(908) 232-4407 USPS 680020 Thursday, September 26, 2002 Published Every Thursday Since 1890 OUR 113th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 03-113 Periodical – Postage Paid at Westfield, N.J. www.goleader.com [email protected] FIFTY CENTS CF Stopped Paying For Basin When WF Stopped Billing By LAUREN S. PASS money was budgeted by the town- attempting to contact past Town Specially Written for The Westfield Leader ship in 1993 and 1994, but that the Administrators. Westfield had a The Westfield Leader recently ran township received no invoice. She change in administration when Jack a story about the retention basin added that the township has not paid Malloy retired in 1993 and Ed Gotko located behind homes on Cranford because there was no bill. took over on January 1, 1994. Avenue. Westfield owns 2.79 acres Mr. Gildea stated that Westfield is Mr. Gildea said that Westfield will of the 9.29 acres basin, which it currently going through all of the be sending Cranford a letter. leases to Cranford. past records to find a record of pay- Representatives from the Depart- The lease was signed in August of ment. He stated that the amount ment of Environmental Protection 1979, and is scheduled to last for a Cranford is saying they paid would (DEP) said that the classification of term of 25 years. Cranford was sup- have been the payment for 1993, and the land is unknown, as their records posed to pay Westfield $3,000 a that Cranford would still owe do not date back to 1979. year with a 5 percent increase each $65,295.53 for the years since then. According to the DEP, a land study year. Mr. Gildea added that he was also CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 According to Westfield Town Ad- ministrator James Gildea, there is no known record of payment from Cranford and the payment that was due in June of this year was not received. According to the Cranford’s Township Clerk Rosalie Cheri Rogowsky for The Westfield Leader Hellenbrecht, the last payment made STANDING WATCH...Members of the Westfield Fire and Police Departments and The Westfield Volunteer Rescue to Westfield for the retention basin Squad stood motionless and silent as the honor guard for 33 hours at The September 11th Memorial Park. For more photos and the story see page 6. was in 1992, in the amount of $5,656.93. She explained that the State Test Results Reported by Dr. Dolan; BOE Will Examine Class Rank Study by Ridge HS By CHARLOTTE LEDERMAN test scores and working toward the HSPA are 0.8 percent partially profi- percent above state standards. Specially Written for The Westfield Leader betterment and continued excellence cient, 51.7 percent are proficient, Dr. Dolan concluded with the El- Members of the Westfield Board of the schools. and 47.5 percent of pupils are ad- ementary School Proficiency Assess- of Education analyzed two prevalent In the High School Proficiency vanced proficient. ment (ESPA) report, proving that and “hot” issues facing the school Assessment (HSPA), the test score Westfield students also excelled in Westfield performed highly as well. district community, test scores and breakdown for general education stu- the Mathematics category, scoring Public Information Officer Lorre class rank, during their regular Tues- dents is as follows in the Language 99.2 percent above the state average, Korecky reported, however, that since day meeting. Arts: .4 percent were partially profi- while 73.1 percent of students in the the school district has not received Assistant Superintendent of cient, 52.9 percent were proficient, state achieved that distinction. the statewide test results for the GEPA David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader Schools Dr. Margaret Dolan provided and 46.7 percent were advanced pro- In the Grade Eight Proficiency and ESPA, it would not be possible at CAR SHOPPING…Two youngsters played the day away with colorful model the board with a comprehensive ficient. Assessment (GEPA), 2.0 percent of this time to determine a comparison vehicles, which were on display during Sunday’s “FallFest” celebration. The breakdown of Westfield Public Compared to the state percentiles, general education students were par- between Westfield public school stu- street fair was sponsored by the Westfield Area Chamber of Commerce. School’s 2002 testing results. Westfield performed quite well in tially proficient, 79.0 percent were dents and pupils throughout the state Though state variation in testing Language Arts, with 99.6 percent of proficient, while 19.0 percent were in those tests. has made it difficult to establish a WHS students scoring above the state advanced proficient in the Language However, Dr. Dolan reported dur- Westfield Scientist Accepts test result history, and therefore dif- average and the 86.9 percent of stu- Arts category. Overall, the district ing the meeting that Westfield was ficult to see