By Samantha Gorman
Correspondent
HAZLET – Scott Ridley, the superintendent of schools in the Hazlet Township Public Schools, is mirroring the community’s excitement about the beginning of a new school year.
In an interview with the Independent, Ridley discussed recent developments in the K-12 district that consists of a high school, a middle school, five elementary schools and an early childhood learning center.
Following a school year when districts used a combination of in-person and remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Phil Murphy has directed administrators to open their buildings for in-person, full-day instruction.
“By and large, there has been genuine excitement and appreciation for the decision to come back with our eight schools, five days a week, with lunches,” Ridley said.
With the students’ best interests in mind, the elementary schools, Hazlet Middle School and Raritan High School have seen changes made to their academic programs, extracurricular activities and facilities, according to the superintendent.
Students at the elementary school level have a full-time English language arts (ELA) coach and a math coach as new resources. A new full-time counselor has joined the staff as well.
“The ELA and math coaches will address academic learning loss or challenges and the counselor will speak to the social-emotional learning for children at that age,” Ridley said.
Raritan Valley Elementary School pupils can look forward to using a new basketball court that has been added, the superintendent said.
After administrators decided to maintain a part-time math coach at the middle school, a part-time ELA coach has joined the staff, as well as a behaviorist.
According to Ridley, the behaviorist will speak with students at the middle school and at the high school.
“At the high school, we have hired a number of teachers because we have experienced some unexpected retirements, in part due to the pandemic and in part due to people’s lives changing,” Ridley said. “We have hired a new vice principal at the high school as well.”
Regarding extracurricular activities, Raritan High School students are looking forward to participating in a new gaming club, which will allow them to socialize based on their hobby of playing video games.
“We received a $10,000 grant to underwrite the cost of the director and whatever materials
will be necessary to get that club up and running. There is significant interest among our high school population,” the superintendent said.
Ridley discussed the success the district’s Athletic Department had at the middle school and at the high school during the 2020-21 school year in hopes of seeing that good fortune continue during the 2021-22 school year.
“We are very proud of the fact that all the way through COVID, every single one of our middle school and high school athletic programs, both boys and girls, ran through to fruition. No games were cancelled and all championships and playoffs were played,” he said.
In other news, “We built a security vestibule outside of our administration offices,” Ridley said. “Several years ago, we equipped all eight of our schools’ main entrances with double door entries. Our central office did not have (a double door entry), so we just installed one.”
An orientation session for new students is scheduled for Sept. 2. The first full day for all 2,800 students will be Sept. 8.
