Barnegat Schools Receives "Town Of Excellence" Award

BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, NJ - The Barnegat Township school district is the only district in Ocean County to receive the "Townof Excellence" award from the RWJ Barnabas Health Institute for Prevention's DART Coalition, schools Superintendent Karen Wood said.

“Being recognized as a Town of Excellence is such an honor”, Wood said at the recognition ceremony on Dec. 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."

The school district lost funding previously provided by the township's Municipal Alliance.
The funds were used for Project Graduation, the mentor-mentee
program, and other prevention programs provided for nearly 3200 students who attend
Barnegat Schools, she said.

So Wood founded the Prevention and Wellness Coalition of Barnegat back in July. The district will also be applying a Drug-Free Communities grant in the spring, she said.

Twelve sectors must collaborate in order to qualify for the grant, including the school district, municipality, local businesses, health care provider, faith-based organizations and civic organizations, she said.

“I knew we had to act fast”, Wood said. “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 agendas, minutes, surveys, and data collected from the community and school district.

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, Wood said.

Photo: Courtesy of Barnegat school district