School Board

The Board of Education at its May 25 meeting commended a number of Franklin High School students for their achievements during the school year. Among those honored at the meeting were members of the FHS football, track, cross country and field hockey teams, the varsity cheerleaders, the FHS marching band and the Junior Classical League. Following are videos of the …

Teachers and Education Service Professionals of the year for each of the township’s nine schools were honored May 4 with a breakfast ceremony at the Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School in Bridgewater. The teachers, professionals, families and staff gathered for the event at the school’s Trade Wins cafe, which is staffed and managed by VoTech students. The schools’ …

A divided Board of Education on March 23 introduced major changes to its policy regulating sponsorship signage, and who in the district can solicit sponsors. The changes restrict sponsorship advertising – such as banners – to only the high school athletic complex, meaning the football stadium and the gym. The underlying policy, which was approved in 2010, allowed sponsorship signage …

Nearly three dozen water sources in seven township schools contain levels of lead higher than is considered safe by federal standards. The levels of lead found in the water ranged from 15.6 parts per billion (ppb) to 1,720 ppb. Federal guidelines recommend that lead levels in water in excess of 15 ppb be remediated because of health concerns. The affected …

The school district’s state-mandated support of charter schools could hit $20 million over the next three years, attendees at a Feb. 22 anti-charter school growth forum were told. The money would be needed to support the expansion of the Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School, the Central Jersey College Prep Charter School and the proposed Ailanthus Charter School, schools Superintendent John …

The school district’s pre-K program did not meet enrollment estimates this year, a fact the school board president blames on the township’s two charter schools. Board of Education president Ed Potosnak said that the increasing amount of money that the district has to send to the township’s charter schools forced the board to start charging for pre-K this year. The …

The Board of Education Jan. 26 thanked one of its former members for her service. Julia Presley, who chose not to run for re-election last year after two terms and several tumultuous years at the helm of the board, was presented with the traditional plaque honoring her service by current board president, Ed Potosnak. The plaque was given “in recognition and gratitude for …

New goals for the school district and strategies to achieve them were the main topics Jan. 11 at a strategic plan workshop held at Franklin High School. About 50 people – school and district administrators, faculty, parents and Board of Education members and Mayor Phil Kramer – met in the school’s cafeteria for the fourth in an ongoing series of …

The Board of Education welcomed one new member and retained its leadership at the Jan. 5 reorganization meeting. The board for the third consecutive year voted in Ed Potosnak as president and Nancy LaCorte as vice president. Newly elected board member Ardaman Singh was sworn in, as were LaCorte and Danielsen, the other two winners in the November election. While …

A group of parents and students seemed to have made an impression on the Board of Education Dec. 22 when they asked members to rejuvenate an ailing district orchestral band program. The program has not recovered from budget cuts it suffered in 2010 and, most recently, from schedule changes at Franklin Middle School, according to parents and school officials. But …