District receives Apple Distinguished designation

POINT PLEASANT BEACH — The Point Pleasant Beach School District has been designated as an Apple Distinguished District, it was announced at the Tuesday, Sept. 24, Board of Education meeting.

Currently, there are 889 schools in 37 countries that are Apple Distinguished Schools. As of Tuesday, the district is one of only 17 school districts in the world to obtain the new “Distinguished District” designation, which indicates that all schools in the district are Apple Distinguished. Lauren Basselini of Apple Education presented the distinction by first announcing that both G. Harold Antrim Elementary School and Point Pleasant Beach High School had obtained the honor for another year.

Basselini explained that three core tenets a school must meet to qualify for the Apple Distinguished Schools program: to inspire students in life and academically, to encourage imaginative thinking and problem-solving and to leave a positive impact on the world — “to leave the world a better place than when they found it,” she said. In the program, these goals are intended to be met through the use of Apple products.

According to Apple, there are several criteria for becoming an Apple Distinguished School, which can lead to “opportunities to engage with experts, and collaboration with peers who share an interest in innovative learning and teaching.” The criteria are: having established a one-to-one program (one iPad or Mac device per student in multiple grades), use of the Apple platform, leadership and faculty proficiency with iPad or Mac and developing a continuous innovation leadership team.

Basselini then played two videos for the audience — one for each school — that featured school officials and students speaking about the different programs in the district that were found to further the goals of the Apple Distinguished Schools program. These videos were the schools’ submissions to the company as part of the Apple Distinguished School program application process. The high school’s submission video was put together by the school’s TV production students.

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