By Maddy Vitale
The Ocean City School District already has the top superintendent and top teacher in the state.
Adding to a list of achievements, the district was selected by the New Jersey Department of Education as having the best World Languages Program in the state, one that will be used as a model for other districts over the next two years, explained Director of Academic Services Curt Nath.
The district of 2,300 students offers Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, Greek, Spanish and American Sign Language. Across the district there are about a dozen world language teachers. Spanish is taught in both the Primary School and Intermediate School.
“We have such a diversity of languages,” Nath said. “That is one of the benefits of our district and we are one of the few around that has the ASL program.”
Nath, a high school Spanish teacher in the district for 12 years before becoming director of academics, said the district was notified Thursday of the honor and a congratulatory letter from the DOE just arrived.
Over the next two years, representatives from school districts across the state can visit Ocean City and view the program.
“If someone would like to improve their program or start one, they can use us as a resource,” Nath said.
Ocean City Schools Superintendent Kathleen Taylor said the district being selected as the best for World Languages is such an honor and a testament to the hard work of the teachers and Nath.
The World Language award follows the selection of Taylor as New Jersey Superintendent of the Year and Ocean City High School American Sign Language teacher Amy Andersen as New Jersey Teacher of the Year.
Nath, meanwhile, said it is a great honor for Ocean City to be named best World Languages program in the state, but noted it was not an easy process to win the award.
The district began working on the required paperwork last year. The initial documents were sent to the DOE over the summer. In October and November, the DOE conducted phone interviews with school staff and students. In November and December, they did follow-up interviews. They also did site visits and observed the classrooms in the late fall and came back in February, Nath said.
“It was an arduous and rigorous process. We had to send a series of documents to them and samples of our lesson plans, curriculum, assessments and students’ work,” Nath said. “They looked at everything.”
While he didn’t know how many districts applied, a list of winning programs in the state will be listed on the DOE website soon, he said.
Nath said he thinks he has a pretty good idea what makes the district’s World Languages program so special.
“It is a commitment to the languages, which comes from the top down. For example, at the high school, we consider it one of our core subject matters – even though it isn’t,” Nath said. “We have an investment in it, an understanding of the importance of World Languages and how it can help our students across the boards.”
Nath said the credit should go to the excellent teachers who continue to make an impact on the students. He said as an ASL instructor, Andersen has made such an impression on the students.
“We have students graduating after taking two to three languages,” he said.
On June 11, the DOE will present the district with the honor during a ceremony in Trenton, Nath said.
The district holds a bilingual education with such a high regard, students in the World Languages program can obtain a state seal of biliteracy. They must pass the oral proficiency interview, the same as is given by the state for World Language teachers, Nath explained.
Nath said the importance of learning another language extends beyond helping with employment opportunities after school, it also helps with your native language.
“Learning a new language has a huge and positive impact,” he said. “I think we do some great things to assist our students and our staff. The most exciting thing about working here is celebrating our successes, but we are already on to our next endeavor.”
For more information call the school district at 609-399-1290.
