Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Boys and girls lacroose teams, debate squad among those recognized by school board.
It was a damp and dreary night outdoors, but a bright and cheery occasion inside William Annin Middle School as the Bernards school district said farewell to retiring staff members and celebrated the accomplishments of students. “It’s going to be an exciting night,” Superintendent of Schools Nick Markarian announced at Monday's board meeting, when students, parents and staff members packed the school auditorium. The warmest tributes were reserved for the 16 staff educators who retired or are retiring in this school year. They include Helayne Bilenker, Debbie Black, Carol Leiwant, Janet Marino, Elaine Matteo, Kathleen McNanna, Marian Palumbo, Lorraine Polakowski, Debbie Resvick, Connie Rose, Connie Semler, Judy Slutzky, Toby Sperber, Joanne…
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
One parent's second-grader son is 'smart enough to know his needs are not being met.'
A parent group’s call for the need for more academic enrichment programs in the early grades will be discussed by the Board of Education's curriculum committee, which is then planning to review the issue with the school administration. At Monday’s school board meeting — which included highlighs of accomplishments by students — members of the recently formed Bernards Township Parents for Advanced Curriculum told board members that the district is not fulfilling its obligation to provide an advanced curriculum, particularly in math. Parent after parent told the school board their children are bored, some even to the point of tears, by being not challenged by the math curriculum in the early grades. Linden Drive resident Kenneth Swan said …
40.68256
-74.563269
William Annin Middle School
70 Quincy Rd, Basking Ridge, NJ
/articles/parents-ask-school-board-for-more-enrichment-in-early-grades
62485
/locations/9447608
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Group may address Board of Education on Monday night, township father says.
A group of parents who want an advanced curriculum, particularly in math, and educational enrichment for kindergarten through grade 5 expects to meet next Monday evening, and then address the Bernards Board of Education, said parent Adam Hecht. Hect said the newly formed Bernards Township Parents for Advanced Curriculum, which he described as a "group of concerned parents who are working together to ensure the educational needs of our brightest, advanced and youngest students are met," plans to meet at 6 p.m. on Monday at the William Annin Middle School. The meeting will be in room 111, he later added. The board is scheduled to meet at the middle school starting at 7 p.m. Hecht said he is hoping some of the parents will be at that meeting …
40.68256
-74.563269
William Annin Middle School
70 Quincy Rd, Basking Ridge, NJ
/articles/bernards-parents-looking-for-advanced-elementary-instruction
62485
/locations/9444604
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Longtime Bernards Township Board of Education William Koch does not file for re-election.
Bernards Township School Board members Michael Byrne, who has served for about 24 years, and Elaine Kusel, finishing up her first three-year term, have filed to seek re-election, along with two newcomers seeking positions on the Board of Education. Three three-year seats are up for election in November this year. Longtime incumbent William Koch, a board member for about 11 years who has served as many board committees, did not file for re-election, according to information received from the Somerset County Clerk's office at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, deadline for filing. The other two candidates who filed to be included on November's ballot are Christopher Viereck and John Groot, according to the clerk's office. The township's elections for Board …
40.6919
-74.544252
Bernards Township Board of Education
101 Peachtree Rd, Basking Ridge, NJ
/articles/four-candidates-to-compete-for-three-school-board-seats
35142
/locations/9436430
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Bernards school district could save $2 million or more with refinancing of final outstanding bonds from 2005 construction projects.
The third round of refinancing of the outstanding bonds mostly left from a $51-million major schools reconstruction project in 2004 could save the school district $2 million or more, a bond adviser said before the Bernards Board of Education on Monday night approved the financial arrangement. The district already had reduced its interest payments by about $3.3 million in two previous rounds of bonds refinancing during the past year or so. On Monday, Mary Lyons of Phoenix Advisors said that by reissuing up to $27,250,000 worth of outstanding bonds, now paying about 4 percent interest, the school district might save up to $2.3 million in interest payments, spread out over a 10-year-period. Lyons said the bonds likely wouldn't be refinanced …
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Ridge High School teacher is appointed as new math supervisor for all Bernards schools.
