School Starts Monday, Township Committee Meets Tuesday

Ready or not, here school comes.

With school starting this year on Sept. 9, Bernards Township students may have felt the big day never would come.

But it's here, with a regular, full day and a complete five-day week on tap.

An online letter a few weeks ago to parents from Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said that staff will have conducted extensive training before the students walk into school on Monday.

Over this past summer, while students rested up, school officials were busy completing 52 curriculum projects, including major revisions in grades three to five language arts and grades six to eight mathematics, his letter added.

In addition, Ridge High School has added Advanced Placement Art History, Honors Current Issues, and Media and Video Production courses, his letter said. Ridge students may now also earn credit from Raritan Valley Community College for Personal Finance II and Honors Accounting.

One of the biggest changes this year is that in all four elementary schools, the school day will begin 15 minutes earlier and end 15 minutes later than last year. Bus schedules have been adjusted accordingly, Markarian said in a previous communication to parents.

Also this year, a full-week February vacation has been eliminated.

Meanwhile, for those with any energy left by Monday evening, the Bernards Township Board of Education is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. on Monday at the William Annin Middle School, at 70 Quincy Road.

The Bernards Township Committee also is scheduled to meet this week, at its regularly scheduled time of 8 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the Monday.

But what has been changed is the meeting location. While the municipal court and meeting room is renovated, municipal meetings that had been held in that room are being moved to the Bernards Township Library, 32 S. Maple Ave. Last week, the Planning Board was the first municipal body to meet in program room B in the library, and all Township Committee, Planning Board and Board of Adjustment meetings are expected to be held in the library through November.

As part of the renovation, the township is installing a larger generator at Town Hall, in order to keep it running through prolonged power outages as caused last fall by Sandy, when much of the building was operating on limited or substandard power. 

This Tuesday, the Township Committee is due to award a professional services contract for the construction phase of the standby power generator to be installed at the Bernards Township Municipal Building. Nancy C. Wohlleb, an engineer with the consulting firm Hatch Mott MacDonald, is on the agenda to be paid an amount not to $16,400.

Also on Monday, morning (9:30 a.m.) and evening (at 6:30 p.m.) yoga sessions begin at the Bernards Township Community Center, 289 S. Maple Ave.

Classes are appropriate for beginning and continuing students. Cost is $50 for residents and $75 for non-residents. More information is online on the Bernards Township website.