School Board

NEW BOARD PRESIDENT – Ardaman Singh reacts after she was voted in as school board president at the Board’s January 4 reorganization meeting. Board of Education members Ardaman Singh and Sami Shaban were chosen by their colleagues as Board president and vice-president, respectively, at the January 4 reorganization meeting. Also at the meeting, Board newcomers Erica Inocencio and Jimmie Parker …

GROUP HONORED – Warrior For Life co-founder Adrian Plummer speaks to the Board of Education at the December 21 meeting. The co-founders of the Warrior For Life Scholarship Foundation were honored at the Board of Education’s last 2023 meeting. The group, whose founding in 2017 was led by four Franklin residents – Nicholas and Rebekah Solomon and Daryn and Adrian …

SAYING GOODBYE – Nishita Desai and Michael Smith said their goodbyes at the December 21 Board of Education meeting. The Board of Education December 21 said goodbye to two of its members who did not seek re-election in November. Nishita Desai and Michael Smith were first elected to the Board in 2017.

NEW MATH COORDINATOR – Gaye McGee, former Franklin Park School vice-principal and now the district’s Math Coordinator for elementary schools, speaks to the school board at the December 21 meeting. Two new district administrators were appointed December 21 by the Board of Education. Jessica Young was named vice-principal at Franklin Park School, while the woman she replaced, Gaye McGee, was …

FUNDING HIGH HOPES – Vimal Sodhani speaks to the Board of Education at its November 16 meeting, prior to donating $10,000 for the Invention Competition. A township philanthropist has once again made a substantial donation to a special program run in the school district. Vimal Sodhani, of the Sodhani Foundation, presented the district with a $10,000 check for the annual …

Student proficiency rates in English Language Arts, Science, and Math are approaching pre-pandemic levels, but there still are some gaps that need to be addressed, school district officials said recently. Proficiency rates took a hit from the 2019-2020 school year – the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic – through the 2020-2021 school year when all students were learning at home …

The Board of Education on October 19 approved contracts for goods and service worth more than $185,000. The Board approved:

Source: Board of Education. Approximately 18 percent of Franklin Middle School students –  nearly one-in-five – were suspended from school in the 2022-23 school year, a reality that concerns district officials. That number is dramatically higher than the suspension rates at the district’s elementary and high schools, which are .8 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

NOT RUNNING – Board of Education members Michael Smith and Nishita Desai will not run for re-election this year. Only one incumbent is among the seven candidates who have filed petitions to run for three open Board of Education seats. Incumbent Bill Grippo is joined on the “Vote All Three” slate by newcomers Erika Innocencio and Jimmie Parker, III.

NEW VICE-PRINCIPAL – Edgar Vazquez Molina speaks to the Board of Education after having been named the new vice-principal at Elizabeth Avenue School. A new vice-principal at Elizabeth Avenue School and dance teacher at Franklin High School were named by the Board of Education at its July 27 meeting. Edgar Vazquez Molina was named as the new vice-principal at EAS, …