Officials: Choppy First-Week Schedule Should Not Be a Problem

Monday was Labor Day, and for kids around Bridgewater, that could only mean one thing—school is about to start again.

More than 9,000 students will return to school Wednesday for a four-hour day to kick off the 2010-2011 school year.

"The first day at the high school is about getting all students into their homerooms, and giving them their class schedules and everything," said Bridgewater-Raritan High School Principal James Riccobono. "There is a lot of administrative work."

From there, Riccobono said, the students will walk through their nine-period days to get used to getting to each individual class.

"Then the day ends at 12 p.m.," he said.

All schools in the district will be on a half-day schedule, followed by no school on Thursday for the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Students will return for a full day on Friday.

"As for the calendar, this was discussed by the Board of Education several months ago, and they felt that it was important to establish the routine of school early and retain as many days as possible during the first week," Bridgewater-Raritan School District Superintendent Michael Schilder said.

For this reason, Schilder said, the board chose to have the one day off for Rosh Hashanah, and bring students back to school for one more day before the weekend.

But those who are observing the second day of the holiday will not be penalized for missing school, Schilder said.

"The second day of Rosh Hashanah is designated as an approved religious observance by the Department of Education, and therefore is treated as an excused absence," he said.

According to Riccobono, the district always begins after Labor Day, rather than before, to accommodate those on vacation for the long weekend.

"Our history is that we always start the Wednesday after Labor Day," he said. "We have always honored family vacations."

But, Riccobono said, he understands that this week will be a little abnormal.

"It is not the smoothest of openings," he said.

Still, Riccobono said, he does not expect any issues with the day off in between, followed by a weekend. He said students are ready to go and come back from the summer, so everything should work out well.

"I don't expect any difficulty," he said. "We will show the flow of the schedules. We are ready to go."