PORT TOWNSEND — A major grant supporting Port Townsend School District’s Maritime Discovery Initiative has ensured the program’s continuation, according to the district superintendent.

“We are out of the gate,” said David Engle of the $300,000 allocation from the Satterberg Foundation, a Seattle-based group promoting a just society and sustainable environment.

“This grant allows us to get really serious about the long-range planning of the project.”

The Maritime Discovery Initiative is designed to take advantage of Port Townsend’s location to insert maritime aspects of environmental, recreation and business studies into the district’s curriculum.

Students can apply maritime knowledge for further study or can graduate from high school with job skills that don’t require college attendance, program supporters say.

The grant, awarded in December, is now being shared between the district’s schools and the Northwest Maritime Center, which is a partner in the program.

Program director Sarah Rubenstein said the schools will use $200,000 for teachers’ professional development and curriculum design with the remainder used by the Maritime Center for program development.

Aside from the maritime center, the schools are developing partnerships with other local entities in what Engle said are surprising places.

The Port Townsend School of Woodworking, as well as many others involved in what Engle calls “the local craftsman shop culture” are being explored in addition to links to the local technology sector, he said.

“One of our goals this year is to get teachers excited, using a format called project-based learning,” said Rubenstein, who left her position as a math teacher at Blue Heron Middle School to take over the program.

“This is the idea that students learn by completing a project, which usually involves collaboration with other students, that has some authentic meaning in the community.”

One program involves students visiting Finnriver Farm & Cidery in Chimacum to learn about salmon habitat and getting involved in a habitat restoration project.

In the process, teachers present the material needed for students to meet their school standard for science.

Rubenstein said it can take teachers three to five years to become proficient at leading project-based learning, but several district teachers already have that experience and training.

“This encompasses the whole idea of developing 21st century skills,” Rubenstein said.

“We have math standards and science standards and language standards, but there is also a set of skills that have to do with problem solving, creative thinking and being able to work as part of a team.”

Rubenstein said these skills are harder to quantify than math or science.

“Employers want people who are team players, can be innovative and have the ability to integrate different technologies and different tools to solve problems,” she said.

“Students are going to be driven to answer a question to solve a problem rather than being driven to answer a question because they know it will be on a test.”

Initially, the program was to focus on adding maritime instruction to certain grades and then expand, but that has changed, Rubenstein said.

“We have some things happening at every grade level this year,” she said.

“All of our elementary school students are experiencing some aspect of project-based learning connected to maritime community and our place.

“In our middle and high schools, where it is more departmentalized, most students will experience some project-based learning in at least one of their classrooms.”

Rubenstein said that project-based learning doesn’t directly address the problems faced by teachers.

“In terms of teachers and their job satisfaction, our goal has been to bring some passion and energy back into teaching and for the district to support it.”

Raising outside money to support the program helps lessen the teaching load, she said.

“We have additional funds to give teachers to work additional hours to do program development or pay for substitutes to come into the classroom so the teacher can have a planning day,” she said.

“We have a goal of finding what teachers are passionate about and excited about, and bringing that passion and excitement into the classroom.”

For more information, visit www.maritimediscovery.org.

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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.