OCEAN CITY — The new superintendent of the Ocean City School District appeared before City Council on Thursday evening to open lines of communication, talk of his plans for putting all curricula in the district online to be fully transparent and to address the recent vote on the new state Department of Education Health and Physical Education Standard.
He also said the district already complies with everything in the Parents Bill of Rights that council approved later in the meeting.
Dr. Matthew Friedman, who began his work in Ocean City July 11, walked into one of the biggest issues facing the district with the new state standard. Community members, many who appeared before the Ocean City Board of Education and also at a rally just before the council meeting, also came to council Thursday evening.
Noting this is one of the most polarizing topics they face, which is because of new additions to the sex education part, Friedman said the school district’s approach “is to implement them in the most minimal way possible.”
He said he has already met and will continue to meet with community members over the standard and the curriculum the district is developing.
As an educator, he said, “it’s my responsibility to implement standards to the best of my abilities, but all of you know the way New Jersey is structured under local rule; we have the ability to implement them as we see fit.”
He noted the school board had a meeting a few weeks prior at which they voted to approve the standard. He wanted council to understand that when school board members take their oath of office, one of the things they must do is agree to uphold standards set forth by the Department of Education. The board voted 6-5 to approve the standards, with board members who voted in support drawing the ire of the community members who wanted them rejected entirely.
“One of the things we have been hard at work on is how to implement them in context of what our community represents,” he said.
That is the minimalist approach. As school district Director of Academics Dr. Lauren Gunther explained at the most recent school board meeting, the curriculum will avoid many of the controversial parts of the standard.
“We’re looking at it in the context of what we feel is what’s best for our students K-12. I say that because not everyone feels the same way, but we’re working hard,” Friedman said.
He said he and Gunther were “hitting the road” to explain the standards at Parent Academy meetings at all the schools and that in the future he would be having four “Meet the Superintendent” question-and-answer sessions, with the first two at the Ocean City Free Public Library.
Openness, collaboration, curricula posted online
Over his years of being an educator, one of the things he is most proud of is being a leader in building communication between the school district and community.
“One of my cornerstone goals this year and beyond is to foster communication,” he said.
A constant refrain he has heard from parents is that they want to be part of the curriculum process, knowing what children are learning and doing day to day. To that end, he is going to revamp the district website to put all of the curricula, K-12, online for public viewing.
Doing that will take time, he said, asking people to be patient. He estimated that would be complete by late winter or early spring.
Everything will be on full view for all community members to see, he said.
Friedman told council members he is focused on four cornerstones. The first is academic excellence. The second is improving communication and collaboration with the community. The third is health and wellness. That encompasses a lot of things, he said, including safety and security and health and wellness of staff and students — physical health, mental health, social and emotional, holistically looking at the improvement of both staff and student.
The fourth cornerstone, he said, “is what I call being a champion for educator excellence.”
He said he feels honored and blessed to be superintendent of the Ocean City School District and part of an amazing team.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff