In the steamy summer of 1965 the Hopewell Valley School District was being populated by a flood of baby boomers. Because there was a contingent in the township that did not want to invest in a new building, the school board decided to start staggered sessions for grades 7 and 8 so that all the students could be transported and classrooms and lunchrooms would not be overfilled. Half of the junior high school class attended school from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., while the other half went from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mom, reading this in The Trenton Times decided it was time to kick up some dust. At this time, protests were frequently in the news, particularly over civil rights issues. So Mom mobilized over a dozen of our young friends, bought some poster paper, and created signs that stated that staggered sessions were unfair, and what we needed  was a new school. At 9:00 a.m. the next morning she sent us youngsters out to the Tollgate Junior High School on Main Street to walk around in a circle holding the signs and called The Trenton Times to let them know it was happening. Mom wanted to make sure there were no adults there, so it appeared that it was the students that staged it. Before the demonstration, we prepared ourselves for the tear gas and water cannons that the crack Pennington Police Department, under the direction of Chief Delmonico, would surely use on us. There were even a few kids who were too afraid to take part. But the event took place without a hitch. Chief Delmonico did show up, only to tell us to make sure we stay out of the street. A reporter from the paper came and asked Kent and some of the older kids a few questions about what this was all about. People driving by the school slowed down and some even honked at us, or for us, we couldn’t tell. We were probably out there for a total of three hours, and then we came back to our house for some milk and cinnamon graham crackers. Not only was it printed in the newspaper the next day with a photograph of us with the signs, there was eventually a decision to build a new junior high school, Timberlane School, as soon as it could be funded. In the newspaper article the astute reporter wrote that he thought adults were behind the protest because all the signs were spelled correctly. Of all the kids who participated, only the youngest demonstrators got the benefit of the new school. I was in Timberlane’s first 8th grade graduating class in 1967 and I learned from Mom a little bit about public relations, and how the simple act of getting off the couch and taking part in something can make you feel that you can make a difference in this world, and inspire others to do the same.

NEXT UP – The World’s Fair