School News

Students at MacAfee Road School on Feb. 28 celebrated Black History and Women’s History month with a “Living Museum” program. During the half-hour presentation, students in the Kindergarten to 4th Grade school portrayed luminaries raging from Ameila Earhart to Boker T. Washington.

Thanks to all the recent snow days, the last day of school for the district is now June 27. The Board of Education voted to extend the school year by three days at the Feb. 20 meeting.

A number of local and state dignitaries visited the Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School, Cortelyous Lane, on Feb. 11. Among the visitors were Aaron Ford, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Newark office, Somerset County Sheriff Frank Provenzano, Mayor Brian Levine and Township Council members Rozalyn Sherman, Carl R.A. Wright, Ted Chase and James Vassanella.

More than $4,400 in grants was awarded to three local charities Jan. 31 by students in a Franklin High School business psychology class. The students took part in a 10-week program run by Main Street Philanthropy, an organization comprised of financial planners which is dedicated to teaching students the value of philanthropic investing.

About 100 people braved the snow the afternoon of Jan. 25 to attend the yearly open house for prospective students at St. Matthias School in Somerset. The school’s principal, Sr. Jean Laurich, said she was “nervous” when she heard the weather report for the day.

UPDATE: The cheerleaders’ fundraiser at Appleby’s has been changed to 8-10 a.m. Feb. 2. The Franklin High School cheerleaders won’t be getting any official help from the Board of Education in their effort to raise money to attend a national championship in Florida next month.

Andre Hughes’ task was to draw a superhero that would bring inspiration to a hospitalized child. His choice? Max Steel. Why?

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.

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 …