Happy Halloween, Sparta BOE Special Meeting Thursday

Here's what you need to know for Thursday.

• Thursday is Halloween, which means Hopatcong and Sparta will be bustling with children in costume. Remember to drive carefully and keep an eye out for those witches, superheroes, skeletons and Miley Cyrus, Walking Dead and Walter White lookalikes. Many kids will participate in Halloween parties and parades at their schools, but some will be rounding the neighborhoods in the evening. Parents and guardians, if your kids are trick or treating after dark, please be sure they are bundled—it's getting chilly—and dressed in bright colors so they can be seen and stay safe. If you kid comes home overloaded with candy, here are hints for how to handle it. Plan B: Send them to the dentist.
• The Sparta Board of Education holds a special meeting Thursday evening for the express purpose of giving final board consideration to a long-awaited possible contract agreement between the school district and the Sparta Education Association. The meeting begins at 8 p.m. and starts with a closed Executive Session allowing members to discuss the anticipated ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement.  Immediately after, the public meeting will reopen, where the school board is expected to vote on whether to ratifythe SEA contract. The gathering takes place at the Mohawk Avenue School, 18 Mohawk Ave.
• Hopatcong Borough Schools are looking for veterans to attend its Nov. 5 Veteran’s Day Program and Luncheon, which is funded by the Hopatcong Education Association through a PRIDE Grant. The event, which takes place at Tulsa Trail Elementary School, introduces area veterans to second and third graders so they can share some of their experiences, photos and memorabilia. If you know a veteran who would like to participate, contact Jennifer Neu at jneu@hopatcongschools.org or 973-398-8806 by Friday, Nov. 1. The special Nov. 5 program starts at 10 a.m. with an assembly followed by classroom visitations and lunch at 11:30 a.m.
  
• Keeping It Clean: In Hopatcong, sanitation crews will follow Garbage Pickup Schedule C and Recycling Schedule B. In Sparta, check with the online schedule.