Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education Approves Budget for 2025/26

The School District budget for the 2025/26 school year was approved by the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District Board of Education on Tuesday evening, April 29.

The adopted budget includes a 2.49% increase in the tax levy for 2025/26, as the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District will utilize an additional $800,000 from the healthcare waiver, allowing the district to raise taxes over the two percent cap. The 2.49% increase represents one of the lowest tax increases in Somerset County.

The vote was 7-1 with one abstention.

This budget continues our investment in people, programs, and facilities that support essential programming for our students.

The Middle School Spring Musical will kick off a festive month of May performances.

Theaters will be filled with the splendid sounds of musical performances and concerts during May in the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District.

The Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School will kick off an active month of shows when it presents its Spring Musical, Legally Blonde Jr., on Friday, May 2, in the auditorium.

The Bridgewater-Raritan High School's schedule will start when the Orchestra Concert is produced on Tuesday, May 20, followed by the Chorus Concert on Tuesday, May 27, and the Band Concert on Thursday, May 29, all to be heard in the auditorium.

The middle school Band and Orchestra Concert will be performed on the same evening as Thursday, May 15, while the Chorus Concert is scheduled on Tuesday, May 27. All to be played in the auditorium.

Hillside Intermediate School gymnasium will be the venue when the school holds its 5th Grade Chorus Concert on Wednesday, May 7, and its 6th Grade Chorus Concert on Thursday, May 8. Eisenhower Intermediate School's 5th/6th Grade Orchestra Concert is set for Wednesday, May 28, in the gymnasium.

BRRHS Orchestra Students Travel to Boston for Clinics and Performances.

The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Orchestra program visited Boston on a three-day trip from April 4-6.

The students, consisting of members of the Ninth Orchestra (BR9O), the Concert Orchestra (BRCO), and the Symphony Orchestra (BRSO), attended the trip following an extensive itinerary of amusing and impactful experiences.

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High School Artists Win Prestigious Awards

Angela Zhou is a member of a small but elite group of student artists.

The junior at Bridgewater-Raritan High School was honored this spring with the 2025 National Scholastic Award, earning both the Gold Medal and the American Vision Award from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.

Her Gold Medal certificate, according to the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, is the highest honor a student can achieve, with less than one percent of all students who submitted works earning this prize. The organization revealed that only 150 out of over 3000,000 submissions receive the American Vision Award.

Below, Angela is shown painting her award-winning entry, which is called "Laboratory Study."

Lucia Bolle is just a sophomore at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, but she has already been the recipient of the most prestigious visual art award presented to a scholastic student.

Lucia was notified in April that she was the recipient of the 2025 Art Administrators of New Jersey Visual Art Student Achievement Award. This elite honor is the New Jersey Governor's Award in Arts Education, which is co-chaired by the Arts Education of New Jersey and the New Jersey Department of Education.

Her award is the result of her portfolio, which featured numerous artworks. Included is one of her favorites, which is pictured below and is titled "The Show."

Cleanup Soared at Eisenhower

In an effort to beautify the grounds at Eisenhower Intermediate School, the school’s Parent Teachers Organization (PTO) developed its first-ever Soar in Spring cleanup project.

The all-day event was held on Saturday, April 26, and despite rainy weather, families, volunteers, and staff all participated in a chore to beautify the school grounds and create a more welcoming, eco-friendly environment for the community to be proud of.

This group of hard workers pulled weeds and planted shrubs, flowers, and trees.

Also, rocks from each of the courtyards were repurposed and were painted yellow, white, and blue, and were carefully arranged to spell out IKE in front of the school.

Field Days are fun days in the BRRSD

Students have a field day when the calendar flips to May in the BRRSD.

May signals when our schools swing open their doors and the students happily pour outside to participate in their school's Field Day events.

Each school during the months of May and June coordinates a fun-filled schedule of games that features such competition as tug-of-war, potato sack races, volleyball, cornhole tossing, water sponge races and capture the flag.

Here is the lineup for Field Days throughout the school district in May and June.

Van Holten Primary School, Thursday, May 22

Crim Primary School and Milltown Primary School, Friday, May 23

Adamsville Primary School, Friday, May 30

John F. Kennedy Primary School, Tuesday, June 3

Hamilton Primary School, Friday, June 6

Bradley Gardens Primary School and Eisenhower Intermediate School, Wednesday, June 11

Hillside Intermediate School, Thursday, June 12

Referendum Updates: Middle School Construction Continuing its Progression!

We are happy to inform you that the Middle School addition project is progressing as planned. Footings have been poured, and the building's footprint is taking shape. The sixth-grade wing is scheduled to be ready for the start of the 2026 school year.

This month, the BRRSD Board of Education will review and award bids for phase two of the district-wide windows project, which will include the Middle School, Hillside School, and the Wade Building

Lastly, phase two of the Basilone complex renovation will commence in the middle of May. This schedule will limit disruptions to the start of the fall sports and activities season.

Two middle school students win state writing contest.

Keissy Castro Quiros and Liam Samora Chavez, 8th-grade students at the Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School, were named winners of a state-wide essay contest sponsored by the New Jersey Teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages/Bilingual Educators.

They are students in Diana Caspao's English as a Second Language (ESL) class.

Support the Ed Foundation!

The Education Foundation of Bridgewater-Raritan strives to be a valuable philanthropic partner to the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District by funding grants and scholarships to support creative and innovative initiatives that expand and enrich students' learning experiences and support dedicated teachers.

In order to fulfill its mission, its main fundraiser event of the year will be held on Thursday, July 10, at the Fox Hollow Golf Club in Branchburg. when the Second Annual Education Foundation Golf Outing is played. Sign up by going to the golf outing's flyer.