New Faces And New Spaces Will Greet Montclair Students This Year

Over the next week, Montclair schools will introduce many new faces and some new spaces to the town's 6,000 students. In a few cases, some favorite teachers will no longer be around, due to budget cuts. Indeed, some 92 teaching and staff positions have been eliminated in Montclair. This year the average class size will vary from between 25 and 27 students.

Here are some changes and updates that have been announced for schools in the Montclair district — a list we will be constantly updating as we march towards the opening of school on September 13. If you know of any changes, please email me at Shelley@patch.com.

Mount Hebron Middle School

Guy Whitlock took over from Dr. Mark Jennings as principal on July 1. This former actor had been serving as the assistant to the superintendent. His goal is to transform a traditional and fairly conventional institution of 600 students into an innovative and cutting-edge facility boasting all the technology trappings of the 21st century. The school will be revitalizing its popular Robotics Club this fall and also launching an after-school enrichment program in January. For more on Whitlock — as well as a look at a video showing Whitlock in action as an actor — see our Patch profile here.

Northeast Elementary School

On July 1, Dr. Joseph Putrino Jr., Ed.D. became the Acting Principal of Northeast Elementary School. For more on this former Hillside vice-principal, see our Patch profile of Putrino here.

Charles H. Bullock Elementary School

Talk about changes! The new "green" school on Washington Street has received its permanent certificate of occupancy and has been giving tours to former Rand students. The school has loads of bells and whistles including a geothermal cooling system, self-flushing toilets, and a kiln. For an inside peek at the school, see our Patch tour here. 

This is a note from Principal Dr. Barbara Weller about all the changes taking place at Bullock this year:

"We are adding three new classes this year plus there have been other staff changes.
Staff members new to Charles H. Bullock include: Stephanie Cataneo, kindergarten, who worked with all of our kindergartens last year in speech and language development; Debbie White, Kindergarten, joining us from 30-plus years teaching pre-kindergarten and kindergarten at Nishuane; and Nicolle Santos, first grade. She student taught under the direction of Susan Synnott this past school year so she is not "new" to us. Lynne Williams, second grade, also is joining us from Bradford, where she taught several grade levels; Kristen Kaelin, fourth grade language arts/social studies, also from Bradford, where she most recently taught the fifth grade inclusion class; Tanesha Greer-Jones, special education, new to Montclair Public Schools; Lynn Coyle, special education counselor, new to Montclair Public Schools; Ed Koenigsfest, part-time PE, in addition to Ted Shrensel, from Mount Hebron Middle School; Dana Gellis, LDT-C (Child Study Team), who has worked in several other schools in the district including Bradford with whom we now share her; Robert Edwards, head custodian, from head custodian at Montclair High School; and Steve King, custodian, from Glenfield Middle School. Susan Cowan will be moving up to join Jessica Buttimore in third grade. Jennifer Gilman will be on maternity leave for the 2010-11 school year.

The budget cuts impacted several staff members who will not be returning to CHB: Susan Bartol, Gabriella Bauer, Amanda DuMont, Vanessa Jetter, Dana Spagnuolo.

Some short-term leave replacements for other staff members on maternity leave are still pending as is the re-hiring status of several paraprofessionals whose positions were among the budget cuts.

Two Rand staff members retired at the end of the 2009-10 school year: Cleveland Hines and Janice Guerriero.

As hard as it was to say goodbye to staff members who left us last year, we are really happy with our new staff and looking forward to a great start for all the children at CHB."

Renaissance Middle School

Again, talk about changes! Not only does this school move into the former Rand school building on North Fullerton Avenue, but there's also a new principal, Charles Miller, a person also new to the district. Workers have been busy spiffing up the old Rand building and getting it ready for the middle school students. Indeed, the sixth graders will be on the first floor, the seventh graders on the second floor, and the eighth graders on the ground floor. Miller said that there is a lot more space than before with two all-purpose rooms and a dedicated music room, filled with instruments paid for with an MFEE grant or parent donations. The music teacher, Dana Spagnuolo, is already developing plans for small and large groups and bands, and will be teaching a class on song-writing.

Glenfield Middle School

Cenithia Bilal will greet students as the assistant principal at Glenfield this year. Her old position at Nishuane will be temporarily filled by retired Asst. Superintendent Bruce Dabney.

Hillside Elementary School

Anthony Grosso, a long-time teacher at Hillside, became the Acting Assistant Principal on July 1. For more on Grosso, see our Patch profile here.

Montclair High School

Among the many changes at the high school, Ross Lunario and Linda Lunario — both math teachers — have retired. Charles Feiner, a guidance counselor, was among those laid off. The school has a new football coach John Fiore. For more on Fiore, see our Patch profile here. 

Montclair Kimberley Academy

The school is gearing up for another year with shiny new laptops and building upgrades. See our Patch profile here.

Montclair Cooperative School

This school also has a new head this year — Margaret "Maggie" Granados. For more on Granados, see our Patch profile here.