trends, Dr. Dolan re- dents in the state scoring above the has 98 percent of its students above performing very well in all of these marked that Westfield was in “cat- state average. state standards. tests. egory six,” in which all schools in the In the category of Mathematics, In the GEPA category of Math- In other board business, members National Defense Position system demonstrate excellence in general education students taking the ematics, the district percentile is 93.3 devoted most of its time to the issue By HORACE CORBIN of computer science in the United of class rank, specifically at Westfield Specially Written for The Westfield Leader States, and it has had several books High School. Dr. Ron Brachman of Westfield written about its history. Superintendent of Schools Dr. has been chosen to be the Director of “In 1962 in this position, Lick William Foley told the board about a the Information Processing Technol- Leider is noted for his concept of an MS School Bd. Discusses Improved study done by Ridge High School ogy Office (IPTO) of the Defense Inter Galactic Computer Network,” where they have examined all as- Advanced Research Projects Agency said Dr. Brachman. “Maybe we’ll pects of class rank. Although the (DARPA). think today about the Communications; School Opening board members had yet to read the DARPA conducts advanced re- InterPlanetaryNet and The Leader report as the meeting commenced, search in science and technology for can be read on Mars,” he said. By JENNIFER PINTO The strategic plan will target sev- with others during recess. the board devoted over a third of the U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. Brachman had a long and suc- Specially Written for The Westfield Leader eral objectives, some of which in- In other business, the board ap- their time to the issue. Since the 1950’s, in cessful career in At the regular scheduled meet- clude hiring qualified teachers and proved the appointment of Frances Such careful consideration on the the days of Sputnick, computer science ing on Tuesday, the Mountainside partnering with the community to Tolley as Interim Business Admin- subject of class rank was in fact a DARPA was created and artificial intel- Board of Education discussed the improve communication. istrator/ Board Secretary effective deliberation on whether or not to by the Department of ligence research recent success of their school open- Other goals that directly effect stu- and retroactive September 20 at actually formally further deliberate Defense to maintain during 17 years ing and how to better improve com- dents include discussing issues such $400 per day. Mrs. Tolley, who has the issue at a later date. Indeed, the technological superi- with research orga- munications with parents. as respect and tolerance, and appro- been with the district in the past, board followed an outline, “Creating ority and prevent sur- nizations at AT&T “We opened our doors with 667 priate, “best practices.” will work on Tuesday and Thurs- a Decision-Making Model,” which prises to the United from which he re- students,” Chief School Adminis- The school board plans to send day. was given to them by a representa- States. cently retired. trator Dr. Gerard Schaller stated. letters to parents discussing district Any additional required time will tive of the State Board of Education Dr. Brachman told He received a The board reiterated to the pub- goals and strategic planning. be paid to Mrs. Tolley at a rate of as a formula for dealing with future The Westfield Leader, B.S.E.E. degree lic that the school opening went As far as communication between $50 per hour. Mrs. Tolley will be problems. “The opportunity I from Princeton Uni- smoothly and especially thanked the parents and the district, the board with the district until the Business Following such procedure, they have been handed is versity, and S.M. the custodians for all of their hard plans on utilizing TV-35 to video- Administrator/Board Secretary attempted to prioritize the issue, tremendous, and it’s and Ph.D. degrees work. Dr. Schaller also stated that tape and broadcast their public meet- position is filled. flushing out if the topic of class rank a chance to do some- from Harvard Uni- any bussing issues are currently ings. The board also plans on posting The following personnel for ex- was of a high, medium, or low prior- thing really signifi- versity. He has pub- being resolved. messages on the districts website as tra services for the 2002-2003 ity level. cant for the country lished extensively, Due to the traffic at Deerfield well as utilizing the districts phone school year were approved. The Once it was determined that class at a national level. It’s has numerous pat- School, buses are having trouble service. additional personnel include: An- rank concerned a great number of very exciting, par- ents, and his re- getting to the school on time.