The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 4

TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1993 2P THE RECORD B-3 budvlniLruU Alarmei over Hiime clock pnopo 7 Passaic teachers assail plan as a 'slap in the face' By DIANA ROJAS Staff Wriier PASSAIC Angry teachers, facing the threat of time clocks in the workplace, argued that having to punch in would be "a slap in the face" of a professional staff, and asked the Board of Education Monday evening not to authorize their purchase. Board members insisted that lateness and absenteeism on the part of some teachers needed to be curbed. But they did decide to postpone a vote on a resolution of purchase until June 9. The time clocks would be used by all union employees and would record any deviation from standard' hours similar to what is done manually already, according to Business Administrator Henry Italo Ubaldini said that the "hand ful" of teachers who are chronical? ly late or absent have forced thfc -i board to react the way it did. "When I see the teacher racing, for the door before the student, don't tell me that something isn't; wrong," he said.

"The district haa been running rampant and if ft has to be the route of the time-; clock which I abhor then so be it. The picnic is over." Former board member Evelyn; Robinson, who was on hand, said, that the board would probably dis-cuss the issue, but that in the end the time clocks would be installed. "They'll wait till June, when the teachers are not here, and thepv, they'll pass it," she said. Lee. He noted that before any salaries are actually docked because of tardiness or absenteeism, there would be "some human interaction." But Donna Micholajczyk, president of the Association of Education of Passaic and a high school teacher, countered: "Factory workers don't give a hoot about what happens after they punch out.

That may become the attitude of this district if the board insists on treating the professional staff as if they were factory workers." Although the issue had been under consideration for several years, the staff didn't know it would be on Monday's agenda, said Micholajczyk, who spoke to the board. She noted that union contracts Superintendent Robert Holster said that although the issue was not negotiable, he hoped the opposition heard at the meeting would force the board to discuss other options and have "some heavy dialogue." The money for the time clocks which will cost the district nearly $60,000 would be taken from a $300,000 line item approved for the 1992-93 budget for the purchase of a new central office computer system, which has been delayed because of problems with the new state accounting procedures according to James Shoop, assistant board secretary and assistant business administrator. After the vote, board President Teachers pointed out to the board the many extra hours they put in uncompensated such as grading papers at home, calling parents after hours, or attending and assisting in school functions and asked the board to reconsider the cost factor after teachers start billing for overtime. "If you put the clocks in, I want to be paid from 7:30 a.m. to whatever time I leave," said high school art teacher Gloria Nolman, "as well as time-and-a-half for stipulate that administrators may discipline errant employees, and she demanded, along with several other speakers, that the board enforce this rule instead of resorting to time clocks.

Gerardo Fernandez, the only board member to speak out against the use of time clocks, said that "We should have the guts to enforce the rules that are already in place. They time clocks are a waste of money. They will create an atmosphere of hostility between the board and staff." chool bridges cultural divide Paterson chase ends in crash; A touch of Tokyo in Oakland ght suspect caii County detective car rammed been reported stolen in Clifton on Saturday. Segboer tailed the Hyundai '-7 A i By JANET WICKENHAVER Staff Writer A student, freshly transferred from public school, was invited to introduce himself to his new class. He absently slipped his hand into his pocket as he stood.

"Hands at your side," his teacher at the New Jersey Japanese School in Oakland told him, leaving no room for interpretation. The gesture, which might not have registered in an American school, would definitely be discouraged in its Japanese counterpart. For its 60 students, the school helps to cushion the culture shock of living in a foreign country, while offering them a bridge back to their own culture when they return to Japan. Roughly one-third of the first-through fifth-graders, children of Japanese nationals on three- to five-year postings in the United States, will be heading home within a year. "The teachers train students to be members of Japanese society," said Akira Kuwamura, office manager of the school, stressing the importance of conformity in Japan.

"We have a saying in Japanese: 'The nail that sticks out gets Housed in the former home of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parochial school on Franklin Avenue, the New Jersey Japanese School, which opened last year, is the State's first all-day school that is Subsidized by the Japanese government. The curriculum is set by the Ministry of Education in which also selects, certifies, and pays the teachers for three-year stints. Major Japanese companies with offices in the area, like Sony Corporation of America and Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America, also donate money either directly to the school or to its parent organization, the Japanese Educational Institute of New York. It is not the only all-day Japanese school in the region. The Japanese Children's Society in Engle-wood Cliffs is in its eighth year, with 212 children in preschool to sixth grade.

