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Please Add Your Photos to Bernards Schools Reopen

Lessons and learning are back as the main focus when more than 5,600 students return to Bernards Township's six schools.

Michele Piancazzo and his wife Stefania said it was a bit emotional to drop their older son off for his first day of kindergarten at the Cedar Hill Elementary School, starting with the before-care program, and then leave for their day. Even though the couple has a younger sibling who hasn't yet started school, Stefania Piancazzo observed, "We just can't believe how quickly the time has gone." Nevertheless, she said of the new kindergarten student: "He was happy." Whether they were preschoolers or seniors logging their last year at Ridge High School, Bernards Township students made their way by foot, bus or private vehicle to the Bernards school district's first day of school on Thursday. Most were more experienced than the kindergartners, …

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Somerset Hills Schools Will Open With New Administrators, Tentative Contract

Tentative settlement with Somerset Hills Education Association up for ratification this month, superintendent says.

The Somerset Hills School District will open the doors of its three schools on Thursday with a projected enrollment of 2,056 students, and a tentative settlement on a teachers' contract that had remained unresolved through the previous school year, according to information from Schools Superintendent Peter Miller. There also will be a number of new top administrators in the regional school district, Miller said. The new Bernards High principal is Scott Neigel, and new Bernardsville Middle School Assistant Principal is Shawn Kelly, Miller said in an email. Gretchen Dempsey is now assistant principal at the Bedwell Elementary School, and Colleen Butler will fill the position of K-8 curriculum coordinator, he said. Butler's position was …

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Pack a Lunch With a Healthy Punch

Moms share tips and creative lunch ideas.

Kids head back to school this week. Back to school means back to packing lunches. Yikes! I have such a hard time coming up with new ideas.  Peanut butter and jelly gets boring. Nutella has been a great backup especially paired with some strawberries, but that gets old too. Regardless, both options will be in my pantry for busy mornings but I need some more interesting solutions. Do you have any good lunch box ideas? I asked around and some other moms shared their tips with me. Elise S., an N.J. mom of two, told me how she brightens up peanut butter and jelly or tuna sandwiches with a little trick. “I sometimes cut them into different shapes with cookie cutters or use a little gadget that cuts the sandwich into a circle with no crusts.” …

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Bernards Schools Ready to Open With New Lineup

Top administrators have changed, but much, including enrollment, will be pretty similar when schools open next week.

The Bernards Township School district is preparing to welcome back 5,638 students — at the latest count — next Thursday, the first day of school for students. Although Ridge High School's projected enrollment for the start of this school year is 1,807 students — an uptick from last year's 1,788 Ridge students on the first day of the 2011-12 school year, enrollment is down very slightly overall. Last September's school year started with 5,661 students; this year, other than at the Liberty Corner Elementary School, enrollment is a little down at the district's other three elementary schools. The William Annin Middle School as of today had 1,398 students, compared with 1,402 last year. Enrollment changes at the elementary schools were minimal…

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Ridge Marching Band, Color Guard Ramp Up for Season

This season's show features selections from 'Mask of Zorro.'

How do you take a group of 75 Ridge High School students—many experienced musicians but a few newcomers who have never picked up an instrument—and turn them into a marching band that can perform with precision at each week's Red Devils football game and also continue the group's string of competion wins? Well, you practice. And then practice, practice and practice. And, of yes, after a full week of annual summer band camp held from 8:15 each morning until 8:15 p.m. toward the end of August — then you set up additional practice times. Last week, band members — with the color guard members who will also be part of the show hard at work at the other end of the field — attended the band boot camp to shape up both musically and physically to …

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School Lunch Standards to Take Effect This Year

Whole grain-rich foods, more fruits and vegetables mandated.

School districts across the country will bring new meaning to the "apple a day" saying this school year as nationally-mandated school lunch standards take effect. Beginning in September, the new lunch standards, introduced in January by First Lady Michelle Obama under the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act, will be implemented. The standards were created to help fight childhood obesity throughout the nation. According to a press release from the United States Department of Agriculture, the new meal standards are designed to "make the same kinds of practical changes that many parents are already encouraging at home." This involves the inclusion of fruits, vegetables, whole grain-rich foods, low-calorie foods and foods with reduced amounts of …

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Lost hope

10:28 pm on Friday, November 23, 2012

Mrs Obama is NOT the driving force behind all this dietary change as many of you have given her credit for... The ADA, more formerly known as the AND has been putting a great deal of pressure on dietary changes across the board. Quite honestly I am NOT an Obama fan; however, I do feel that change is grossly necessary in order to avert more of an obesity epidemic...   more ›

High School Football Classifications Released

NJSIAA incorporates the new Group V this season.

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association released its classifications this week for the upcoming high school football season, following the executive committee's approval to create a Group V designation in the four public school sections in May. "This creates a greater opportunity for schools and for student-athletes," Jack DuBois, NJSIAA assistant director who is in charge of football, said following the approval. "It increases the number of teams playing in the playoffs from 128 to 160. At the same time, it eliminates 16 consolation games that schools didn't want to play anyway." The proposal also allows teams with records are under .500 to participate in the playoffs if they are needed to fill an eight-team bracket. "We…

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Moms Talk Q&A

Moms Talk: Are You Ready to Send that Kid to College?

A thousand feelings may accompany the departure of a child leaving home, especially when it's the first time.

Last weekend, I spent some time with a friend whose daughter is heading off to college, after graduating this June from a nearby high school. A happy time, in many ways, but undoubtedly more than a bit nerve-wracking for both. Having never lived in a dorm, (although I did live in an apartment about a half-hour from my home base for a good portion of my time in college) I really can't say too much of what it feels like from the student's point of view. Nevertheless, I remember sending off my first son to college, in Charleston, S.C., following his graduation from Ridge High School in 2007. I was happy for him, but we were both on edge. My friend (and I) were worrying about our offspring, but the college-students-to-be seemed unconcerned. Or…

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Colleen Epple Pine

10:33 am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Thank you for your kind words, Linda McGuirl! I will pick your brain for some empty-nester wisdom as the time comes next year...a new chapter will begin! We are very blessed moms indeed!   more ›

School Summer Projects Moving Ahead on Time

Passersby can see big trucks during reconstruction of part of original structure at century-old Liberty Corner School.

Summer repair and renovation projects at five of Bernards Township's six schools are "okay on timeline" as far as being finished in time for school to start, said Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian. The $606,000 worth of projects, paid for by funds set aside in the 2012-13 school budget, began after plans for the work were approved by the Board of Education in late June. One of the most visible projects underway now is at the Liberty Corner Elementary School, where Markarian said an outside contractor is repairing wood that had deteriorated at the soffit and fascia of the roof line of the original structure, built just over 100 years ago. Some of the design work for some of it was provided by the township, he said. The contractor also …

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