On Tuesday October 26, 2010 about 205 three and four-year-olds from Vailsburg Child Development Center in Ivy Hill went on their first school trip to Casola Farms in Holmdel, NJ.

For many of the young children, this was their first time going to the pumpkin farm. They also went on a hay ride and toured the petting zoo.

ESSEX - Local Talk area school students, depending on the public district, are to be greeted with new school buildings, programs and/or keep personnel when they report Sept. 2-9. They may also find fewer teachers, support staff or courses as a result of how their individual boards of education have coped with state education aid cuts.

The Newark Public Schools district, as the state's largest district, is to celebrate the opening of the new Speedway School at 705 South Orange Ave. Sept. 2. The four-story school, which sits atop the old Vailsburg Velodrome/Meadow Brook Garden boxing ring, replaces the World War I-era Speedway Avenue School some five blocks southeast.

MAPLEWOOD - Staff members at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Elementary School reopened the three-story building June 21 to pack up records and belongings for a final goodbye to parents and students. 

St. Joseph's School, along the 240 block of Franklin Avenue, held its 77th and last graduation ceremony June 18. Its pre-Kindergarten through seventh grade students received their promotions June 11 through15 before being dismissed forever at 12:30 p.m. June 16.

Autism advocates discussed the need to provide high-quality services to students with autism in urban areas at a panel discussion at Seton Hall Law School in Newark.

Sponsored by the Urban Education Law & Policy Initiative, the panel featured Assemblywoman Grace Spencer, autism advocate Michele Adubato, legal disabilities expert Paul Prior, Jersey City School Board member Suzanne Mack and Kim Williams, the parent of a child with autism.