But the government's sponsorship gives the New Jersey Japanese School a slight tuition advantage it's about $1,000 a year less than the Japanese Children's Society. There also are several Japanese weekend schools, including ones in Fort Lee, Clifton, and Hackensack. Since it opened last year, the New Jersey Japanese School's enrollment has shot up from 13 to 60. Kuwamura anticipates that it could go to 100 this year, as well as add a sixth-grade section. The building has a capacity of about 120 students.

The subjects of study social studies, math, science, physical education are common to an American curriculum. But there are also courses in Japanese language and Japanese social studies. Once a week, the children have a class in moral studies, which covers topics like manners, social rules, friendship, self-discipline, patriotism, and respect for elders. The school year is slightly longer at 10 months, starting in early April and ending in mid-March, with July and half of August off for summer vacation. The school day, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

and ending at 3:30 p.m., is also slightly longer than the American day for children this age. Although the school emphasizes Japanese culture, its students study English, using some books that would be familiar to American children. Linda Barton one By JUST0 BAUTISTA Staff Writer PATERSON An unmarked Passaic County detective car was damaged Monday when an unemployed city man driving a stolen car rammed it and tried to run over the detective who got out to chase him, authorities said. Eugene Lowery, 18, of East 25th Street was arrested after leading a small army of police on a car and foot chase through the Totowa section, police said. Lowery was charged with receiving stolen property, eluding police, two counts of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and malicious damage to property.

He also faces motor vehicle charges, including driving without a license, reckless driving, and using a fictitious license plate. Detectives assigned to a stolen-car task force were taking part in a stakeout near the Christopher Columbus housing complex, after receiving a tip about a stolen car, when Lowery drove by in a 1991 Hyundai, authorities said. Detective Sgt. Hans Segboer noticed that the numbers on the front and rear license plates of the Hyundai did not match, and he began following Lowery, authorities said. A records check indicated that the rear plate was fictitious and that the car had -a." i but did not try to stop it diately because schoolchildren, were around, authorities said.

Once he was clear of the Segboer used his lights and siren to signal the Hyundai, but it did not stop. Task force detectives Craig: Chaplain and Don Cavallo tried to block off Laurel and John streets with their unmarked car, but Lowery rammed the car, thorities said. As Chaplain got out of the car, Lowery drove at him, but the detective evaded; the car, which crashed into a fence, investigators said. Lowery got out of the car and ran up West Broadway, with the task force detectives, Paterson police, and county sheriff's offi- -cers in pursuit. Police lost the suspect momentarily, but Chaplain and Ca-vallo spotted him running, through back yards on Marion -and Doremus streets, with startled residents shouting his loca- tion to police as the chase con-, tinued.

"The residents were remark-' able," Segboer said. Lowery was caught in a back, yard off Marion Street and was being held in the Paterson police lockup Monday night. JOE GIARDELLISTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Teacher Genki Kajiwara working with students Kenta Hirano, left, and Miho Nibira at the New Jersey Japanese School in Oakland. of three American teachers at the school recently used the Dr. Seuss book "Green Eggs and Ham" to drill her students on English words.

But Barton, who lives in Midland Park with her family, can relate to the desire to hold on to one's native language and culture. She lived for three years with her husband and two young children in Japan, taught English there, and sent her kids to Japanese school. "When we came to New Jersey, my Wi-year-old son didn't know the Pledge of Allegiance," she said. "My daughter started to forget her alphabet." The much-touted education gap between Japanese and American schools seems less than the etiquette gap. Bernard Harrsch, the school's 63-year-old custodian, who has worked in parochial schools as well, says he is a beneficiary of Japanese manners.

"The Japanese children have it all over the Americans in terms of politeness to senior citizens," he said. "This job is a real education for a native-born American." Public can offer comments on flood tunnel- tal environmental impact ment the corps is preparing. Meetings are scheduled as follows: June 9, 7:30 p.m., Passaic Vaf-I ley High School, 170 East Main; Little Falls. June 16, 7:30 p.m., Hacken-f sack Meadowlands Development Commission Auditorium, 2 De-J Korte Plaza, Lyndhurst. June 22, 10 a.m., Health and; Agriculture Building, New Warren-Street, Trenton.

