NJ: Sandy Impacted School Districts Get $1.25 Million

The New Jersey Department of Education today announced grant awards to assist school communities as they recover from the effects of Superstorm Sandy. These funds, made possible through a $1.25 million grant award from the U.S. Department of Education’s Project School Emergency Response to Violence (SERV) program, are available to districts to fund short- and long-term education services designed to restore safe learning environments for their students.

“Our communities have exhibited tremendous resilience in the face of the after-effects of Super Storm Sandy and they should be commended for all they have done to support our students and their education,” said State Education Commissioner Cerf. “These funds from the U.S. Department of Education will help support the continuous recovery of school communities in New Jersey and we are grateful these grants were made available.”

School districts or charter schools were able to request reimbursement of expenditures in support of activities intended to restore a sense of safety and security, activities intended to assist students in understanding the impact of the Superstorm and stabilizing their lives, and activities that assist school districts and charter schools in managing the practical problems created by Superstorm Sandy.

Examples of eligible types of services or activities districts applied for include:

§ Overtime for teachers, counsellors, and law enforcement and security officers and other staff;

§ Substitute teachers and other staff as necessary;

§ Emergency transportation;

§ Technical assistance on developing an appropriate response to crisis;

§ Transportation and other costs to operate school at an alternative site, e.g. leasing of space to substitute for damaged building;

§ Temporary security measures such as non-permanent metal detectors and additional security guards and security cameras;

§ Targeted mental health assessments, referrals and services related to Superstorm Sandy with the goal of restoring victims/survivors to their pre-incident levels of functioning.

Based on the number of applicants, monies requested, and available funding, all districts received 45% of their requested eligible expenses.

The list of districts that applied and their award amounts is as follows:

COUNTY	DISTRICT	AWARD
Atlantic	Brigantine	$                    5,515
Atlantic	Pleasantville	$                  58,240
Essex	Newark	$                  32,500
Hudson	Hoboken	$                  48,142
Hudson	Jersey City	$                    5,459
Middlesex	Sayreville	$                  67,049
Middlesex	South River	$                  46,951
Monmouth	Asbury Park	$                    9,192
Monmouth	Keansburg	$                322,527
Monmouth	Long Beach	$                    6,727
Monmouth	Manasquan	$                  63,655
Monmouth	Monmouth Beach	$                 47,052
Monmouth	Rumson	$                  34,249
Monmouth	Rumson - Fair Haven	$                    1,174
Monmouth	Union Beach	$                  28,667
Ocean	Bayhead	$                    9,977
Ocean	Brick Township	$                211,891
Ocean	Central Regional	$                  38,973
Ocean	Lavallette	$                  24,465
Ocean	Little Egg Harbor	$                  51,554
Ocean	Pinelands Regional	$                  47,443
Ocean	Point Pleasant Borough	$                    7,820
Ocean	Point Pleasant Beach	$                  16,001
Ocean	Seaside Heights	$                  24,537
Ocean	Stafford	$                    3,469
Ocean	Toms River	$                  36,771
	Total	$            1,250,000