NORTHFIELD – When school opens around the region Sept. 6 there will be a new school, Coastal Learning Center, in the former Kresge Elementary School on Oak Avenue that most recently housed the Jewish Community Day School. The nine-room school building is still owned by the Jewish Federation of Atlantic and Cape May counties and they are leasing the space to Coastal Learning Center, a school for special-needs students with cognitive and multiple disabilities.

Coastal is new to Northfield but not new as an educational facility. They began with the first school in Howell more than 25 years ago. Coastal has operated a school in Tuckerton for 13 years. According to Renee Waddell, the supervisor of special education at Coastal, “We have a school in Tuckerton but all of our students are from Atlantic County. It made more sense to open a facility here in Atlantic County to meet the needs of our students and to cut the commute time for the students,” said Waddell Tuesday morning. The whole staff from Tuckerton is heading to Northfield.

They operate a K-12 school for special-needs students. Waddell said it offers something that all districts would like to have for their students but are just not able to because of budgets or space or a variety of reasons; districts send their students to Coastal Learning Center. Waddell said among the 35 students enrolled they are coming from Atlantic City, Pleasantville, Mainland, Margate and several other school districts.

Although state requirements limit the maximum number of special education students to 12 per instructor, at Coastal Learning that ratio is more like 2.5 students to every staff member.

“All our teachers are highly qualified and most have been with us for a number of years,” said Waddell. “They are comfortable with our system. We offer a therapeutic environment for our students. We have a psychiatrist on staff and students will meet with our doctor if necessary and we operate like the Children Hospital system that many of our students are familiar with. We use a point level system. The students have a certain number of points and they have to work to maintain them. It is a system that works. What else makes our program successful is consistency. Our kids know and understand what is expected of them and it works very well for us and for our students.”

Though the facility is K-12 the majority of students are middle-school-aged according to Waddell. In compliance with laws governing special education, students are grouped first by age and then by disability. There is not a class for every grade; some are grouped and the law permits a span of up to four years in the classroom.

Waddell said there will be vocational training for students as well.

“It is our job to get the students ready for the world and for those students who are able to be employed we partner with employers in the community for job placement,” said Waddell.

The staff, along with Waddell is climbing ladders, unloading boxes and getting ready to hit the ground running when their students arrive right after Labor Day on Sept. 6.

For the students it is the same staff, same system, just a new building closer to home with a shorter and less expensive commute for the students.

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