Parents' Contagious Enthusiasm Marks First Day Of School At Charles H. Bullock

It's been more than nine months since the Montclair Board of Education decided in December that Rand School would move to a new building on Washington Street. The decision ended what had been many months of examining class sizes, special education, staffing, cost implications, and facility usage factors.

On Monday, under bright sunny skies, a large gaggle of parents enjoyed coffee outside the brand spanking new facility as their wide-eyed children were escorted to their classrooms.

"The school is polished up and everything is in place for today," said Dr. Barbara Weller, the school's principal, shortly after 9 a.m. "We just have one bus that's running a bit late but that's to be expected.

"Lots of parents have turned up and we couldn't be more excited," she said.

Indeed, PTA President Mary Emanuelli was on hand to sell the new blue and green Charles H. Bullock t-shirts at $10 a pop.

"I think we took the best of Rand and brought it over here," she said. "I love the space and the light here. There's room for the kids to grow."

She said that both of her children, Peter and Christina, were thrilled to go to school Monday morning.

One worry among some of the parents was that the small community feel experienced at the former Rand Elementary School on North Fullerton Avenue might dissipate with the opening of a much larger facility.

But other parents said they'd work hard to make sure the school maintains its familiar atmosphere of intimacy.

"I'm very positive and I believe this will become a community again," said parent Veronique Ramsey. "People will fill the school again."

Ramsey, originally from Holland, said the school reminds her of home.

"Every school in Holland looks like this ... we tore down a lot of our old schools in the 1980s," she said. "I like all the light in the school. Kids learn better when there is a lot of light."

Charles H. Bullock, named after the director of the first African-American YMCA, actually came in under budget. Originally set to cost $35 million, school board members recently said that now the Township would only need to sell bonds totaling $26 million. Indeed, the construction work itself came in about $4 million under budget. That savings, coupled with $4.8 million in state grants, brought down the overall price of the project.

One worry from the start has been traffic, but police seemed to keep cars moving on Monday morning.

On hand to monitor the situation was Councilor-At-Large Kathryn Weller-Demming.

"I'm pleasantly surprised at how well the traffic has been flowing," she said. "I have to commend the police officers for keeping everything moving.

"Of course there are a lot of parents here this morning who won't normally be here," she said. "Lots of parents have chosen to come for the first day of school."

Weller-Demming said that a new traffic light at the intersection of Washington and Elm streets — paid for with federal funds — should be up by next week, if not by Friday.

"This will help traffic as well," she said. "But I'm pleased so far."

Charles H. Bullock is the first new school in Montclair in more than 50 years.

If anyone has any photos of their child's first day of school, please email them to me at Shelley@patch.com.