\o * i O o 0* tea o H--J O wittotb Serving Westfield, Scotch Plains and Fanwood Vol. 19, No.at'jg? Friday, September 3,2004 50 cents : UJCilLjJ + M M jf LLULL. INSI • t~ ' Planning Board weighs Broad Street proposal low than the specifications of the ances for parking. Other relief Federal Savings and Loan building are proposing to reclas- THE RECORD-PRESS town's land use ordinance. would include variances for rear Association secured board sify the second and third floor If approved by the Planning yard setback, habitable floor approval for the building in space as storage. WESTFIELD — A developer's Board at its next meeting Sept. area, and level of illumination. 1975, its on-site parking defi- If the board allows this plan to construct a three-story, 9, the building would include one The design and configuration of ciency was mitigated by includ- change in use, the bank may be mixed-use building on East 1,200-square foot ground floor the ground floor parking compo- ing the 18 spaces across Broad able to meet the parking demand Broad Street could also affect the retail space and seven apart- nent requires numerous vari- Street as part of its parking cal- generated by its first floor servic- nearby PNC Bank building. ments on the second and third ances. culation. es with the facility's existing, on- A&R Westfieid Broad Street, floors. Access to the building The existing surface lot, locat- The PNC building as site parking spaces. LLC proposes to build a 40-foot would come from Prospect Street ed between Verizon and Hunan approved three decades ago has Material included with the tall building in a space currently to the east, where a nine-foot- Wok III, is connected to the adja- office space on the second and file indicates the developer's occupied by a surface parking wide easement stretches to the cent PNC Bank building from a third floors. But since the devel- intent to file a separate proposal lot. The building would preserve rear of the property. perspective of use (The proper- opment across the street would that would convert the second 10 of those 18 parking spaces, As is the case with most ties are connected in other ways, eliminate spaces and change the and third floor space of the PNC though the remaining spaces downtown construction propos- too; they have at least one owner terms of the building's original would be more narrow and shal- als, the project requires vari- in common). When Lincoln approval, the owners of the PNC (Continued on page A-2) Proposal Sullivan, lltdm doesn't Carey have tfeegriilrM new posts High school football teams are well please into double sessions, but their younger cohorts are putting the in district pads on and working hard in prac- tice, too. For pictures of the board By MAO Westfield PAL squad and more local coverage of local athletes, see Donut shop urged THE RECORD-PRESS Sports, PageC-1. WESTFIELD — The school to improve plans district will open the year with ByBIUDBttHOF' several new administrators in place, and some positions yet to THE RECORD-PRESS be filled on a permanent basis. FANWOOD — After listening At Westfield High School, to a proposal by Dunkin' Donuts Joan Sullivan takes over as the last week to build an addition new assistant principal, coming and reconfigure the parking lot to. the district from Lacey at its South Avenue property, the Township High School. Planning Board decided to post- Sullivan holds a master's pone its decision on the request degree in educational adminis- until at least next month. tration from Rutgers Dunkin' Donuts is seeking site University, special education plan approval from the board to certification from the Georgian construct a 992-square foot addi- Bring in Court College in Lakewood, Service !• tion to its property, which borders and a bachelor's degree in his- Martine and South avenues. The tory and American studies from project may require either a vari- the band ttielr couitry ance or a design waiver from the It's not lust the local sports Rutgers College. , Wa$tftekkrs Corinne Uebrich and board, as it deviates from the teams that nosd to oat ready Also, Stewart Carey has Amelia Hartley have been building a parking requirements of the for the fall season — It's also taken over as interim principal record of public service around the General Commerical zone, the marching bands. Practice at Roosevelt Intermediate United States with the Americorps according to board attorney was In full swing for the School, replacing Ken Shulack, Robert Mega. Scotch Plalns-Fanwood High who accepted a position in program. For more on the tasks School marching band and they've undertaken, see Community The majority of the board color guard this week. Summit. Carey was previously Ufe, Page 6-1. members objected to the facility's Above, color guard member the assistant principal at facade and overall generic Christina DeFeo works on Edison Intermediate School. design, particularly since the cof- her skills; right, band mem- "He's highly capable," said fee and donut retailer occupies a ber David DeMair plays the Superintendent William Foley, gateway location on the periph- baritone horn. "and gives us an opportunity to (Continued on page A-2) NICOLE DIMELLA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER keep things moving and contin- ue the legacy" established by Shulack, he added. To fill the vacancy left by Board may revisit WHS grading policy Carey, Bob Sanders takes over as assistant principal at Edison Though the board held open ses- Intermediate School. Sanders THE RECORD-PRESS sions with Principal Robert Petix Meeting postponed was a special education teacher and several teachers when the A Westfield Board of Education meeting planned for Sept. 7 has for many years and will hold WESTFIELD — A proposal by issue was decided, Gardner said the position until the district one member of the Board of she had been "uncomfortable with been rescheduled for Sept. 14. At the meeting, the board will dis- Education to re-examine the high the process." With two years of cuss a proposed bond referendum to install a turf field at Kehler makes a permanent decision on school's grading policy met a mixed results now available as evidence, Stadium, replace the high school track and refurbish existing fields. the position. response at the board's regular she said the board should at least The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. and will be held at the administra- "Bob Sanders is a highly meeting Tuesday night. take a look at the issue, as it had tive building on Elm Street. respected special educator, well Although she isn't opposed to promised faculty at the time. known at Edison and a former the high school's current grading "Over the past couple of years, doubt it," Foley said. "Don't assume tive in a year of "so many pressing teacher of the year," Foley said. policy, Policy Committee we've had reports from Dr. Petix this would be short and sweet." priorities," including a bond refer- The district is in the process or Halloween? Chairwoman Arlene Gardner said that (the policy) is working pretty Foley pointed out that any endum the board will place before of interviewing candidates for Scotch Plains residents Charlotte she wants to revisit the policy, well, and there hasn't been any change to the high school grading voters. She also noted the grading the supervisor of gifted and tal- Moore, 3, and her sister Corinne got which the board established sever- major uproar about this," Gardner policy could lower the GPA of some policy did not emerge as an issue to ented position and the supervi- all dressed up to team about night al years ago. She suggested the said. Tm not saying the result was students, a result certain to inspire be addressed when the board sor of instructional technology animals at the Reeves-Reed board should convene a special wrong, but the process was flawed." controversy. established its strategic plan last post. The district is still looking Arboretum in Summit recently. For committee to examine grading and "Let's finish the issue, tie it up," "Initially I heard several con- spring. for a suitable candidate to pictures of the girls and more on the determine whether the current agreed board member Kim Rhodes. cerns from faculty members, but I Board member Richard serve as director of guidance, as program, see Page 8-1. method is working. But Superintendent William haven't heard anything lately," said Solomon said any re-evaluation of well. Currently, high school course Foley countered that while skepti- board Vice President Ginny Leiz. "I the policy should examine the grades include plus or minus desig- cism about the earlier process is don't know if it's our position to ini- impact of grading on college admis- Inside: The school district nations for B's and C's; all students justifiable, revisiting the issue tiate a total re-evaluation (of the sions and receive heavy input from also has welcomed 54 new scoring above the B+ level are could open up a can of worms over policy) if the faculty is not unsatis- the guidance department. teachers. given a grade of A. Prior to the a topic he described as "a cantan- fied with the result." Because two board members For a full listing of the new board's decision to adopt the more kerous issue." Board President Anne Riegel were not present, Riegel suggested faculty and information and Itallai festival specific grading method, grades "I would like to believe the said revisiting the grading policy the board revisit Gardner's propos- what they are doing to get ready were limited to A, B, C, D, and F.