June 16, 2023-- The The New Jersey Affiliate of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (NJASCD) Central Region has awarded Pine Beach Elementary School a $500 grant to be used for building relationships with families of multilingual learners and strengthening family engagement practices.

ESL teacher Megan Delahunt, whom PBE Supervisor Catherine Mellon describes as "magnificent," applied for and received the mini grant.

And the timing couldn't be better, considering the rapid increase in the multilingual population over the past several years.

"I have welcomed students from 15 different countries, who speak five different languages," said Delahunt of the past three years, in which the ML population has doubled. "For these students, beginning at their first United States school, I wanted the children and families to immediately feel welcome to the Pine Beach community."

The grant will help fund welcome goodie bags with Pine Beach T-shirts and water bottles, as well as the time and resources necessary to help acclimate new families to the neighborhood, securing them a library card, help managing their child’s bus schedule and access to the parent portal, and connections to their child's homeroom teacher.

"Way to go, Megan!" said Pine Beach Principal Tricia Moran.