Community Corner

The Week in Union County

Here's what made news around the county this past week.

Every week, Patch takes a look at what made the headlines in Union County. Among this past week's top stories, Relay for Life brought in thousands for cancer research, E-tickets are the newest thing in Scotch Plains and a Cranford alum was drafted to the L.A. Dodgers.

 

CLARK & GARWOOD

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the biggest of the American Cancer Society's Relays in Union, Essex and Hudson counties, raised more than $146,000 for cancer research on Saturday, June 10. The all-night relay brought out more than 1,000 relayers who walked the track at Arthur L. Johnson high school to show their solidarity against the disease. Dr. Cynara Coomer, a Fox News contributor and cancer survivor, was the keynote speaker for the event.

 

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Students from Arthur L. Johnson High School and Carl H. Kumpf Middle School were honored Tuesday night at the Among those receiving honors were ALJ golfer Jacob Stockl who has won the county championship three out of his four years at Johnson and the undefeated Kumpf middle school softball team who outscored opponents 117-20 for the season.

 

SCOTCH PLAINS & FANWOOD

Well, there’s good news and bad news for local drivers. The good news: a new electronic ticketing system that the  plans to introduce this fall is expected to increase both revenue and efficiency. The bad news: because the "e-tickets" will be printed by in-car computers and electronically catalogued, the days of escaping tickets due to indecipherable or sun-bleached hand-writing will soon come to an end.

Closing this loophole will increase the number of effective tickets by about 10 percent, according to police. The department typically hands out 6,000 tickets per year.

 

CRANFORD

The big news of the week in Cranford belonged to , who was drafted to the Los Angeles Dodgers last week. The Class of 2006 graduate played ball for Cranford ever since Little League, and his passion for the game never waned. To aspiring Cranford athletes, Chamra offered one piece of advice: never give up.

“You can't give up,” he said. “You've got to keep going, keep trying, keep doing your best, and try hardest at everything you do."

In government news, the Township Committee. The fourth amendment will allow construction of 21 units at the Riverfront Redevelopment Project, raising the total from 106 to 127. Cranford will receive $756,000 in impact fees for the units' construction.

 

 

NEW PROVIDENCE

New Providence Police Department responded to a residential burglary Thursday at a local garden apartment. During the investigation police determined a 12-gauge shotgun, and a Ruger 9mm handgun with two fully loaded high capacity magazines were stolen. The Detective Bureau responded and investigated the crime through the night and into Friday morning hours. They were able to identify and arrest all of the involved suspects. Four juveniles — one from Berkeley Heights, two from New Providence, and one from South Orange — were arrested on charges of burglary and theft, and have been placed under house arrest pending Union County court action.

At the borough council meeting on Monday, councilmen discussed various ways to repair the overused parks and fields in New Providence. After a 45 minute discussion with varying opinions from councilmen, council came to the consensus that a community questionnaire be placed on the borough website so all residents have a chance to offer their opinions on how all borough facilities should be repaired.

 

WESTFIELD

Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan shows the controversial decision to redistrict half of the intermediate school population in the Washington School district two years ago is working. In a presentation to the Board of Education Tuesday, Dolan said the data shows the town's two intermediate schools have populations that fit capacity under the action. Washington neighborhood parents have been vocal in their opposition to the plan for two years, continuing to press Dolan on issues, including claims that classes at the south side Edison Intermediate School are overcrowded due to the redistricting. Assistant Schools Superintendent Anita O'Neil refuted the overcrowding claims, saying data on a spreadsheet she had did not show the class sizes Washington parents said existed. Dolan said she would make raw enrollment data available to BOE members, including several who have been asking for the data for two years.

