Bridgewater-Raritan Schools Push Back High School Start Time, Launch Full-Day Kindergarten in 2026

The Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District will roll out new start times across all grades and introduce full-day kindergarten when the 2026-27 school year begins. Superintendent Robert Beers announced the schedule changes at a Board of Education meeting Tuesday night.

High school students will report to class at 8 a.m. That's 40 minutes later than the current 7:20 a.m. bell. Primary schools will begin at 9:20 a.m., and intermediate schools will start at 8 a.m. Middle school will start earliest at 7:30 a.m., bumping up from the current 8:10 a.m. start.

"The high school start time will become more conducive for the health and wellness of our students," Beers said at the meeting, according to NJ.com.

Several reasons drove the changes. Full-day kindergarten shifted the entire bus routing system. The district also wants to reclaim instructional time lost during COVID, trim bus transportation costs, and improve health outcomes for high school students.

Beers said the district will reclaim 20 minutes in instructional time at the high school, 15 minutes at the middle school, and 5 minutes at the intermediate school. He mentioned that the new start times "may change by a few minutes here or there" before they take effect.

"We know that going into this, there are going to be challenges. And change always presents challenges," said Beers, according to Patch. "So we know this new schedule presents a disruption to the current schedules, students, parents, teachers, and staff."

Board Member AJ Joshi said he noticed high school students coming into school tired for their first period class. With the later start time, he said, "You are going to see a lot of improvements at the high school for students in their grades and academics."

A student representative voiced support, saying the extra 40 minutes in the morning for high school students "can do a lot for overall mental health."

All seven primary schools will now start at the same time. Four schools currently start at 8:55 a.m., while Crim, Hamilton, and Milltown schools start at 8:25 a.m. Board member Michael Pepe pointed out that consistency across the district represents a positive change.

The new schedule lets special programs teachers who travel between schools work more efficiently. Beers explained that having all primary schools on the same schedule versus two separate ones makes scheduling easier for art and music teachers.

The district enrolls 7,500 students at 11 schools. To make room for full-day kindergarten, fourth-graders will move to schools that currently house grades 5 and 6, while sixth-graders will shift to the middle school.