School News

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.

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.

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.

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.

Now that the bleachers and press box at the Franklin Township High School athletic complex have been officially opened, the district administration is setting its sights on the project’s next phase. School district and township officials gathered on the football field prior to the Oct. 12 homecoming game against Elizabeth High School to formally cut the ribbon on the complex’s …

The school district is preparing to embark on an $8.4 million project predicted to save about 30 percent of the district’s energy costs. An “Energy Savings Improvement Program” was approved by the board at its Sept. 26 meeting.

In what was almost an anticlimactic vote, the Board of Education Sept. 26 voted to not offer a new contract to schools Superintendent Edward Seto.

A program supporters say was designed to help ease the transition of freshmen into high school came under fire at the Sept. 19 Board of Education meeting. The program, called Freshman Focus, was started at the high school this year, principal James Bevere told the school board during a 15-minute presentation.

A resolution to not renew the contract of schools Superintendent Edward Seto will be on next week’s Board of Education agenda. Judging by the vote at the Sept. 19 workshop session to add the resolution – 5-2, with two abstentions – the measure stands a good chance of passing.