Warren families get two different first days of school this year

If you have one child at Watchung Hills and another at Warren Middle School, your household runs on two calendars for the next three weeks. Here are the dates.

Watchung Hills Regional opens August 26

The first day at Watchung Hills is Wednesday, August 26, and it is a full day running all eight periods. The Board approved the revised calendar on April 28.

Staff development days fall on August 24 and 25. The 2026-27 year runs 184 student days, including four built in emergency closing days, with graduation set for June 11, 2027.

New student orientation is Tuesday, August 25, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Buses run their normal routes and normal pickup times that morning. Students collect Chromebooks and meet teachers. The summer tour program for incoming students ran Wednesdays from July 22 through August 12 and has concluded.

The bell schedule is unchanged for 2026-27. Watchung Hills continues its four day rotating drop schedule, with Block 1 at 7:30 a.m. and dismissal at 2:15 p.m. A delayed opening starts at 9:30 a.m. The first day uses a special eight period schedule with homeroom from 8:16 to 8:25.

Two items need attention in Genesis before the 26th. Families must acknowledge the Student and Parent Handbook, and incoming ninth graders and new students must also acknowledge the Technology Agreement and the one to one Acceptable Use policy. Free and reduced lunch applications are due by September 30.

Warren Township K through 8 opens September 2

The Warren Township School District starts Wednesday, September 2, a full week after the high school. Staff development days close the K through 8 schools on August 31 and September 1.

The district runs Angelo L. Tomaso, Central, Mt. Horeb and Woodland elementary schools, plus Warren Middle School and a preschool program. Casey Cupelli became principal at Central School effective July 1, coming from a K through 8 charter school in the Bronx.

The K through 8 year ends June 21, 2027, a half day. Other dates already on the calendar include staff development October 12, half days for parent teacher conferences November 2 through 4, and spring recess April 12 through 16.

Board meetings, both districts

The Watchung Hills Regional Board of Education meets Tuesday, August 18, in the Learning Commons at 108 Stirling Road. Executive session opens at 7:00 p.m. and the public session follows at 7:30 p.m. Remaining 2026 dates are September 15, October 13 and 27, November 17 and December 8.

The Warren Township Board of Education meets Monday, August 31, at 6:30 p.m. at Warren Middle School. Remaining 2026 dates are September 28, October 26, November 16 and December 21.

Both boards have live items worth following. Warren Township continues its Planning for Growth work, where an intermediate school model remains the recommended approach to enrollment pressure, and the district posted a public FAQ on June 18. Separately, all five districts in the Watchung Hills family are still working through a regionalization feasibility study completed in November 2025 by the Rowan University School Regionalization Institute under a $135,000 state grant. That study was explicitly information only, and each board is now deliberating on its own.

Fall sports have already started

Watchung Hills football began mandatory practice August 10, running Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to noon under head coach Joe Ascolese. Boys soccer tryouts run August 17 through 20, 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Mountain Avenue fields, and a white shirt is required.

The varsity football opener is Friday, August 28 at South Brunswick, 6:00 p.m. The home opener follows on September 4 against Union, also at 6:00 p.m. The Warriors host Montgomery September 10, Bridgewater-Raritan closes the regular season at home October 23.

Fall sports at Watchung Hills also include cheerleading, boys and girls cross country, field hockey, gymnastics, boys and girls soccer, girls tennis and girls volleyball. The athletics office is reachable at 908-647-4800, extension 4970.

Two things to do this week

The Back to School Drive runs through August 21. A donation bin is set up inside the Warren Township Library at 42 Mountain Boulevard. The drive is run by the Warren Township Mayor's Wellness Campaign and supplies go to the Feeding Hands food pantry here in Warren.

Fall tennis registration has closed, but the sessions themselves have not started. Youth and adult fall tennis both begin the week of September 14 at the municipal courts, running six weeks, open to Warren residents. Registration for township recreation programs runs through CommunityPass, and the recreation office is at 908-753-8000 extension 271.

Looking a little further out, the Warren Labor Day 5K is Saturday, September 5 at 9:00 a.m., starting at the Watchung Hills Pop Warner Complex with a course through East County Reserve. The Warren Fall 5K follows on October 3.