School Calendar Reconsideration, Quarry Hearing Coming This Week

Monday's Board of Education is likely to include discussion on the reconsideration of the already-approved school calendar for the 2013-14 school year and the following year, as school officials look at ways to avoid such a late final day in June and answer requests for a holiday on the Indian festival of Diwali.

The school board meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Monday, and will be held at the William Annin Middle School.

At a previous meeting, the school board introduced a policy change saying that a school calendar for the upcoming year can be revised until March 1, and that policy may be approved this week.

Parents to receive survey regarding school calendar

Also this week, Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said in an email to parents that they will be receiving an email arents invitation to participate in a school calendar survey.   

The invitation will be sent to the guardian email address that is maintained in the district’s student information management system, he said.

The email, likely to be sent out on or about this Tuesday, will be from the Bernards Township School District with the subject line, SUBJECT - School Calendar Survey, his email said. He asked that parents do not delete the email if they want to complete the survey, which he said is anonymous.

Students that are currently seniors or juniors at Ridge High School will receive an email invitation for a slightly different school calendar survey. The student invitation will be sent to the email address that is maintained in the District’s college application database, Naviance.

"Of course we would greatly appreciate your participation in the survey. However, if you would prefer not to complete the survey, simply delete the email invitation," Markarian's email said.

The survey itself might take anywhere from two to ten minutes to complete, he said. Completed surveys must be submitted by the end of the day on Tuesday, Feb. 5, he added.

"We look forward to collecting this valuable input from our school community," Markarian said.

School officials, including Markarian in a previous email, said that a particular concern is that the district has been creating calendars where the last day of school is very late in June. The last day of school for students this year and next is June 26th and in 2014-15 the last day is June 24.

One change being considered is to start school a little earlier in the fall, so the last day can be scheduled earlier the following June, school officials said during discussions at previous board meetings.

Also at Ridge High School this week, the new quarterly assessment testing program, a replacement for midterms and finals, is due to begin this Thursday and Friday.

The schedule is on the school website.

The first marking period's planned quarterly assessment was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy.

Also this week:

• The Bernards Township Beautification Committee is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. on Monday at the municipal complex at 1 Collyer Lane.

• The Bernards Township Committee is scheduled to meet at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the municipal complex at 1 Collyer Lane. Among the topics on the agenda are the discussion of a forestry management plan and a request by the Ridge Baseball Club to install artificial turf in the infields at the Ridge baseball fields off Valley Road.

• Meanwhile, the Millington Quarry's application for an acceptable closure and rehabiliation plan is due to come back before the township Planning Board at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night.