Holmdel Schools Earn 'Future Ready' Certification

HOLMDEL, NJ — After a year-long application development and submission process, the Holmdel public school district learned Tuesday that all of its schools earned certification as "Future Ready" from New Jersey's Future Ready Schools program.

"Future ready" is a certification program created to support schools with the resources needed to implement digital learning and promote the skills, abilities and capacities essential for student success in college and career.

“Future Ready Certification isn’t about what we do already,” explained Holmdel's District Supervisor of Technology, Engineering and Media Centers Caren MacConnell. “It's about what we should be, could be doing and taking steps to move in that direction."

Each Future Ready application is scored according to three major areas: Leadership, Education and Classroom Practice and Technology Support. All of Holmdel’s applications yielded “exemplary” marks throughout the various rubrics, including in the area of Community Partnerships.

“Our new status as a Future Ready district is a strong testament to the Holmdel community and its commitment to education,” said Holmdel Board of Education President Vicky Flynn when she heard the news. “Without great community involvement and the financial support of organizations such as the Holmdel Foundation for Educational Excellence and all of our school-based parent support groups, we would not have been able to build the kind of robust and future-ready infrastructure that continues to promote student learning in all of our schools."

Reflecting on the district’s motto of “Innovate to Elevate,” and the alignment between this aspirational statement and the criteria for certification as a “Future Ready School,” Holmdel superintendent Dr. Robert McGarry suggested that he was “pretty confident” that the district would earn this distinction.

“Innovate to Elevate lets everyone know we are always looking to move to the next higher step and this absolutely means being future ready,” he said.

Holmdel schools will be recognized during a special awards ceremony during the annual New Jersey School Boards Association conference in Atlantic City in October.

Photo of the exterior of Satz school by Carly Baldwin/Holmdel Patch