Schools

The Sampson G. Smith Players on Jan. 18 were busily rehearsing their upcoming production of “The Wizard of Oz.” The show will be performed at 7 p.m. on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2, 7 and 8, and 2 p.m. on Feb. 2 and 9. The show is directed by Terri Seggio, assistant directed by Tiffany Andrews, with musical direction …

Students at the Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School recently heard from a Kung-Fu expert on bullying, and donated books and sports equipment to an NFL charity drive. Sifu Karl Romain, a member of the United International Kung Fu Hall of Fame, made his second visit to the Cortelyous Road school on Jan. 9, bringing a message of self-confidence and bullying …

Township police and a Somerset couple are at odds over what happened to several Franklin Middle School students Nov. 21 after their bus driver called police to report some unruly students, and then a replacement driver refused to continue the route. The parents, B.K. and Michelle Redd, say that their 7th-grade son and two other students were left on the …

The Thomas Edison Energy Smart Charter School “Green Team” brought some smiles this Christmas season to residents of Franklin Care Center, Route 27, Franklin Park. Students and parents from the Cortelyous Road school created gifts out of recycled materials and sold them during the school’s Winter Concert nights. A total of $205 was raised, said school principal Oguz Yildiz. The …

Art work from students at St. Matthias Elementary School, John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Somerset, are included in the 22nd annual exhibit of children’s art at the Somerset County Park Commission Environmental Education Center, 190 Lord Stirling Rd., Basking Ridge. The free exhibit, which features art works with an environmental theme, runs weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Jan. 4 …

The Franklin High School’s telephone lines are still down, but district officials are hopeful the system will be repaired quickly. The phone lines went down Dec. 18, schools Superintendent Edward Seto said at the Dec. 19 Board of Education meeting. “As of this afternoon, new parts were being located, we hope to have the service restored soon,” he said. District …

Four Somerset residents are among the 11 Rutgers Preparatory School flutists accompanying acclaimed flutist James Galway Dec. 5 in a Carnegie Hall performance. The students – Teresa Heath, Jennifer Rihacek, William Rubinstein, and Arthi Vaidyanathan – and their RPS classmates are among 20 student musicians accompanying Galway on “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Hall” during the famed New York City …

Students at Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School, Cortelyous Lane, Somerset, held a number of charitable fundraisers over the last few weeks. The school’s “Dress-Down Week,” in which a $10 donation was made to “dress down” for one day, raised $3,290, said school principal Oguz Yildiz. The school’s Student Council is also holding a canned food drive to benefit the Franklin …

More than $9 million worth of contracts related to the proposed school referendum and energy saving program were approved at the Nov. 21 Board of Education meeting. The board awarded a $6,958,910 contract to SSP Architectural Group, Bridgewater, for architectural design and administrative services for the ambitious referendum projects and the Energy Savings Improvement Program. Another contract, worth 2,060,631, was …

About three dozen of the district’s substitute teachers showed up at the Nov. 21 Board of Education meeting to once again ask that the pay hike they were promised last year be put into effect. The teachers have been showing up regularly since September, asking the board to reverse a June decision to cut their per day pay by as …