New School Start Times Unveiled For All Bridgewater-Raritan Schools

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — The 2026-27 Bridgewater-Raritan school year will bring big changes with the implementation of full-day kindergarten and new school start times.

Superintendent Robert Beers announced the new school schedules at the Tuesday night Board of Education meeting, which push back primary and high school start times and move up intermediate and middle school times.

The start and dismissal times are outlined in the chart below:

"We know that going into this, there are going to be challenges. And change always presents challenges. Challenges that we can prepare for, but there are also challenges that we may be unaware of at this time that we may have to deal wth when the time comes and make changes," said Beers. "So we know this new schedule presents a disruption to the current schedules, students, parents, teachers, and staff."

Beers noted that Bridgewater-Raritan is not the first school to adjust start times. School districts such as Bernards Township and Princeton have also adjusted start times.

The new start times presented are what parents should expect going into the new school year. However, Beers said it "may change by a few minutes here or there."

He added that the district is also working on ways to help parents.

"Some of the things we will work on is when can parents drop their kids off at school? Typically, it's 10 minutes, but I believe we will be able to extend that to accommodate parents as well," said Beers.

The decision to adjust school start times was prompted by multiple factors, including the implementation of full-day kindergarten, which shifted the entire bus routing system; to regain instructional time lost during COVID; save money on bus transportation; and address health benefits for high school students.

The school student representatives were in favor of the new start times.

"I remember in middle school my bus would be late almost every single day after school. We would all just wait there for like 10 minutes… so I am hoping to see this make things a lot smoother," said the rep, who added that the additional 40 minutes in the morning for high school students "can do a lot for overall mental health."

Board Member AJ Joshi said he noticed high school students coming into school tired for their first period class. With the later start time, he said, "You are going to see a lot of improvements at the high school for students in their grades and academics."

As a result of the new times, Beers said the district is regaining 20 minutes in instructional time at the high school, 15 minutes at the middle school, and 5 minutes at the intermediate school.

Board member Jennifer Loughran asked Beers where the majority of bus routes were assigned, which determined what schools started first and which went last.

"The primary is really the most challenging because it requires the most buses for a single tier. So that is one of the reasons why that is last because you really need all hands on deck to make sure everyone is picked up at the right time and gets to where they need to be supposed to be at," said Beers.

Joshi added that there are seven primary schools in seven different areas of the Township.

Board member Michael Pepe noted the benefits of the new start times, aligning all seven primary schools to start at the same time. Currently, Crim, Hamilton, and Milltown schools start at 8:25 a.m. while Adamsville, Bradley Gardens, JFK, and Van Holten schools start at 8:55 a.m.

The new start time will have students in all primary schools starting at 9:20 a.m.

"I think that consistency across the district I think is a positive. 9:20 is a little late but it's worth noting that there are [four] primary schools right now that start at 8:55," said Pepe, who added that it isn't an hour or an hour and a half difference for a large percentage of the district.

Having the primary schools start together also impacts teachers.

"A lot of our specials teachers - your art, your music teachers - those at the smaller schools. They may travel from Bradley Gardens to Van Holten or from one school to another over the course of the day and having them all on the same schedule versus two separate ones really makes scheduling more efficient as well," said Beers.

A link to the presentation can be found here: BRRSD Transportation.

Watch the presentation at the Board of Education meeting below:

Previous reporting:

• Later Start Times For Primary, High Schools Proposed In Bridgewater-Raritan
• School Start Times Hotly Debated At Bridgewater-Raritan Meeting

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