The Westfield Leader Newspaper
The Times of Scotch Plains-Fanwood

A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and THE TIMES of Scotch Plains – Fanwood Thursday, April 15, 1999 Page A3

CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK

Deregionalized High School System Working Out Well for Mountainside and Berkeley Heights

CONTINUED ON PAGE A-8

All Net Proceeds To Benefit Technology in the Westfield Public Schools

Credit Cards & Info (908) 654-4100 On The Web http://westfieldnj.com The Education Fund of Westfield

Deluxe Hot & Cold Buffet Dinner 3 Terrific Bands Live DJ • Dancing Beer & Wine Included Fantastic Door Prizes

including a Pentium Computer System! $50 per Passport

Limited to 900 people! Your Passport is Your

Ticket for Admission A Major "Westfield" Dance-Party-Benefit

Adults Only • Casual Attire Friday, May 7, 1999 • 7:00pm to Midnight

"In the Armory" (across from Westfield High School) Deluxe Hot & Cold

Buffet Dinner 3 Terrific Bands Live DJ • Dancing Beer & Wine Included Fantastic Door Prizes

including a Pentium Computer System!

All Net Proceeds To Benefit Technology in the Westfield Public Schools

Your Passport is Your Ticket for Admission

$50 per Passport Limited to 900 people!

The Education Fund of Westfield

Presenting Sponsor:

Co-Sponsored by:

®

PASSPORT TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW FROM:

ALL 9 WESTFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL PTAS AND PTOS WESTFIELD "Y", WESTFIELD LEADER, NEW JERSEY WORKSHOP FOR THE ARTS

PASSPORT TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW FROM:

ALL 9 WESTFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL PTAS AND PTOS WESTFIELD "Y", WESTFIELD LEADER, NEW JERSEY WORKSHOP FOR THE ARTS

speed@westfieldnj.com 908-654-4100 (24 hrs) http://w http://w http://w http://w http://westf estf estf estf estfieldnj.com ieldnj.com ieldnj.com ieldnj.com ieldnj.com

• No More Dialing • Internet Using TV Cable • No More Busy Signals • Instantaneous Connection • No More Phone Lines • 3 E-Mail Addresses

Piano Keyboard Organ Accordion Strings Woodwinds Brass Voice Guitar Drums

Lessons for the Learning Disabled

Kindermusik classes for ages 2 to 7

Riverwalk Plaza 34 Ridgedale Avenue East Hanover, NJ 07936 (973) 428-0405

281 Main Street Millburn, NJ 07041

(973) 467-4688

Summer Programs. Available

Westfield Day Care Center Seeks Donations For Sale

WESTFIELD – The Westfield Day Care Center Auxiliary is seeking donations for its Spring Clothing, Book and Toy Sale on Friday, May 7.

Clothing for boys and girls from infant to size 12 are needed. Clothing should be clean and in good condition. Children's toys, books and collectible items will also be accepted.

The Auxiliary is accepting donations at the Center, 120 Mountain Avenue, or at the Infant-Toddler Center, 462 West Broad Street, Westfield. For more information, please call (908) 232-6717.

The Auxiliary will not be holding its annual, Armory garage sale this year.

All proceeds from the sale will benefit the Auxiliary's Scholarship

SHOW PLANNERS…Members of the Garden Club of Westfield met recently to discuss plans for their upcoming standard placement holiday flower show, to be held on Thursday, May 6. Tickets are $7 and are available at The Flower Basket, 103 Prospect Street, and Lancaster Hallmark Ltd., 76 Elm Street, in Westfield. Pictured, left to right, are: Irene llaria, Jody Melloan, Ruth Paul, Eva Wiley and Theo Dean.

Local Rescue Squad to Hold Free CPR Course in May

WESTFIELD — The Westfield Volunteer Rescue Squad will conduct various free CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) classes throughout the week of May 16 through May 22.

A sign-up for these classes will be held during the annual "Spring Fling" event in downtown Westfield on Sunday, April 18, at the group's ambulance display and recruiting table.

The classes will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. and will include instruction on either adult or pediatric basic life support.

Participants completing the course will receive a certificate of completion from the American Heart Association.

"Each year the people and businesses of Westfield are extremely generous with their donations to our annual fund drive," stated Reid Edles, President of

the Westfield Volunteer Rescue Squad. "We felt that it would be appropriate to show our appreciation of that generous support by offering free CPR classes to the public during National Emergency Medical Services Week, May 16 through May 22."

The classes will be held at the group's headquarters at 335 Watterson Street in Westfield. Parking will be available across the street from the building in the Watterson Street parking lot.

Instructors for the American Heart Association will teach all classes.

For further information, please call (908) 233-2500. Class size is limited.

The Westfield Volunteer Rescue Squad provides emergency medical service to the town of Westfield. It is staffed entirely by volunteers and is supported entirely by tax deductible contributions.

