Ad Populos, Non Aditus, Pervenimus USPS 680020 Published Every Thursday OUR 111th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 02-111 Periodical – Postage Paid at Westfield, N.J. Thursday, September 14, 2000 Since 1890 (908) 232-4407 FIFTY CENTS RESIDENTS FEAR WEST NILE VIRUS, CRITICIZE LACK OF TOWN RESPONSE Five Dead Crows Discovered On Tudor Oval, East Broad PAUL J. PEYTON and he said, gave him conflicting an- virus. “We also do mosquito trap- LAWRENCE HENRY swers on how long a bird can be dead pings and test blood samples. Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and still provide health officials with “There have been no sentinel A Tudor Oval resident found two credible information on whether the chickens testing positive in New Jer- dead crows on his property within 24 sey,” said Prof. Gilroy. hours late last week. Fearing that the Dennis McGowan, public infor- birds might have died of West Nile mation officer for the state Depart- Virus (a disease spread by mosqui- ment of Health and Senior Services, tos), George Bogatku was less than has a different story - based, to be thrilled with the response he received fair, on a totally different testing when he called authorities, includ- procedure. ing Westfield’s health officer and the “We do have our first human case Union County Health Department. (of West Nile) on September 1, a “Friday my wife calls me up and gentleman in Hudson County,” said says, ‘I just saw one (crow) die,’” Mr. McGowan. “We have about 585 said Mr. Bogatku. His wife, Alice dead crows tested positive in 14 dif- Hunnicutt, said she observed the first ferent counties, including Union. We crow at about 9 a.m. on Friday in her Ingrid McKinley for The Westfield Leader have 59 crows that have tested posi- yard, staggering. A little while later, birds carry the West Nile Virus. Mr. tive in Union County.” the bird succumbed. Bogatku was told the birds should be As for the disparity between the By Monday, the number of dead put on ice to preserve them long results of the state’s crow testing crows had risen to four in the enough for the West Nile test. program and Rutgers’ sentinel Bogatku-Hunnicutt yard. There was One of the crows was bagged and chicken monitoring, “That’s a little an additional dead crow in front of placed at curbside while the others hard to explain,” Mr. McGowan said. the Westfield Memorial Library on are still in the yard. “We don’t know. We do have it in East Broad Street. “One wonders if this is a serious crows. We found seven pools of in- Courtesy of Robert Eberle Mr. Bogatku made several calls, issue,” Mr. Bogatku told The Westfield fected mosquitoes in Bergen, POSITIVE I.D….Westfield Police Officer Matt Cassidy fingerprinted the tiny hands and fingers of Billy Cook of but believes he is getting the run- Leader. “It kind makes you nervous Middlesex, and Monmouth counties.” Westfield during Tiffany Drug’s Grand Re-Opening this week. around from Union County and local to know it (West Nile) might be As for the Bogatku and Hunnicutt authorities. Ms. Hunnicutt alerted prevalent in the area and we do not frustrations, Mr. McGowan explained the Westfield Health Department, know about it,” said Hunnicutt. that, “People who find a dead crow who (she said) said they would im- There are indeed seemingly con- should contact their local health de- Public, Politicians Demand Smaller mediately have the bird picked up. tradictory reports about West Nile partment. The local health depart- The birds, however, were never Virus occurrences in New Jersey in ments will come out and take a look moved. Ms. Hunnicutt then called general, and in the local area in par- at the crow and collect it. They deter- the Westfield Police Department who ticular. mine whether or not it’s a good Classes While Maintaining Quality indicated they would contact the Prof. Holly Gilroy of the Rutgers sample. If it is, they’ll send it to us for By SUSAN M. DYCKMAN around, as California’s four-year-old said the district used to get 1,000 Health Department. University Agriculture Department testing.” Specially Written for The Westfield Leader CSR program has demonstrated. applications for a job. Not any more. Mr. Bogatku has called Union said, “Rutgers is involved in tracking However, “In some communities The call to reduce class size rings It was only through a “personal the sentinel chickens,” test bird placed loud and clear from parents at local California Plunges Billions in County health officials and even the that have had five or more crows that Small Classes connection,” he said, that Westfield state health department. Officials, throughout the state to detect the have tested positive already, the state board of education meetings and from was able to find an experienced lab is not testing any more crows for politicians on the national scene. But In 1996, California introduced a teacher for a newly-created third- the time being. We’ve asked