Education

BOO! – Students at Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School participated in the school’s annual Halloween Trunk-or-Treat event. (Photo: TEECS). Submitted by TEECS.

SOLOMON FOLLOWING SOLOMON – The outgoing Director of School Management, Nick Solomon, with his wife, Rebekah Solomon, the incoming Director of School Management, at the October 27 Board of Education meeting. Rebekah Solomon, principal of Franklin Middle School’s Sampson G. Smith campus, was named the school district’s new Director of Student Advocacy and School Management at the October 27 Board …

SHARING OF CULTURES – Children watch one of the dance performances given at the October 23 Cedar Hill Preparatory School’s multicultural celebration. The world came to Cedar Hill Preparatory School on Cedar Grove Lane October 23, as families representing 17 cultures gathered for the school’s third annual Multicultural Night Celebration.

Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School has struck a Friendship Agreement with a middle school group in China. The agreement with Beijing Fengtai No. 2 Middle School Group will create new opportunities for students and educators to connect, collaborate, and exchange ideas across cultures, according to a press release from the school.

A township woman has been named one of two student representatives to the Raritan Valley Community College Foundation. Vedha Priya Shivaraman of Somerset was named a student representative to the foundation for the 2026-27 school year, according to a press release from the school.

RIBBON-CUTTING – Board of Education President Dr. Dennis Hopkins cuts the ceremonial ribbon at the new Franklin Park pre-school playground, flanked by (left to right) Board member Clara Wilson and FPS principal Angela Pape. School and District officials gathered September 15 at Franklin Park School to. formally dedicate the new pre-school playground.

Three students at high schools in the township are among more than 16,000 semifinalists in the 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced on September 9. The semifinalists are Huda Dabaa of Franklin High School and Benjamin Lee and Mahadev Menon of Rutgers Preparatory School, according to a press release from the organization.

BEST IN THE STATE – Principal Oguz Yildiz stands with a graduating senior at the 2025 Thomas Edicaon EnergySmart Charter School graduation ceremony. (File photo.) Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School and Central Jersey College Prep Charter School are ranked as the top two charter schools in the state in the latest US News & World Report ranking of high schools …

FIRST DAY CHAT – Schools Superintendent Jamil Maroun speaks with a Road to Success program student September 3 at the Franklin Youth Center. Elementary and high school students across the township returned to their classrooms September 3 for the opening of the 2026-27 school year, and for schools Superintendent Jamil Maroun, the morning marked a first of his own.

Franklin Township Board of Education committees moved a mandated student cellphone policy toward final adoption, endorsed nine new high school courses and set the date for a stadium tribute to the late football Coach Len Rivers during a round of August meetings, according to committee reports. The reports also disclosed that the District paid $3,823,866 in charter school tuition in …