Toms River Regional students looking to enjoy a good book or get a leg up on the coming school year can use the district's summer reading list, which itemizes its suggestions by grade level and genre. The list is for high schoolers in the district, those entering grades 9 through 12, and spans genres from English Literature classics (Oliver Twist) to nonfiction gender studies (Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us). Each of the Honors selections are well known classics — Dickens, Faulkner, Hemingway. There's dozens of very different books to choose from, and the…

Winter break for Toms River Regional School students and staff starts after the last school bell today. Class is back in session Tuesday, Jan. 3. At Monsignor Donovan and Saint Joseph's Grade School, classes will also resume Jan. 3. Monday is a school holiday as January 1 falls on a Sunday this year. Ocean County College students got to kick up their heels on Wednesday. Dec. 21 was the end of the fall semester. The spring semester begins Jan. 23 for both the Toms River main campus and the Southern Extension Center in Manahawkin.

The start of a new school year signals a welcome change for parents as they send their progeny off in new sneakers and fresh haircuts.  Children prepare to be enlightened by thoughtfully planned lessons and most can’t wait to eat the tasty lunch time fare dished out by the hair netted cafeteria workers. Well maybe that’s taking it a bit too far. The local businesses of the downtown Toms River area also welcome the change that the new school year brings. But more so it's the change found in the pockets of the young students who visit them at lunch time and after school.  Toms River High School…

Goodbye, physical report cards. Toms River Regional Schools are going digital. Parents expecting their child's report card in the mail or to come home with the student this fall must instead log on to view progress.   Toms River Regional Schools will be issuing report cards and progress reports electronically for the 2011-2012 school year. The vehicle for accessing the electronic report cards and progress reports is called the "parent portal." The first step to gain access to the portal, parents must first complete this registration form and then deliver it, in person, to their child’s school…

A day full of rain was motivation for all students to head to their first day of class at Ocean County College. The parking lots were full and the bookstore had a line out the door despite the rain. Everyone was busy heading to class to avoid the rain. Student Life Center was at the Entrance handing out welcome swagger for new and returning students. Admissions Records and Registration building helped the lines of students get their schedules in order.

This weekend was the last weekend of the summer. Well, the last weekend of "kid summer." That's because, although summer officially has another couple of weeks to go, the start of the new school year means the end of sleeping in and outdoor fun. By now (if "now" was the late '80s/early '90s when I was a student in the Toms River school system) kids have received their dot matrix computer printouts informing them of their course schedules and bus numbers, back to school shopping is done, and every child is excited about all the possibilities the new school year holds. But, as we all know, …