The Montclair Times from Montclair, New Jersey • A4

A4 THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2005 NEWS www.montclairtimes.com THE MONTCLAIR TIMES School district recognized for quality Montclair receives third honor for performance excellence By LILLIAN M. ALEMAN of The Montclair Times students. The new design will allow entrance to the school facility from Bloomfield Avenue, enabling buses and cars to exit onto Washington Street. There were community concerns with the previous design because Washington Street was originally the location for dropping off students, which would have created traffic problems with many vehicles entering and exiting a main street, some residents said. After the board approved the new design, Alvarez told The Thomas Group to prepare all site plans and submit them to the Department of Education (DOE) in Trenton for approval.

District officials believe the DOE will fund about $4 million for construction of the new school. Alvarez expects the architectural firm to submit site plans by early next week. State funding will be provided through the Schools Construction a quasi-public entity that once had several billion dollars but is now almost depleted of funds. "We feel the sooner we get things into Trenton, the sooner we are in line for the money that is longer we wait, the more our ability to get the funds will be diminished," Alvarez said. The district also expects to receive an additional $1 million in state rebates for having environmentally friendly features in the new school plan.

Though the municipal government determined that the Town ship Council must approve all Montclair School District capital expenditures, Alvarez said the board does not need to present the new design to the Board of School Estimate or the Township Council for approval. According to a memo released by Business Administrator Dana Sullivan, the current maximum school debt allowed for the Montclair School District under New Jersey statutes is $170.7 million. The Board of Education's existing debt is $87.7 million, or 51 percent of the district's maximum permissible debt. When the $35 million figure for the new school is added to the existing debt, for a total of $122.6 million, the district will still be under the current maximum debt allowed in New Jersey. Montclair Mayor Ed Remsen said Tuesday he doesn't expect the Board of Education to have any problems going through with plans now that the school price has been scaled back to just under $35 million.

"Because the plan comes in within the $35 million approved by the Township Council, they have the right to go ahead and submit it," Remsen said. "There shouldn't be a problem unless we are advised otherwise by our counsel. In my mind, we cut out a lot of extras, brought the price down, and now the school has much more of a quiet configuration. This is a much better way to go- tion formulated by standards set by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Congress created the program in 1987 after the death of Baldrige, who had been secretary of commerce.

'This came about from the effort of the Board of Education, senior staff, school administration, teachers and many, many parents and community members who supported us and are part of our planning process," Alvarez said. "I think that's one of the things that distinguish Montclair from other districts. There is a high level of involvement from all communities." The five New Jersey organizations that received the Governor's Award for Performance Excellence in 2005 are Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (Gold), U.S. Army ARDEC (Silver), Montclair Public Schools (Silver), Emergency Physician Associations (Bronze), and Cherry Hill Public Schools (Bronze). The awards were presented at Quality New Jersey's 16th annual conference on April 20.

According to QNJ's Web site, www.QNJ.org, the award "recognizes organizations that have demonstrated successful business results through the deployment of a comprehensive integrated quality framework." of change," Superintendent of Schools Frank Alvarez said. "Certainly, the feedback reports from the last two assessments have been helpful. We are moving forward and maybe we can go for the gold in the future." To achieve a Silver rating, an organization must demonstrate outstanding performances in many areas, and good progress in all other areas of business. The district scored well in areas such as Leadership, Social Responsibility, StudentStakeholder Focus, StaffFaculty Focus, and Organizational Results. "The fact that Montclair has done this assessment three times now says a lot about the commitment of its people to continuous improvement.

In the past, it's won the Bronze; it is showing improvement along the quality journey by earning Silver this year," stated QNJ Executive Director Tom Lig-as in a release. The QNJ team visited the Montclair schools in February to check whether appropriate decisions have been made by district administrators, and to clarify the processes used by the district to achieve a quality education. The team then created an assessment report that involved seven key categories of administra The Montclair School District can add another notch to its belt of success. After it volunteered for a lengthy performance review in February, the district was named a recipient of the Governor's Award for Performance Excellence. The evaluation was performed by Quality New Jersey (QNJ), a statewide not-for-profit organization that evaluates performance in businesses, nonprofits, health care facilities, school districts and other entities.

This isn't the first time the district has been awarded an honor by QNJ. Montclair was presented Bronze ratings in 2001, the first time a school district received a QNJ honor, and in 2002. This time around, Montclair's level of achievement rose to a Silver rating. "I think getting the Silver this time obviously shows that the district is getting better at how we implement some of the processes School Continued from page Al room and a reading area. Third-through fifth-grade classrooms will be on the second floor, along with another reading area, additional special education classrooms, a media center, lockers for fifth-grade students, and rooms for music, art and a child study team.

The facility also contains four small-group-instruction classrooms with removable walls to create two regular classrooms if the need arises. Although the original plan submitted earlier this year to the board consisted of 125,600 square feet, and the new plan consists of 82,650 square feet, there are still four classrooms per grade level, as was initially proposed, and the district was able to keep a music room and technology laboratory. The World Language, Magnet and ESL rooms, a swimming pool, therapy pool, a mezzanine, concession stand, toilets in the first grade classrooms, the central office, and three special education classrooms were removed from the design plan. "Just by having a smaller, simpler building, it just works better," said Board of Education member John Carlton. Fellow board member Florence Demming agreed.

"This plan seemed to make the most sense all the way around. We gained much more and it is more friendly to our neighbors," Demming said. She explained that some community members were worried about the facility being on the south side of Washington Street because St. Mark's Church and the Montclair Child Development Center, which operates the town's Head Start program, would be overwhelmed by a three-floor school near their sites. The south side of Washington Street will now consist of a garden area that will contain shrubbery.

Another plus in the new design, Alvarez said, is that the district will be able to add more parking spaces to the area. There will be about 96 parking spots adjacent to the Head Start facility. "There is more of a park-like setting on the area that faces Elm Street, and that is going to add to the redevelopment of the neighborhood," Alvarez said. Another advantage of the new design, Alvarez said, relates to the dropping off and picking up of Whether you're getting ready to enter the workplace, seeking to improve your personal skills, or looking for guidance and support, you'll find it all at The Linda and Rudy Slucker NCJW Center for Women For a complete list of programs, call 973-994-4994 or CENTERFORWOMENnj.org Linda Rudy Slucker Renter for omen Everything for women. All in one place.

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