Traffic safety consultant Gordon Meth unveiled preliminary proposals to reduce parking and traffic congestion in the area around Westfield High School during a town hall meeting Thursday evening. Meth's proposals included a bus lane on Rahway Avenue, permit parking for students and four way stop signs near the high school. Residents at the forum continued to press the idea of off street parking, possibly at the Armory. Councilman Jim Foerst said the Armory proposal is currently not fiscally feasible for the town, reasons the Board of Education used last year when they killed the proposal. During a March forum neighborhood residents said the parking situation has led to safety issues in their community, along with quality of life issues, including claims that students routinely smoke marijuana in their cars and leave used condoms and empty alcohol bottles on front lawns before school.

Despite trailing the entire game, the Westfield High School baseball team did not give up in their game last weekend. The team was defeated by Mananalapan 29-15, with the Blue Devils closing the gap in the seventh inning.

 

SUMMIT
The Board of Education held its last regular meeting of the school year Thursday night and honored 14 retiring faculty members. In addition. BOE President Michelle Stevenson said the board intends to re-negotiate with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Nathan Parker when his current contract expires on June 30, 2012. Stevenson said the board will negotiate salary and other conditions in compliance with the salary cap guidelines instituted by the state. The board had previously approved a contract for Parker in January that would have far exceeded the $165,000 salary cap.

 

SPRINGFIELD

Scouts, scouts and more scouts. Springfield was all about boys and girls in uniform this week. We kicked off Monday with coverage of the Township . On Tuesday, we followed with a congratulatory report on Springfield resident Nicholas Rossomando, who received his earlier this year. Then we hit a scouting hat trick with a gallery of Cub Scouts at Springfield’s Township Committee meeting.

But scouts weren’t the only Springfield residents receiving honors this week. Township Administrator Anthony Cancro held an employee recognition ceremony honoring employees for exemplary service. Look , and for Patch’s coverage, and look for more to come next week.

 

BERKELEY HEIGHTS & MOUNTAINSIDE

At the June 14th meeting, the Mountainside Board of Education awarded student contest winners with certificates of acknowledgement.  

Will Tracy beat out 4,000 entries to be the grand prize winner of the PNC Annual Patriotic Essay Contest. Tracy won VIP tickets to the annual Balloon Festival. To preview this prize and to the delight of students, Deerfield School was visited by a hot air balloon on June 13th, where Tracy got a tethered ride in the balloon. 

The 2011 Reflections Program awarded artistic entries themed “together we can.” Out of 38 entries, Frances Hisgen, Samantha Mimosa and Allison Post won county-level awards. Elizabeth Leick won both county and state level awards. 

Governor Livingston High School senior Matthew Arrigoni received the Frederick Rosenstiehl Memorial Scholarship. The Deerfield School graduate will be attending Syracuse University in the fall.

The Tricia DeRosa Memorial Award was given to Amanda Sabarese before the board went into closed session due to scheduling. 

Along with the awards, the board officially accepted the resignation of the Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, Thomas Conroy, after his five years of service with the district. Conroy addressed the board during the Chief School Administrator’s Report to outline his job description and to encourage the board to replace him in the position. 

“If I made all of my decisions in the best interests of the kids, they would all be good decisions,” said Conroy, of his philosophy when he began his work in Mountainside. “It would be a disservice to the community,” he said, to make any cuts to the position of Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction. Conroy detailed how his time was allotted during the 60-hour weeks he worked during his time as supervisor. He detailed aspects of his job including teacher evaluations, meetings and the possible implications of cuts or shared services. 

Discussion became heated once Board Vice President Christopher Minks questioned how Conroy knew the exact concerns that had been stated in executive sessions and confidential emails from board members during the two weeks prior to the meeting. 

“The way this has occurred is deplorable,” said Minks, who also stated that while he has always supported Conroy, he was “troubled” by the planned presentation regarding the position. 

Tensions mounted when Minks implied Chief School Administrator Dr. Jeanette Baubles had released the contents of confidential communications to Conroy during preparations for the meeting. Dr. Baubles and Board President James Ruban both defensively entered the discussion after accusations appeared to be made towards both individuals regarding the release of confidential information regarding the position. 

Various board members also commented that they felt the questions of time management and shared services were topics that had been previously discussed publicly and logical concerns when looking for a replacement in any form.


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