based organizations and civic organizations. “I knew we had to act fast”, Wood stated. “We had to get in touch with representatives from all sectors, and begin meeting.” The grant application calls for a minimum number of meetings with agenda, minutes, surveys, and data collected from the community and school district in order to apply for the Drug Free Communities grant.
Sectors represented on the Prevention and Wellness Coalition of Barnegat are the Barnegat Township School District, the Barnegat Recreation Department, the Barnegat Township Committee, the Barnegat Police Department, the Mirage Adult Community, the Heritage Adult Community, the Jersey Shore Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, Oasis Family Center, Barnegat Rotary Club, Barnegat Neighborhood Watch, Hearts of Mercy, Local Business Owner/Parent representative (Lefty’s), Barnabas Health, and Rutgers University. Superintendent Wood is thrilled with the local support received in this important endeavor.
“Being recognized as a Town of Excellence is such an honor”, Wood said at the recognition ceremony on December 12. “I’ve been Superintendent for seven years in Barnegat and I have always known this community to come together for our students. The newly formed Coalition is impressive. They come together each and every month for the benefit of our school and our community. The issue of prevention is important to all of us.”