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, …
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Updated: Ridge Task Force sets dates for issuing online report on Monday and for a second public input session following week.
Following months of meeting, discussing and dissecting options for how to best alleviate morning traffic jams at Ridge High School, a special appointed task force is ready to issue its findings. In updated information, Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said in a special Friday Folder email to parents that the online report is expected to be issued on Monday. Markarian's email also said that the second public input session on the task force findings is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, March 25, at the municipal building at 1 Collyer Lane in Basking Ridge. After meeting again on Wednesday, Bernards Mayor Carolyn Gaziano said that the task force, made up of township and school district officials, likely will put up its report either next …
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Bernards Board of Education adopts revised calendar as presented last month.
Despite a call by some parents to keep the traditional full-week February vacation, the Bernards Board of Education on Monday adopted a revised calendar for next year that shortens the winter break to two days, and pushes up the last day of school to June 20 in 2014. The first day of school in the revised 2013-14 calendar is Sept. 9, and moves up the weeklong April break, traditionally scheduled later in the month, to April 7 to 11. The board also removed the Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday in January from an earlier calendar version as another way of shaving days from the previous final school day of the year, which in the previously adopted school calendar had been June 26, 2014. The calendar for next year does not include a day off for…
Proposed $94.2-million school budget would maintain all programs in the school district.
The Bernards Township Board of Education on Monday introduced a proposal for $94.2 million to finance the township's six schools in 2013-14, of which taxpayers would fund $77.4 million, with a 1.54 percent overall increase, according to the school's figures. That would translate into an estimated $158 annual increase in school taxes on an average township home assessed at $587,554, said Rod McLaughlin, school business administrator. The tentative general fund budget figure for next year is $86,949,699, up from $86,181,957 in 2012-13, according to the school's figures. The total budget for the 2012-13 school year, including debt payments, is $93.26 million, according to school figures released last year. Schools Superintendent Nick …
40.695126
-74.549054
Ridge High School
268 S Finley Ave, Basking Ridge, NJ
/articles/bernards-schools-introduce-proposed-budget-with-1-54-percent-increase
61036
/locations/8944954
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Updated: Refinancing of 2004 bonds will save school district almost $168,000 per year, school board member says.
With interest rates inching up, the Bernards Township school district didn't quite save the $2.7 million expected for a refinancing program for the remainder of outstanding bonds from the last school construction referendum — but the figure was close. School Board member William Koch reported that the arrangement made for the refinancing of the bonds will save the district an average of almost $168,000 per year, for a total of $2.5 million in lower interest payments. The district had expected to save about $185,000 per year. Koch said last month this latest round of refinancing was for more than $24 million worth of bonds due to be paid off in 2030. However, he added on Tuesday that the bulk of the bonds will be retired between 2023 and …
doug wicks
8:27 am on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Of the $54,145,091 Total Bonding voted for did we ever get the $9,496,452 State Share that we were promised to leave only $44,648,639 Local Share ? more ›