Trading places in Lopat, Newark Area teachers, students to go to urban school for exchange program. Saturday, July 29, 2006 • By DANIEL HAUSMANN • The Express-Times LOPATCONG TWP. | This school year, township students and teachers will have the opportunity to share and experience the culture of their Newark counterparts. An $8,750 grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation will allow two groups each of teachers and students from Lopatcong and Avon Avenue elementary schools to spend a day in each others' schools. "The foundation of this program is the more we understand about the background of students the better equipped we are to educate students," Superintendent Mike Rossi said. "I'm taking the district into new territories." Rossi reached out to a fellow Seton Hall alumnus in Avon Avenue Elementary Principal Antoine Gayles for a partner on the project. "It's an excellent opportunity to expose kids to different environments," Gayles said. "It gives them an opportunity to understand the similarities and differences which exist between urban students and suburban students." Rossi said throughout the program students and teachers will be surveyed for their views on diversity. They will save the data to support what they are trying to accomplish. A William Paterson University sociology professor will administer the program and provide in-service training for teachers and students. Gayles said his teachers and students have been involved in these kinds of experiences before on a smaller scale with local schools and universities. "We've been looking as a school to expand the depth of the teacher's experiences," Gayles said. "We felt it was successful. It gave students a sense of hope in terms of aspirations." Rossi said he has talked with teachers and there is an excitement surrounding this program. "There will be no shortage of volunteers," Rossi said. Kenney Lutz teaches sixth-grade social studies at Lopatcong Middle School and said the students will get an opportunity they might not have gotten until they were in college. "It's going to give the students a chance to walk in a different world and they will probably like it," Lutz said. Personally, he said he's looking forward to having a chance to learn from other educators. "It's neat to see what teaching strategies they use and how they get their kids to focus," Lutz said. Lopatcong Elementary Spanish teacher Lynn Cushing shared Lutz's enthusiasm and said this would be her first experience in a program like this. "It's probably a good idea to take a look at schools that are different from ours," Cushing said. Reporter Daniel Hausmann can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at dhausmann@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used with permission.