School Board

BALLOT TALLIES – Poll workers drop off vote tallies at the Municipal Building after voting ended on November 3. Democrat Adam Hamawy outpolled Republican Gregg Mele by roughly 3-to-1 in Franklin Township’s Election Day voting on November 3, part of a commanding performance across the four-county 12th Congressional District that propelled him to victory in the race to succeed retiring …

Franklin Township school officials are considering extending the District’s current strategic plan until June 2027 while exploring new ways to finance school construction projects and preparing to survey families and students about the District’s cellphone policy.

The Board of Education at its October 27 meeting approved contracts worth $482,554.86. The approved contracts were:

The Board of Education is taking the first steps toward a potential $50 million capital improvement program affecting nine township schools, seeking the assistance of the Somerset County Improvement Authority to arrange financing for renovations and other improvements.

SOLOMON FOLLOWING SOLOMON – The outgoing Director of School Management, Nick Solomon, with his wife, Rebekah Solomon, the incoming Director of School Management, at the October 27 Board of Education meeting. Rebekah Solomon, principal of Franklin Middle School’s Sampson G. Smith campus, was named the school district’s new Director of Student Advocacy and School Management at the October 27 Board …

The Board of Education approved nearly $146,000 in purchases, service agreements and renewals at its September 24 meeting. The contracts range from janitorial supplies and payroll software to physical exams for student athletes and classroom technology for two private schools. The 10-item package totals $146,004.60 for the items that carry a fixed price or a spending cap. A consultant contract …

The school district paid more than $2 million in charter school tuition in September and received nearly $1.2 million from the state after closing out five construction grant projects dating to 2015, according to committee reports presented to the Board of Education at its September 24 meeting.

HONORING A LEGEND – Warriors’ Stadium will carry the name of the football coach who led FHS to state titles in the 1980s. The Board of Education on September 24 approved renaming Franklin High School’s Warrior Stadium as Len Rivers Stadium, honoring the former football coach who led the Warriors to two undefeated state championship seasons in the 1980s.

The Franklin Food Bank’s dream to build a new, larger headquarters on property near Pine Grove Manor School may have been dashed. The Board of Education at its September 24 meeting rejected the Food Bank’s $400,000 bid for the roughly 4.5-acre parcel next to the school on Highland Avenue.

NEW VICE PRINCIPAL – Jason Richardson speaks to the Board of Education after he was appointed the new vice principal at Franklin High School on September 24. The township Board of Education appointed a nine-year educational administrative veteran as a new vice principal at Franklin High School on Sept. 24, following a search that drew more than 60 applicants.