September 2021 www.readingtonnews.com
The
Readington News A Community Newspaper
Serving All of Readington Township, NJ
Together, Inquire and Inspire: Theme for a New School Year house School welcomes Austin Abney, Health/PE teacher, Anna Shinn, third grade teacher, and we welcome back Elizabeth Lewis as a kindergarten teacher. Additionally, we are thrilled to have Kristen Halozan as the art teacher for Whitehouse and Three Bridges. At Three Bridges School, we welcome Kristen Fabriczi, speech-language specialist, and Lynda Breckenridge, a leave-replacement G&T teacher. Holland Brook School welcomes Melissa Van Eck, special education teacher. New teachers at Readington Middle School are Kerry Bonci, language arts teacher, and Vincent Biancamano and Evan Gulino as leave-replacement social studies teachers. We have a new districtwide behaviorist, Jennifer Prior, and a new part-time ESL teacher, Dawn LoCalio. There are new staff members in the business office, facilities department, and technology department as well including Katie DeRiso, Ray Egbert, Lara Nasser, Ryan Dec, Daniel Wasserman, Tim Hochrun, and Louis Orth. In addition to new hires, there have also been some staff assignment changes in the district - these are familiar faces in different places. Dana Pierro will be the art teacher at RMS. Rachel Brodsky and Janice Razza will be teachers at WHS. There may also be some additional new faces as the
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By Dr. Jonathan Hart, Superintendent of Schools The Readington Township School District is excited to welcome all students back for in-person learning on Sept. 8. While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to linger in our community and beyond, our approach to the school year will be one where we hope to return to many learning opportunities as we remember them: all students in classrooms, providing extra-curricular sports and clubs, and offering a variety of learning experiences. Of course, we will continue many of our COVID precautions, but we are eager to provide children with a sense of community and togetherness. The district welcomes several new inspiring teaching staff members in various positions. White-
school year gets underway. These talented individuals come with various backgrounds and experiences and will certainly add greatly to the Readington team. We are excited to have them! Over the summer, we worked hard to revise curriculum, purchase new texts and technologies, and update our facilities. Many of our teachers attended the district’s Summer Teacher Academy Program learning about topics such as technology, literacy and math instruction, using virtual field trips, social emotional learning (SEL), and supporting inquiry based learning. Our leadership team spent time considering and researching the best ways in which we can execute our strategic goals in order to live up to our mission of empowering members of our community to live purposeful lives with integrity, to cultivate a spirit of discovery, and to embrace connections in our diverse, global society. We look forward to launching the next phases of our strategic goals where we hope to inspire student and teacher inquiry, promote meaningful partnerships, and build a sense of social awareness. We look forward to a great school year where children can learn, play and explore. As a district we work together to inquire and inspire learning throughout our community.
Flemington at 8:30 a.m. Dr. Kanokogi, the Director of Mental Health and Peer Support Services for the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, is a Whitehouse Station resident, Judo expert and author of Get Up & Fight~ The Memoir of Rusty Kanokogi, The Mother of Women’s Judo, which she co-wrote with her mother, the late Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi. She has served in law enforcement for 23 years and has been a lead investigator on several highprofile cases, including the 9/11 attacks. Sheriff Fred W. Brown said the county’s ceremony will remember those who perished from the attacks, particularly the 16 Hunterdon County residents lost that day, and will honor the county First Responders who were at the scene. Contact Ruthi Cass, rcass@co.hunterdon. nj.us, if you are a First Responder attending the event.
Readington News A Community Newspaper
Serving All of Readington Township, NJ
Readington Community Theatre to Present Theatrical Tribute at Bouman-Stickney Farmstead Museum
Readington Community Theatre, in collaboration with the Readington Township Museums Committee, will participate in the reopening of the Dorothy Stickney Local Artist Series later this year. The Theatre will present the staging of a scene from the play “Life with Father” written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The setting will be the Wade-Wycoff barn on the Committee’s BoumanStickney Farmstead property where two performances will be presented on the final weekend of September – Saturday the 25th and Sunday the
Ground Zero Responder Guest Speaker For Hunterdon County 20th Anniversary 9/11 Ceremony
26th. Curtain is at 3 p.m. on both days. Admission is free, and limited seating will be assigned on a firstcome, first-served basis. This will be the first post-pandemic production staged by Readington Community Theatre. The Local Artist Series was established to honor the memory of actress and author Dorothy Stickney who co-starred with her husband, the well-known playwright and producer Howard Lindsay, in the production of “Life with Father” – which still holds the record
for the longest-running Broadway play in history. They purchased the farmstead house and property in 1935 and used it as a second home. In 1997, the township acquired the property and established the current museum. The presentations by RC Theatre will be a special tribute to the famous Broadway couple that once lived here in Readington. The Bouman-Stickney Museum is located at 114 Dreahook Road in Readington Township. - Submitted by Rob Nonni for Readington Community Theatre
Dr. Jean Kanokogi
Dr. Jean Kanokogi, a Federal Agent who responded to Ground Zero the day of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, will serve as guest speaker for Hunterdon County’s 20th Anniversary September 11th Remembrance Ceremony at the Historic Courthouse in
Readington Township CFO Retires Readington Township honored longtime employee Thomas Carro (right) at a Retirement Luncheon held on June 29 at the Township Municipal Building. He was honored for working 24 years as the Township’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Pictured with Carro is Richard Sheola, Township Administrator. - Submitted by Meg Slutter, Readington Township Administration Office