By COLLEEN MANCINO Staff Writer The Army Corps of Engineers will hold three public meetings next month on the environmental effects of the proposed $2 billion Passaic River flood tunnel. The meetings will allow residents to discuss concerns about plans to extend the proposed 13.5-.mile tunnel more than six miles to an outlet in Kearny on the Newark Bay. The tunnel, which would operate during heavy flooding days, estimated to be about five days a year, is meant to carry life-threatening floodwaters from the Passaic River Basin to the bay. As a result of that change in the tunnel route, nine controversial levee and flood-wall systems along the lower portion of the Passaic River in south Bergen and east Essex counties were eliminated. Concerns raised at the meetings will be addressed in a supplemen We salute our Partners in Community Service Car fcssrg'srtes Bloosnlngdala BLOOMINGDALE Police are baffled by a series of car burglaries reported over the past few weeks and are asking for help in tracking down the thieves.

According to police reports, the latest series of break-ins occurred Friday night, when three cars two on Oak Street and one on nearby Glenwild Avenue were stripped of their stereos. The burglaries are believed to be linked to five similar crimes reported on Rafkind Road, about a mile and a half away. 1 Police are asking anyone with information about the thefts to call 838-0158. SEAMUS McGRAW Thrcs in Patcrscn cSrug bast PATERSON Police arrested three city men on drug charges and seized more than $900 worth of cocaine following a stakeout at West Broadway and Presidential Boulevard on Monday evening. Joe Oliver, 50, of East 30th Street; Eric Cooper, 27, of Matlock Street; and Anthony Boyd, 22, of Presidential Boulevard were charged with possession of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute, and possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, police said.

Narcotics detectives arrested the suspects after watching them make several drug transactions, police said. The buyers got away. Oliver had 42 bags of crack and $24 in his possession when he was arrested, Cooper had 30 bags of cocaine and $115, and Boyd had 20 bags of cocaine and $30, police said. JUSTO BAUTISTA sid asksd in solving crirr.ss PATERSON Police are seeking the public's assistance in identifying and arresting three men in three apparently unrelated armed crimes over the weekend. In an incident early Sunday morning, a man with a handgun reportedly fired five shots at a Fair Lawn man's car at East 16th Street and Sixth Avenue, shattering a rear window.

The driver of the car, John Welsh, 20, and three passengers were not injured, police said. Detectives are seeking a Hispanic male about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 135 pounds, who was wearing black pants, a white hooded sweat shirt, and a black hat. The day before, at about 2:15 a.m., an attendant at an Amoco gasoline station on West Broadway reported being held up at knifepoint and robbed of $40. A masked male possibly white, heavyset, about 25, and 5 feet 5 inches tall, wearing black sweat pants and black sweat shirt with a skullcap and a white mask is being sought in that incident. About 15 minutes later on Saturday morning, a Domino's pizza deliverer reported being robbed of $40 at knifepoint in the 200 block of 22nd Avenue.

The assailant in this case was a heavyset black male, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, in his late teens to early 20s, wearing a beige sweater and beige pants. "Anyone with any information on any of these incidents is asked to call us at 881-681 1," Capt. James Buckley said Monday. JAN BARRY Pssssis 3 tzzz vmzms ciorgss PASSAIC Three city men have been charged with possession of hollow-point bullets and two handguns, including a stolen weapon equipped with a sophisticated laser scope, police said. The three were arrested Sunday after police learned that the weapons could be found in a certain dark car, said Sgt.

James Rhoades. Police spotted the car on Parker Avenue, searched it, and found the guns in a leather bag, Rhoades said. The handgun equipped with the laser scope a device that uses a high-powered beam of light to fix a target is believed to have been stolen from a Fort Lee home, police said. A video camera, believed stolen in the same recent Fort Lee burglary, also was seized. Police charged the three men Victor Matias, no age given, and Julio Liranzo, 22, both of Columbus Avenue, and Kelvin Piliel, 22, of Highland Avenue with two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, unlawful possession of hollow-point bullets, and possession of stolen property.

Hollow-point bullets break up on impact, making them more likely to hit vital organs. Matias remained in the Passaic City Jail on Monday on $100,000 bail. Liranzo and Piliel were being held on bail of $10,000 apiece, Rhoades said. SEAMUS McGRAW Their dedication and commitment to excellence are deeply appreciated. May 25, 1993 is Emergency Medical Services Day at THE GENERAL HOSPITAL CENTER AT PASSAIC 350 Boulevard, Passaic NJ 07055 Call 1-800-252-2234 for a free copy of the Physicians Directory of North Jersey.