Schools

A team from Rutgers Preparatory School, Somerset, placed 18th out of 150 teams recently in the Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament held in Cambridge, Mass. The school sent 24 students to the competition. Justin Pan of Somerset earned the 32nd place in the Individual General Test Round while Kevin Gui of Highland Park and Mo Ran of Somerset tied for the 37th …

Students at Sampson G. Smith Intermediate School, Somerset, collected more than 2,000 pounds of food for the Franklin Township Food Bank for the Thanksgiving holiday. The food was delivered to the food bank on Nov. 19, after the total poundage from each class was tallied. Teacher’s aide Maddy Michaylin said the school collected 2,214 pounds of food. “You could say …

Photo courtesy of Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School. Mayor Brian Levine was on hand recently to help the Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School, Cortelyous Lane, honor its first marking period award winners. Awards went to the Student of the Marking Period and the winners of the Accelerated Reader Bookworm Contest – class winners received a gift card, the school winner …

A school for learning-disabled children will have a new home in a former office building on Riverview Drive. The Center School, currently leasing space on Old York Road in Branchburg, received Zoning Board approval at the Nov. 13 meeting to renovate the vacant three-story structure. The 6-acre site is bordered by Apgar Drive and Weston Canal Road. The school will …

The Franklin Township High School Project Graduation Committee won $1,000 in a contest sponsored by Let’s Yo yogurt stores. The group received their check on Nov. 11 at the Let’s Yo on Elizabeth Avenue. The contest involved schools getting credits for purchase points earned by customers after the customers texted a school-specific code to a central phone number, said store …

Come early next year, members of Non-Governmental Organizations registered with the United Nations may have an easier time finding each other. That’s because a group of Rutgers Preparatory School students are designing a software app that will give users quick access to the UN’s database of its NGOs. The students hope to be testing the app by January 2014, with …

Students at the Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School celebrated Diwali, the Indian “Festival of Lights,” during a special presentation Nov. 5. The celebration included dancing, singing and violin playing, said Oguz Yildiz, the school’s principal. “The performances put on by the students and parents were extremely impressive,” Yildiz said in an email about the event. “There was even a fashion …

Updated with response from Julia Presley. Eight ethics complaints filed against Board of Education president Julia Presley by three board members and a former elementary school principal will be heard by an Administrative Law Judge. The state Department of Education’s School Ethics Commission on Oct. 29 adopted recommendations from its Sept. 24 meeting to forward the complaints – filed by …

Incidents of violence, vandalism and harassment are decreasing in all nine of the district schools, according to a district official. Orvyl Wilson, director of school management, told the Board of Education at its Oct. 17 meeting that not only is there a “downward trend” in all of the categories of violence, vandalism, substance abuse and student discipline that are reportable …

A modified version of a controversial program designed to ease Franklin High School’s freshmen into the high school life was approved by the Board of Education at its Oct. 17 meeting. The program, known as “Freshman Focus,” was the subject of controversy and much comment at the last two school board meetings. Detractors say it’s nothing more than a study …