On Monday afternoon at the Prudential Center in Newark, the High School North Ice Hockey program captured its second state championship in team history with a 3-2 victory over Chatham. The Lions received the game-winning goal from Chris Imbriale, his first of the season, with just over five minutes remaining in the third period.

Lachlan Haegar opened the scoring for North early in the first period, before Joseph Wall tied the game at 2-2 in the waning minutes of the second period. Senior goaltender Luke Chrzan preserved the win by stopping 30 of 32 shots faced.

The Lions' title run began with an opening round 10-0 shutout of Montville. North met High School South in the quarterfinals and defeated the Eagles 5-1. In the semifinals, the Lions edged Ramapo 2-1.

High School North finished the season with an overall record of 16-6-4.

Congratulations to the Lions on their wonderful season and an incredible championship finish. Watch highlights from the season at the link above and check out the best photos from the game and the ensuing celebration on the High School North campus, below.

Earlier this week, student-athletes at High School South gathered with peers, teammates, coaches and family members to sign their National Letters of Intent to continue their academic and athletic careers at the NCAA level. Congratulations to the following Eagles on their decisions. We wish you the best of luck with all fo your future endeavors.

• Makayla Jaffe - Old Dominion University, Soccer
• Abigail Michaelson - Bucknell University, Track and Field
• Dylan Petke - St. Joseph's University, Soccer
• Skylar Ponik - Coker University, Field Hockey
• Alec Stillitano - University of Rhode Island, Track and Field
• Thomas Whyte - Pace University, Football

High School South's Jack Zaleski etched his name into school history during his appearance at the State Championship Wrestling Tournament in Atlantic City when the senior earned a semifinals victory and bronze medal in the 126-pound bracket. With the victory, Zaleski secured his fourth state medal. He is the first Eagle in 25 years to become a four-time medalist. The Rutgers University-bound grappler finished his senior season with a record of 44-4. Fellow Eagles senior David Hussey also earned a state medal in the 157-pound bracket. Congratulations to this pair of seniors, and to the entire Eagles team on a wonderful season.

This space is dedicated to the promotion of mental health resources in our schools and local community. Please refer to the district site for a comprehensive list of resources: Mental Health & Community Resources

March 10, 2023 is Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) DAY!  Middletown Township Public Schools is excited to offer our Social-Emotional Learning Program: "Positive Action."

Positive Action is a comprehensive SEL program that addresses students' needs through focusing on the Thoughts-Actions-Feeling cycle. Students will build awareness and learn skills that will empower them to make health decisions for themselves, others, and their communities. Positive Action covers the NJDOE five core competency areas of : self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, healthy decision making; and relationship skills. 

On March 24 and 25, High School North Performing Arts students will present the Alain Boubili and Claude-Michael Schonberg classic Les Miserables. In preparation for the performance, earlier this week the cast received a visit from Devin Ilaw, the professional stage actor who performed as Marius in the 2016 Broadway production of Les Miserables.

Ilaw led the cast in a masterclass, sharing his perspective on the craft of theatre acting, as well as his experience performing in one of Broadway's most celebrated productions. Thank you to Devin for working with our students and best of luck to the High School North cast in their upcoming performance.

Knowing thy impact and focusing on teacher clarity is purposeful, intentional, and responsive teaching. Middletown Township Public School teachers embrace “their impact” using skill progressions to pinpoint a category of work students will engage in to grow as writers. Teacher clarity relies on instructional outcomes employing multiple strategies known to impact student achievement positively. MTPS teachers in grades, K-8 continue to dive deep into “Teaching Writing in Small Groups” alongside the Serravallo consultants, confirming and demonstrating:

• A clear understanding of the learning expectations
• Mining multiple data points to inform instructional decisions 
• Delivery of explicit and responsive instruction
• Demonstrating/Modeling what they’re teaching
• How and when to scaffold instruction
• Building toolkits using the hierarchy of goals and identifying strategies
• Teacher-guided practice
• Positive, actionable, and intentional feedback
• Facilitating students’ demonstrating proficiency or mastery of the target expectations.

The District is grateful for this professional learning community that embraces the potential and realization of growth.