Central Regional To Become A Satellite Campus For Georgian Court University

Call it "Georgian Court South."

The Central Regional school district and Georgian Court University will partner in another venture by offering adult college classes at the Central Regional High School campus of Forest Hills Parkway.

"The opportunity for our students and community will be tremendous," Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides said at the Feb. 28 Board of Education meeting. "It's a tremendous partnership. We are very excited about it."

The classes will be held in the evenings in the math wing of the massive high school, which Parlapanides once described as "the largest ranch house in Ocean County."

The joint venture will be similar to the Kean University-Ocean County College partnership at the Toms River campus, he said.

The district is also expanding the Humanities Academy - where qualified Central students can take Georgian Court University courses at the high school and earn college credits - to all grades at the high school.

Eighty Central Regional Middle School eighth grade students have already applied for the competitive program for September, Parlapanides said.

Applicants have to take several tests - including the Accuplacer college entry exam - write an essay and be interviewed to gain entrance to the program.

"There's a whole criteria to get into the Humanities Academy," Parlapanides said.

Humanities Academy students have "dual enrollment" at both the high school and the university. They can use the Georgian Court library, fitness center and other amenities on the Lakewood college campus, he said.

"The kids are doing very well," he said. "I thank the board for your progressive thinking."

"This is your pet baby, your project," board member Robert J. Everett Jr. told Parlapanides. "You made it happen. It still takes somebody to drive the bus."

The inaugural Humanities Academy began last September, with only members of the senior class participating. Students currently take classes in literature, economics and psychology.

The program is funded with monies the district receives from the state for being a choice school. Parlapanides has said. Central Regional receives $14,300 per choice student.

The district serves students from five sending towns - Berkeley Township, Island Heights, Ocean Gate, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park.