Fund. The center's tuition is based on a sliding scale that allows onehalf of the families to receive some scholarship funding.

By KIM KINTER

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

MOUNTAINSIDE It has been two years since the local regional high school system broke up, forcing Mountainside residents to decide where to send their students to school.

Mountainside, which has only a kindergarten through eighth grade system, has no high school within its borough. It had been paying tuition for years to send its students to the regional high school in Berkeley Heights, set up by the state in the 1930s to serve students without a school in their town.

But when that regional system dissolved two years ago and the Berkeley Heights school, Governor Livingston High School, came under the jurisdiction of the Berkeley Heights Board of Education, Mountainside residents had to decide what to do.

Although the borough residents were wooed by various local high school administrators who were more than happy to accept tuition from an extra 200 students, Mountainside opted to continue to send their students to the Berkeley Heights school.

At the time, Mountainside did not know what to expect of the new arrangement. After all, the Berkeley Heights Board of Education had not run its own high school before and neither Berkeley Heights nor Mountainside knew what might lie ahead.

But with two years under their belt, administrators and board members from both communities are in a better position to take a look at how

the arrangement has shaped up. Under the 10-year agreement, Mountainside sends its approximate 200 high school students to Governor Livingston High School.

Mountainside pays for the busing of the students and pays a yearly tuition of $12,500 a student to Berkeley Heights. Mountainside has one representative, Frank Geiger, on the Berkeley Heights school board who has a vote and gets involved in issues affecting the high school.

The representation of one person is based on a state formula calculated by the number of students Mountainside sends to Berkeley Heights.

The tuition is based on Berkeley Heights officials' best estimate of how much it costs to educate each high school pupil. Although no one was certain the amount was correct when it was set two years ago, Mountainside agreed to pay it until an exact figure became known.

The figure was a significant decrease from the $16,700 Mountainside had been shelling out in tuition to the regional high school. That rate was based on the community's ability to pay, rather than the actual cost per student.

As the agreement between the two districts enters its third year, that $12,500 amount may change. Audited figures from the state are expected in May that will give school officials an exact amount of the yearly cost to educate a Berkeley Heights high school pupil.

William Van Tassel, administrator for the Berkeley Heights school board,

commented that he believes that the $12,500 amount is "pretty much right." He said the per pupil cost for Berkeley Heights kindergarteneighth grade students is $10,218 and that costs are higher on the high school level.

If the per pupil costs are off either too high or too low the affected school district will have a grace period to make up the difference, Mr. Van Tassel explained.

Besides tuition, there are other issues with which the two districts are trying to iron out.

Gerard Schaller, superintendent of Mountainside's kindergarten-8th grade system, said he views the agreement with Berkeley Heights as a "very positive" experience.

Mr. Schaller said there have been open lines of communication between both superintendents and the Governor Livingston principal since he began as superintendent 16 months ago.

But he admitted that there are "rough edges" that both sides need to work out. The "rough edges" he refers to mainly are the continuing review of both the Mountainside and Berkeley Heights kindergarten through 8th grade curriculum to make sure that they "are on an equal par" and that all students are equally prepared for the high school.

Dr. Schaller said that meetings occur regularly between both sides to talk about student preparation.

Besides meetings between both school districts, Dr. Schaller said it has been helpful having a representative from Mountainside on the Berkeley Heights Board of Education who deals with issues just affecting the high school.

Mr. Geiger, who is also a Mountainside Board of Education member, has been very active the last year with the Berkeley Heights board. Mr. Geiger has a student at Governor Livingston High School.

Mr. Geiger said while Mountainside remains satisfied with

the arrangement, he still considers the agreement to be a "work in progress."

"I would say that we're thrilled to be in one of the best high schools in the state," he commented in an interview with The Westfield Leader.

"We are still looking for a good merge between the two communities — I'm not saying we're not on the same wavelength. We just want to make sure all our freshman classes are in the same place."

Mr. Geiger said other areas he has concerns about may be viewed by some as "minor educationally," but they are subjects he wants to address.

One area, for instance, is in the high school sports schedule.

Mountainside, for example, sends eighth grade girls to Governor Livingston who have played field hockey in the Mountainside middle school, but there is no high school field hockey team.

Another area Mr. Geiger wants to discuss is music. Mountainside students are able to use and play string instruments, while strings are not part of the music curriculum in Berkeley Heights. While there is an orchestra at the high school, the majority of the students play brass and woodwind instruments.

"We are making progress," he said. He added that with the hiring of a new superintendent in Berkeley Heights he expects to see even more progress being made toward the synchronization of both districts (see related story, Page B-13.) Mountainside also has a fairly new superintendent.

"With a new superintendent in Berkeley Heights, we will go a long way to making progress," he said. "Two new superintendents cooperat