• Home
• News
• Today's Top Headlines

Richard Stockton College will partner with Atlantic City schools in the fall on a program to provide hands-on learning for college students and extra hands for the school district.

The partnership kicks off a Stockton initiative to develop university-assisted schools and communities.

"We have students and staff who are interested in education," said anthropology professor Joe Rubenstein, who is coordinating faculty and will teach a course in the fall called Community Partnerships. "There are students here who could really make a difference."

The program goes beyond the classroom to reach children and families whose needs do not end with the school day. Nursing students will work with school nurses. Stockton athletes will mentor high school athletes. The college will help develop urban community gardens.

"Education and health are the focus," said Reva Curry, dean of health sciences at Stockton, who also is serving as interim director of community partnerships. "We met with Atlantic City school officials, asked them what they needed, then figured out how we can make it happen."

Atlantic City assistant superintendent Donna Haye said district officials were impressed that college officials listened first so their programs can integrate with programs already in place, such as the parent centers in the Atlantic City schools. The school board is scheduled to vote on the partnership at its meeting today.

New York Avenue and Sovereign Avenue will serve as base schools, but programs will be open to all city schools. Haye said she also hopes the program will encourage more Atlantic City students to attend Stockton and return to the city to work.

The project is modeled after the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, which has had partnerships with West Philadelphia schools since the late 1980s.

"It's a way to help infuse the resources of the university into the schools," said Joann Weeks, associate director of the Netter Center. "It has to be mutually collaborative, and mutually beneficial."

Stockton Dean of Education Harvey Kesselman said the college is developing a Stockton Center for Community Schools to keep the projects viable.

"You need faculty buy-in, and you need a structure that is tied into the curriculum," he said. "We want to make community involvement part of their job."

Stockton faculty are developing course work in community partnerships and urban education, and Curry is applying for grants to help fund start-up costs and keep the programs viable. Other groups, such as AtlantiCare, will be contacted to help integrate services.

Rubenstein is already working with a small group of students this summer on a garden at Atlantic City High School.

"There are so many things Stockton is willing to do," Haye said. "And they're all free."

E-mail Diane D'Amico:

DDamico@pressofac.com

No comments have been posted. Be the first poster!

PressofAtlanticCity.com offers everyone the opportunity to comment on published stories. However, it is impractical for editors to screen all comments.
If you believe a comment is offensive, please click on the abuse-reporting link and your objection will be considered by an editor. We encourage participants to use their real names, but inoffensive screen names are acceptable. Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them.
Please post responsibly. Do not post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy.
Be polite. Don’t hate. Users who don’t play by the rules may be blocked from participating.

View our full terms of service and privacy agreement

Click here to report a comment as abusive.

You must login to post a new comment