the local class size reduction (CSR) in and of voluntary, statewide, multi-billion grade section at Franklin Elemen- mosquito control and health officers itself is not a cure-all for poor student dollar program to counter poor read- tary School — this in a district whose to consider any crows they find in performance in public schools. ing scores and overcrowded class- starting teacher salary ranks third those towns to be positive and react Smaller classes make common rooms. The cost was projected at $1 highest in the state. accordingly.” sense to their proponents. They allow billion the first year, $1.5 billion When asked how class size fac- The “no more testing after five for more personal interaction between annually thereafter. tored into raising student perfor- positive crows” policy, Mr. McGowan student and teacher. There is evidence California offered public schools mance, the superintendent said there said, was established by the national they reduce discipline problems. $800 per student for every child in a are two keys to achievement: “The They are, however, one of the cost- class of 20 or fewer in grades kinder- preparedness of the students coming CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 liest forms of education reform garten through three. into the classroom and the strength School districts sprang into ac- of the teacher there to teach them.” tion. By the end of the 1998-99 school Given a choice, Dr. Foley said he year, 92 percent of 1.7 million K-3 would prefer “a large class with a Dr. Foley Criticizes students were part of the program. stronger teacher to a small class with Schools hired 28,500 new teachers an inexperienced, weaker teacher.” in the first three years (29 percent Westfield Board of Education Structure, Procedures with under three years of experi- member Annemarie Puleio advocates ence). They struggled to find 18,000 smaller classes whenever possible. new classrooms. After taking over She pointed to the Franklin School libraries, special education centers, situation, where third grade classes Of Standardized Test child care facilities and computer were up to 24 and 25 students, the labs, schools were forced to pur- maximum allowed by board policy. By LAWRENCE HENRY tests. chase portable classrooms. “The class size policy is a reason- Specially Written for The Westfield Leader Dr. Foley is not happy in general Students in the California program able policy that takes into account At the regular Tuesday meeting of with the state’s testing procedures. have showed small improvements in the optimal learning situation and the Westfield Board of Education, “I don’t like to get on a soapbox,” academic achievement that appear to the resources we have in the district,” Superintendent Dr. William J. Foley he said after summarizing the vari- carry over into higher grades. But some said Ms. Puleio. reported on the results of general ous test results. “I think there are educators worry that teachers’ profes- “In this instance, we had the re- education testing of students for the some problems.” sional qualifications have declined in sources to try to do better. We had a school year 1999-2000. The tests He named three: the rush to hire more and more of them classroom available. We had to find included the Grade Eight Proficiency First, the tests’ internal rating sys- - and that this decline persists not at the a teacher. If you can get a good Assessment (GEPA); the Iowa Test tems are “somewhat arbitrary” and elementary level, but in middle and teacher, go ahead and do it.” of Basic Skills (ITBS), which covers “necessarily reflect a distribution of high schools as well. “It’s great to keep class sizes down grades three and five; and the El- scores being applied inappropri- if you can,” said Diane Bakst, a ementary School Proficiency Assess- Westfield Digs ately.” For Good Teachers Franklin School parent who appealed ment (ESPA), which measures stu- Second, the tests are so broad- to the board to add the teacher. “We dents at grade four. based that, “They really don’t tell us Finding qualified teachers is also a were really pleased to get an experi- As usual, Westfield’s schools much,” specifically, how to improve challenge closer to home, said enced teacher.” scored high compared to the state as instruction in particular areas. Dr. Westfield’s Superintendent of At Jefferson Elementary School, CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 a whole, with most Westfield results Schools Dr. William J. Foley, who CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 coming in at the 80-90 percent level while state-level scores averaged in the 60s and 70s. These scores do not mean that students individually test Ingrid McKinley for The Westfield Leader at a 90 percent level; rather, they SOCCER MANIA...Forget N’SYNC or Britney Spears, children are preoccu- mean that 90 percent of students get pied with soccer in the Westfield area.