The Bernards Township Board of Education on Monday night heard plans about changes to the middle school school math program to bring it in line with new state "common core" standards, as presented by Marian Palumbo, the supervisor of mathematics for all township schools. The board also officially accepted the retirement of Palumbo at the end of this school year. Palumbo said she has been a math educator for 38 years. Kristen Wolff, now a math teacher at Ridge High School, was appointed to become the next districtwide Supervisor of Mathematics. While required common core math changes already have been implemented in math programs at the elementary school and high school, the changes at the William Annin Middle School will be incorporated …
40.68256
-74.563269
William Annin Middle School
70 Quincy Rd, Basking Ridge, NJ
/articles/bernards-schools-plans-for-new-math-supervisor-and-annin-middle-school-math-program
62485
/locations/9388267
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Also, Ridge field hockey spring clinic for girls, VNA rummage sale coming up.
Since moving the election for Bernards Township Board of Education candidates to November, April marks the beginning, not the end, of the election process for school board members — and this year, there will be three seats opening. The board announced on its website that the nine-member board will have three, three-year vacancies available in the annual school board election, now scheduled to be part of the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. The current deadline to submit the nominating petition is 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 4. The three board members whose terms are due to expire are Michael Byrne, William Koch and Elaine Kusel. Petitions should be delivered by the deadline to the Somerset County Clerk, 20 Grove St. P.O. Box 3000, …
Friday, March 29, 2013
No public comment as Board of Education adopts $94.2 million 2013-14 budget.
As in Somerset Hills the night before, the Bernards Board of Education on Thursday adopted a school budget for 2013-14 that hit the state cap of 2 percent on general fund tax levy increases, a percentage that was then reduced by savings achieved through refinancing of long-term debt. The total school budget for next year is $94.2 million, up from $93.26 million for the current 2012-13 school year, according to school district figures. Overall, the tax levy for next year will go up 1.54 percent, adding an additional $158 onto a township home with an average assessed value of $587,554, according to school figures presented by Rod McLaughlin, the school district's business administrator. An increase of about $1.5 million in the general fund …
40.695126
-74.549054
Ridge High School
268 S Finley Ave, Basking Ridge, NJ
/articles/bernards-school-board-adopts-94-2m-budget-for-next-year
61036
/locations/9127590
Monday, March 25, 2013
But many residents say school buses should be routed through the municipal complex.
The Bernards Township Committee and township Board of Education are at the point of considering a special task force's recommendation on how to solve the morning traffic problem at Ridge High School. That recommendation will be finalized at next Wednesday's meeting of the task force, and then forwarded to the school board and township committee at their meetings, respectively, on April 8 and 9. The task force has made a preliminary recommendation, referred to as Option 9, to widen the driveway off South Finley Avenue by the Board of Health office for use by buses, which would drop off students by the Performing Arts Center. That would allow parents to use the main entrance at Lake Road and South Finley, and drop off students either at the …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Meeting next Monday to answer questions, accept public input.
A specially appointed Ridge Traffic task force has posted 13 options for alleviating morning traffic jam-ups at the entrance to Ridge High School on the Bernards Township website, including costs and pros and cons attached to each option. Questions will be answered on the report, and additional public input accepted, at a public meeting of the task force scheduled for 7 p.m. next Monday at the Bernards Township municipal building, 1 Collyer Lane, in Basking Ridge, according to Bernards Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian. The report is the work of several months of discussion, and a previous public input session, in which the task force looked at options presented by school officials, a consultant and members of the public — "basically, …
c
9:16 am on Friday, June 14, 2013
you missed the point, I know there are many intellegent children and everyone wants the very best for their kids. I just have spent the last 17 years watching and listening and have seen a lot happen to some of the kids that I have watched grow up. I just feel that along with education something has been lost in some of the kids. There is and underlying situation that is never addressed fully. A … more ›