News-pourri

It was a week late, but residents came out anyway on July 11 to celebrate Independence Day with music, food, games and, of course, fireworks. The event was held in the municipal complex off DeMott Lane. Along with the vendors, various township organizations set up tables and distributed literature and give-aways.

It was delayed by a few hours, but the 79th annual Middlebush Volunteer Fire Department July 4 parade went off without a hitch. The parade route started at the firehouse on Olcott Street, wound around Railroad Avenue and up South Middlebush Road to Amwell Road, where a left turn brought it back to Olcott.

A former teacher of autistic and emotionally disturbed children has been named the interim Director of Pupil Personnel Services for the school district. Terrance R. Brennan will start the position on July 14, according to a release from the district. He was named to the position at the June 26 Board of Education meeting.

A proposed schedule for Franklin High School which would have reduced class periods and increased lunch times was rejected June 26 by the Board of Education. That means that the master schedule in effect for the 2013-2014 school year will be used in the 2014-2015 school year, and possibly longer.

Township senior citizens looking for a break on their cable television bills got some relief at the June 24 cable franchise agreement public hearing. Bob Clifton of Comcast Cable, told the seniors that the only discount the company is legally allowed to give is 10 percent to those eligible for the state Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled (P.A.A.D.) …

A township resident won Planning Board approval June 18 for her plan to split a Vanderbilt Avenue lot into two to allow her to build a home close to her family. Margaret DeGeorge told the board that she currently lives in a townhouse on the other side of town, and she wants to be closer to her mother and brother …

Schedule changes that would result in more homework and added – albeit shorter – lunch periods for Franklin High School students and longer science and social studies classes for Sampson G. Smith 6th graders will be up for votes at the Board of Education’s June 26 meeting. Details of the changes were discussed at the board’s June 19 meeting.

A proposed Franklin High School schedule change for the 2014-15 school year would create more, shorter periods and would cut the amount of time for lunch periods for the second consecutive year.

Hometown favorite state Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula enjoyed strong support in the township in his bid for the Democratic nomination for the 12th Congressional District seat on June 3, but could not overcome the eventual winner’s lead in Mercer County, voting results show. With a total of 7,824 votes in the Democratic primary, Chivukula placed third in the four-candidate Democratic field. …

A former teacher at Sampson G. Smith School who allegedly said a group of African-Amercian students were “acting like a bunch of monkeys” has lost an appeal of her 2012 dismissal on charges that her conduct toward her students was “unbecoming and violated the standards required by public school teachers.” A 3-judge panel of the state Appellate Court found that the …