By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — Lambertville Public School has a large kindergarten class, making it the only grade with two classrooms this year.
LPS and West Amwell Elementary School both send their kindergartners to the program at LPS.
This year 43 kindergartners will come from LPS, an increase of about eight for the district. Twenty-seven will come from West Amwell.
The increase represents a “big bump in Lambertville,” said Superintendent Todd Fay, who also is the superintendent at West Amwell.
Overseeing the day-to-day running of the school is new Principal Geoff Hewitt. On July 1, he replaced Principal Gail Tress, a Lambertville native who resigned.
”Gail was a joy to work with and she was there for 41 years. She was a true educational leader,” Dr. Fay said. “We’re going from one really strong person to another really strong person.”
Mr. Hewitt, 37, resides in Point Pleasant, Pa. He comes to LPS from Barley Sheaf Elementary School in the Flemington-Raritan School District, where he was the vice principal.
Dr. Fay was enthusiastic about the coming school year, when teachers in the four local school districts will embark on both learning and teaching 21st century technology skills. Instructors from LPS, West Amwell, Stockton Public School and South Hunterdon Regional High School will gather at South Hunterdon for training on Oct. 1.
”All the budget cuts will have no impact on what we’re going to give to kids,” Dr. Fay said.
Instead, by teaching them about the technology of today and preparing them for tomorrow, the schools will “get them ready for life beyond us,” he said. “We’re excited about our continued growth in that direction.”
It’s more than teachers simply standing in a classroom, teaching children the facts, and the students learning them by rote. “We’re teaching children how to be thinkers, teaching them how you get from A to B to C to D,” Dr. Fay said.
LPS’ 175 students will begin school Tuesday (Sept. 7).

