Task Force to Examine Ridge Traffic, Meeting to be Public

Next meeting date yet to be set.

The Bernards Board of Education on Monday gave final approval to a task force, which already met last month, to address the issue of how to solve Ridge High School's longstanding traffic problems, with the goal of producing at least a status report by January. No date has been set yet for the next task force meeting, Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said. School Board President Susan McGowan said that the task force had been planning to meet on Nov. 7, at a meeting open to the public and public comment. That meeting was canceled due to the hurricane. That meeting will be rescheduled and will be open to the public but as of Wednesday morning, the new date had not been set, she said. The members of the task force, including two school …

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Ridge High School Traffic Study on Monday Agenda

Consultant's plan for how to improve morning traffic flow next year at Ridge High School will be unveiled before public and school board.

A subject that has sparked debate and dissention at multiple Board of Education meetings this year — how to route traffic and reduce jam-ups at Ridge High School during the morning rush hour — is expected to be addressed next Monday during a traffic consultant's report. The report, produced by consultant Gary Dean of Dolan and Dean Consulting Engineers, is scheduled to be presented at a special school board meeting at 7 p.m. next Monday, June 25, school officials said. The meeting is scheduled to be held at Ridge High School, off South Finley Avenue, by the Lake Road intersection. The public is invited to attend the meeting. School officials said this Monday they are hoping to come up with an action plan in order to allow time for any …

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Consultant Hired to Improve Traffic Flow at Ridge HS

Study expected to be completed before end of school year.

A traffic consultant has been hired by the Board of Education to study ways of relieving morning traffic at Ridge High School, with the expectation that the study can be done in the next few months, and any solution completed before next fall. The board agreed at Monday's meeting to hire Dolan & Dean, engineering consultants from Martinsville, for a fee of $10,700. The consultants estimate the study will take four to six weeks, and work could start in about a week if final details of a contract can be worked out within that time, School Business Administrator Nick Markarian said. During the meeting, Markarian said the consultant had agreed to widen the scope of the study, as requested by a board committee, to consider a solution on Ridge …

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Moms Talk Q&A

Moms Talk: What Should Be Done to Reduce Ridge Traffic?

What are your ideas for handling this longstanding problem? How does it affect your kids/your commute?

This is somewhat of a repeat of a Moms (and dads, etc.) column from two weeks ago, but the subject just won't go away. The diverting of Ridge High School buses along the streets Homestead Village on their way to the Cedar Hill Elementary School has created much more of an uproar than many might have expected. The Cedar Hill School has a walkway leading to the rear of the adjoining high school, and for years has been an alternate way into the building for kids walking from the nearby neighborhood, as well as some car traffic. But since the new "trial" bus route was started on Feb. 1, the streets heading to the elementary school have each morning received the influx of 27 school buses. But on top of that, many more parents dropping off their…

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School Officials to Form Task Force on Ridge Traffic

Bernards Township Committee reaffirms recommendation to cease busing of students via Cedar Hill School.

Board of Education President Susan Carlsson said Tuesday night school officials are moving to establish a task force on handling Ridge High School traffic before the board's next scheduled meeting on March 12. Carlsson said schools superintendent Valerie Goger is in charge of setting up the task force, which she said she hopes will include a number of parent and resident representatives, including two from the Homestead Village neighborhood. Residents of the neighborhood have been adamantly protesting a decision by school district's administration that on Feb. 1 started the routing of Ridge buses to the Cedar Hill Elementary School, which has access to the rear of the high school. The residents say the increased bus traffic—along with …

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Proposed '12-'13 School Budget, Super's Appointment, On For Tonight

Also, Homestead Village residents are planning to return with concerns about Ridge buses dropping students off at Cedar Hill School.

The Board of Education is scheduled to hold a presentation on the first draft of a school budget for the 2012-13, which is approved by the county, would likely be given final approval by school board vote on the March 26 meeting. Since the board voted earlier this month to move school elections, the public would not vote on the school budget for next year unless the proposed budget exceeds a state cap limit of 2 percent increase on the local school tax rate. That is something that school officials have repeated assured they will not do. The proposed budget will include a 27 percent increase in promised state aid for next year, along with a plan to maintain all programs within the district and add some staff in areas where class sizes have …

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Twp. Committee: Halt New Ridge Bus Route

Governing body to send school district a letter 'respectfully' asking that busing through Homestead Village be stopped.

The Township Committee supported residents of Homestead Village on Tuesday night who brought their case before the governing body to end Ridge High School busing through their neighborhood as an alternate route. "I believe this is a problem that needs to be solved within the campus of Ridge High School...not transferred to Homestead Village or municipal property," Deputy Mayor Carolyn Gaziano said of the school administration's decision to relieve some of the traffic backup at the high school entrance by rerouting buses to Cedar Hill Elementary School, where students can walk to the back entrance of the high school. As residents offered applause and standing ovations, Township Committee members unanimously agreed that while alternatives …

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