School Board

The school district’s retirees and volunteers were honored by the Board of Education at their June 20 meeting. The Board had special callouts for Franklin Middle School Sampson G. Smith campus principal Evelyn Rutledge, Early Childhood Education supervisor Kathleen Damore, Franklin High School Booster Club leader Marisa Gallagher and outgoing district Parents Organization Presidents’ Council president Nicolas DiMeglio. Those retirees …

Students from across the district were honored for their achievements during the past school year in a special June 5 Board of Education meeting at Franklin Middle School – Hamilton Street Campus. Students received awards for a variety of activities, from athletics to academic competitions to artistic endeavors. “This has become an annual program for us,” schools Superintendent John Ravally …

EDUCATORS OF THE YEAR HONORED – A ballroom at the Imperia was filled with district teachers, administrators, families and friends to take part in the annual ceremony. Twenty district educators were honored June 1 during the annual Educators of the Year breakfast at the Imperia. Honored were Teacher of the Year and Educational Services Professional of the year from each …

TALKING NUMBERS – Schools Superintendent John Ravally describes the 2024 budget at the March 9 open Finance Committee meeting. (File photo.) The Board of Education approved its $214 million spending plan for Fiscal Year 2024 at a special April 25 meeting. The $213,803,051 budget is powered by a $164,387,049 tax levy for calendar year 2023, up $7,285,784 from calendar year …

NEW SGS ADMIN TEAM – Rebekah Solomon, center, with Sampson G. Smith vice-principals Jill Santoni and Jarred Sheffrin after Solomon was appointed SGS principal at the April 25 Board of Education meeting. (Photo: Rebekah Solomon.) The Board of Education on April 25 once again chose home-grown talent in naming Rebekah Solomon as the new principal at Franklin Middle School – …

UP, UP, AND AWAY – Stephen White of COSI uses a model rocket to make a point during one of his presentations to students at Pine Grove Manor School on March 31. Students at Pine Grove Manor Elementary School were the beneficiaries March 31 of a special partnership between the Franklin Food Bank and an Ohio-based science museum. The museum, …

Franklin Township High School will be one of 26 schools in New Jersey to offer Advanced Placement African American studies, starting in the 2023-2024 school year. The course, created by the College Board, is currently being taught in one New Jersey school and 60 schools across the country. The course is in its first year of a two-year pilot program. …

BUDGET TIME – Schools Superintendent John Ravally explains some elements of the tentative FY 2024 district budget at the school board’s special open Finance committee meeting on March 9. Update: The Board of Education on March 16 voted to introduce it’s tentative FY 2024 budget. It now goes before the Somerset County Executive Superintendent for review, and final adoption in …

STATE AID INCREASE – Schools Superintendent John Ravally said the increase in state aid is “timely.” (File photo.) The Franklin Township school district is targeted to receive more than $21 million in state aid for its K-12 program in Fiscal Year 2024, a nearly 38 percent increase in the amount it received for Fiscal Year 2023, according to figures recently …

The school district is looking to return some students to temporary classroom trailers, such as these at Franklin Middle School – Sampson G. Smith campus, to deal with issues caused by its growing pre-Kindergarten population. The Board of Education at its January 26 meeting agreed to submit a request to the state Department of Education to use trailers at five …