Brick Introducing STEM, Business Academies At High Schools

BRICK, NJ -- Incoming freshmen in the fall of 2016 will have the opportunity to focus their studies through two academies, after the Brick Township Board of Education gave approval Thursday night to begin the process of setting them up.

The academies -- in STEM and business/finance -- will be set up in both high schools, Interim Superintendent Richard Caldes said, with the STEM academies accepting 24 students in each school and Business and give about 50 students in each school the chance to begin exploring a particular career path and prepare to study it in college.

“The time is right to go forward with this,” Caldes said after the meeting. “We should have done it much sooner.”

The academies will give students “a framework of where they want to go,” he said during the meeting. STEM -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- have had a growing emphasis as the economy continues to move away from one heavy in manufacturing jobs to one driven by the tech sector.

“That’s where the jobs are. I’m glad to see this interim superintendent grab the bull by the horns,” said Larry Reid, former board member, during public comment.

Other districts have academy programs -- which typically draw the most academically talented and highly achieving students -- of various types. The Ocean County Vocational-Techinical schools offer the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Sciences (MATES) in Manahawkin and the Performing Arts Academy in Lakehurst to attract those students. The Toms RIver Regional School District initiated Freshman Academies at each of its three high schools this year to help its freshmen transition more smoothly to high school, and Central Regional High School has its Humanities Academy, with its tie to Georgian Court University that has earned that district Choice School status.

In Monmouth County, the vocational school system focuses heavily on its Career Academies: Allied Health & Science, Biotechnology High, Communications High School, High Technology, Marine Academy of Science and Technology and the Academy of Law and Public Safety. And the Freehold Regional High School District’s six high schools each house a different academy for students pursuing a specific career field.

“We need to be preparing our kids for careers, not just college,” said Caldes, who emphasized the need to focus on the district’s students in a seven-minute speech to the former board in October. He would like to see the district connect with local colleges such Georgian Court and others around the state, such as the New Jersey Institute of Technology, to give Brick students access that next level as well.

The board’s preliminary approval Thursday night paves the way for Caldes to set up committees of teachers, administrators and others to set the curriculum for the academies, as well as staffing -- STEM certification requires teachers to have a certification in teaching high technology, he said.

The addition of American Sign Language to the foreign language offerings, Caldes said, gives students another career field to consder, as interpreters for the deaf are often in demand for everything from meetings to events such as theater productions.

Caldes said the hope with the academies is that the district will be able to expand the offerings, with an allied health academy a possibility.

“We want to offer things that our students are seeking,” Caldes said.