Our Montville

Teens and Sleep

Sleep is food for the brain. During sleep, important body functions and brain activity occur. Skipping sleep can be harmful — even deadly, particularly if you are behind the wheel. You can look bad, you may feel moody, and you perform poorly. Sleepiness can make it hard to get along with your family and friends and hurt your scores on school exams, on the court or on the field. Remember: A brain that is hungry for sleep will get it, even when you don’t expect it. For example, drowsiness and falling asleep at the wheel cause more than 100,000 car crashes every year. When you do not get enough sleep, you are more likely to have an accident, injury and/or illness.  Continue Reading National Sleep Foundation.

Tips to Help Transition from Summer to Back to School

After a summer of sleeping in or doing things on your time, the alarm bell announcing that first day of school can be a rude awakening. Whether you're an anxious new freshman or a confident senior, heading back to school signals a time of transition: new classes, new teachers, new schedules, and a new social scene.

Dread it or love it, you gotta go to school. Here are some ways to make the transition from summer to school a little easier.

First-Day Mania

There's no escaping the fact that the first day of school can be crazy. New kids wander around in circles. Lockers won't open. The school nurse needs your medical records. You forgot your gym shorts. Freshmen are running in all directions, looking for their homerooms.  Continue reading KidsHealth.org.

TEEN DRUG ABUSE - There is Help Available!

Many families have overcome the plague of excessive teen drug abuse in their home. When their children have successfully completed treatment they become focused in their academics again, and often go on to attend college which would have been otherwise impossible the way things were going. Sobriety will bring the passion back into your child's life, and help them to achieve the goals that are important to them. Treatment will also give your child all the tools and support they need to live a life free of drug dependence and addiction.  Continue reading Inspirationsyouth.com.

Schools see benefit of uniforms

Janine Walker Caffrey has seen the benefits of school uniforms first-hand.

The superintendent of the Perth Amboy public school system, Caffrey has previously worked at schools in New York City, Florida and Chicago, and she says schools in the Windy City “saw a huge positive impact” after implimenting a uniform policy.

“Particularly in urban settings, it’s clear that a uniform policy decreases discipline referrals and increases the seriousness of education,” said Caffrey, who has been at the Perth Amboy district since July. “What happens when you put uniforms in plalce is that the distractions of clothing are minimized and disciplinary referrals tend to be minimized. That’s what the research tells us about it and that has been my experience as well.”  Continue reading Daily Record.

Important Phone Numbers that can "Make a Difference"

Montville Township Police Department "Non-Emergency:"  (973) 257-4300

Emergencies Only, Police, Fire & Ambulance: 9-1 -1

Community Services:  2-1-1

Information:  4-1-1

Poison Control: (800) 222-1222

JCP&L - (Electric Non-Emergency):  888-544-4877

NJ Natural Gas (Non-Emergency):  800-GAS-LEAK

"Call Before You Dig:"  8-1-1

Kiwanis Food Pantry is Serving a Need

In the 15 months since the Kiwanis Club started a food pantry, it has grown in every way  imaginable: the need, the donations, and the locations. At the Food Pantry, volunteers Deane Driscoll, Janie Hines and Nancy Flanagan have room for more items on the shelves.

The pantry is the brainchild of Joe O’Dowd, its unofficial chairman, who suggested it after what he describes as the "perfect storm" of events.

Long before the food pantry, located at the United Methodist Church in Towaco, was ever an idea, the Montville Township Kiwanis Club was distributing food to needy families – in baskets for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The members received help from the teens in the Key Club at Montville Township High School who conducted a food drive at the school.  Continue reading NorthJersey.com.

OurMontville.com wants your "Report Card" on Montville

So now that Montville has been ranked 17^th in the nation as one of the best places to live, and is  also part of Morris County’s happiest residents in the state……where do you think we actually fit in?

Considering that so many residents seem to engage in heated debates about anything from putting turf on the high school fields to the intense political battles that ensued this year, one cannot help but wonder how our residents really feel about this highly rated and happy town!

Montville Ranked 17th in the Nation Among the Top 100 Places to Live

Five N.J. towns among top 100 small towns to live in country, Money magazine says

Five New Jersey towns have been ranked by Money as among the top 100 place in the country to live, according to the magazine's September 2011 issue.

The five towns in the state that cracked the rankings are Montville, which ranked 17th in the nation, South Brunswick (No. 22), Ridgewood (No. 26), Madison (No. 33) and Hillsborough (No. 53).  Continue reading NJ.com.

Poll: Morris County residents happiest in state

An article in the Daily Record, on August 1st, shows that Morris County residents are the happiest in  the state.  What is your opinion? We'd love to share your comments with our readers! 

Residents of Morris County have a higher perceived quality of life and are more satisfied with the state as a whole than residents of other parts of New Jersey, according to a Monmouth University poll.

“I think there is a certain cordiality about the county, we used to refer to it as a gentleman's county,’’ said John Pecoraro, a judge of the Morris County Surrogate Court. “It is a county where people respect each other.”  Continue reading Daily Record.

Towns’ efforts are getting green support from Trenton

The Department of Environmental Protection announced earlier this month that New Jersey's   municipalities and counties are receiving $12.8 million in grants to help them implement and enhance local recycling efforts.

"Recycling remains a high priority at the DEP because it is the right thing to do for the environment," Commissioner Bob Martin said. "We continue to look at ways to improve recycling rates. This grant program is an important part of our efforts because it helps municipal and county governments work to improve local recycling programs, which have been at the core of New Jersey's recycling efforts for nearly 25 years."  Continue reading NJ.com.