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OceanFirst Helps Berkeley Schools Stock Libraries
By Jo Ann La Russo
 | | --Photo By Jo Ann La Russo Officials from OceanFirst Bank recently gave $25,000 to Central Regional schools, part of $35,000 overall given to schools in Berkeley to assist in stocking their libraries. |
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Berkeley Township schools recently received grants in the amount of $35,000 from OceanFirst Bank, Bayville, for the Central Regional Middle School and the Bayville Elementary School to upgrade library and media centers.
Katherine B. Durante, executive director of the OceanFirst Bank, Bayville, presented the Berkeley Township Board of Education with a $10,000 check on Tuesday night for Bayville Elementary School as part of the financial institution's School Library and Media Center Enhancement Grant Program.
School Superintendent Joseph H. Vicari thanked the OceanFirst Foundation for its contribution.
On Thursday night, Durante presented the Central Regional Board of Education with a check for $25,000 for the middle school's STARS program, students that are reading silently.
The school will purchase current print materials for both the main media center and for a Literacy Lending Library. Language and social studies, popular fiction and non-fiction titles will be selected, and a portion of the money will be used for organizational materials needed to create classroom libraries.
Grant recipients were selected from among 107 schools that applied. Each selected grant recipient has demonstrated creative solutions that will improve student and teacher success in the classroom and beyond the school walls.
"Narrowing down the list and selecting the final grantees is always a challenge," said John R. Garbarino, chairman of OceanFirst Foundation.
For the middle school's STARS program, students meet in the media center and read for 35 uninterrupted minutes, ensuring that reading time is a constant and natural part of the school day.
Central Regional Middle School Principal Joseph Firetto last week praised school librarian and media specialist Patricia Ondic for her work in "spearheading the grant process," adding that, "she should receive complete recognition for her time and effort that she set aside."
"Mrs. Ondic's plans for developing our Literacy Lending Library will promote ongoing reading opportunities throughout the content areas. Students will be exposed to literature and topics that will support our current curriculum," he said, adding, "We're all excited about receiving this grant."
Ondic was given the award prior to Thursday's Central Regional Board of Education meeting, where School Superintendent Tom Parlapanidis praised the program and thanked bank officials.
"The goal of our project is to encourage increased reading by students through increased access to books in the language arts and social studies classrooms," said Ondic in a statement.
The grant will provide funding to setup the Literacy Lending Library, which will enable teachers to select print materials to add to their classroom libraries.
At the Bayville Elementary School, Principal Arleen Lippincott and media specialist Leslie Kabbel outlined the school's project title for the grant, Read, Research, Recycle, which encourages students to select at least one fiction book per visit to the library.
The "Research" supports the school science curriculum and meets students' needs for current reference materials and non-fiction books, as well as up to date software.
An expansion of the biography section will include the lives of environmentalists and modern day heroes. Sets of encycloviews pedias will also be upgraded.
The "Recycle" component of the program fosters activities that highlight the 3 R's, including decorating brown paper bags in honor of Earth Day that were used at Shop-Rite and creating and displaying posters and participating in a street clean-up day.
Bayville Elementary School plans a presentation by author Dave Street to motivate and enlighten students about the importance of recycling and to give them insight into the inspiration of writing. The school's PTA intends to purchase a copy of Mr. Street's book for each classroom.
The OceanFirst representative said that the goal of the School Library & Media Center Enhancement Grant Program is to build the capacity of school libraries and media centers and to encourage a love of reading and learning among students. For the grants, funds must be used to update, extend and diversify book collections.
OceanFirst foundation was founded in 1996, with contributions to local charities reaching nearly $1.75 million in 2008 with four priorities that include housing, health and wellness, improving the quality of life and youth development. Celebrating its 12th anniversary, OceanFirst has contributed nearly $20 million to more than 600 local charities in Ocean, Monmouth and Middlesex counties since its inception.
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