While other children were sleeping in late, playing outside or hanging out with friends this summer, more than 20 students from Robert Treat Academy charter school in Newark were taking advanced courses on college campuses throughout the East Coast.

Each year, dozens of students from Robert Treat attend the three-week Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) program with other highly motivated students from 38 different states and 55 participating countries. This summer, 9,300 middle and high school students took advanced level courses at 25 U.S. locations and one site in Hong Kong.

Students will have 10 new course offerings to choose from when fall semester classes begin on Sept. 10 at the Newark School of the Arts.

The school has expanded its roster to include several new dance and visual arts classes. Students interested in the visual arts can now learn clay sculpture, cartooning and urban digital photography, among other new skills. Student dancers now have access to new offerings in all disciplines and skill levels.

"We've also increased the amount of options available for enrollment," said Newark School of the Arts Executive Director Dara Falco. "We're doing everything we can to make the Newark School of the Arts the most accessible, most complete center for arts education in New Jersey."

Sixth and seventh graders from Robert Treat Academy in Newark got a chance to get out of the city and set sail on Shark River in Belmar, N.J. this week with the help of the Friends of Belmar Harbor sailing program.

Sailing instructors and volunteers from the program taught the students the basics of sailing, tying ropes and kayaking.

NEWARK - A 14-point short- and long- term plan answering the new Speedway School's safety and recreational issues are to be presented at an Aug. 11 stakeholders meeting here in City Hall.

The meeting, hosted by West Ward Councilman Ronald C. Rice, is to review what measures will be in place before the new public elementary school's Sept. 7 opening and beyond. Invited members include the school principal and parent-teacher president and pertinent city administrators plus representatives from the Newark Public Schools, Newark Housing Authority, Essex County Department of Roads and Bridges and the New Jersey School Development Authority.