July 26, 1981
New Jersey Housing; NEW SCHOOL IS 'HOME' TO DISABLED YOUNG
By ELLEN RAND
NYTIMES

PARAMUS WHEN Lauren Valenta was 2 years old, doctors advised her parents that she had cerebral palsy and should be institutionalized because, as her mother recalled, there was ''nothing for her.'' Undaunted, the family moved from Sussex County to Bergen County largely because the latter had a program for such handicapped youngsters.

Earlier this month, Lauren, who is now 6, was among the initial group of more than 100 students to be enrolled in the state's first regional day school for the multiply handicapped. The school occupies a new building in Paramus, and its opening might be said to represent as much of a meeting of challenges as Lauren's own.

The school is the first of 11 regional facilities whose construction was given the go-ahead in 1973, when New Jersey voters approved a $25 million bond issue. Of the 10 other facilities, five are under construction (in Atlantic, Salem, Ocean, Middlesex and Morris Counties), three are scheduled (in Camden, Mercer and Hudson Counties) and bids have been received for the remaining two (in Essex County).

Unlike the Bergen County school, these 10 also will serve the needs of deaf, deaf-blind and severely emotionally disturbed children. At the time of the bond issue, the Bergen County Special Services School District was operating its program out of space it had rented from Bergen Community College. Why has it taken eight years for the first of the 11 schools to open?

''I wish you hadn't asked that,'' said Dr. Frank Johnson, a planning associate in the state's Department of Education. ''Actually, we probably went as fast as we could. In the beginning, several plans were advanced, including use of a few surplus schools that some people wished to be considered. It took time to extricate the state from those kinds of negotiations.''

As planning proceeded, it also became clear that it would be more desirable to have 11 smaller schools built rather than the five that were called for in the bond issue. The state's Attorney General had to rule on that decision.

And considerable time was spent in acquiring the land, at no cost, for these schools. To do this, the Department of Education had to negotiate with the counties, cities, local Boards of Education or colleges that owned the property involved.

According to Dr. Russell Layden, Superintendent of Bergen County's Special Services School District, much of the credit for convincing legislators and the Department of Education to locate one of these special schools in Bergen County belongs to the county's Board of Chosen Freeholders, the school's parents' group and its Board of Trustees. (The school is owned by the state and run by the county.)

Ironically, none of the children involved in the county's program for the multiply handicapped eight years ago will be students in the new $3.2 million facility in Paramus.

The new school is designed to serve as many as 155 pupils, ranging in age from 3 to 21, from Bergen, north Hudson and Passaic Counties. In Dr. Layden's words, it is ''one of the most barrier-free schools in the country. It has everything we feel that the handicapped will need. Fortunately, the architect was listening to what we were saying.''

All concerned had told the Iselin-based architectural firm of Rothe-Johnson Associates that the school should not look like an institution. Only half joking, Leon Butchko, the program director, pointed out that the color green had been expressly forbidden.

Instead, the interior, which imparts a sense of airiness because of the use of skylights and clerestory windows, is painted in what Mr. Butchko referred to as ''ice cream colors'' (cream, blue and tangerine pastels).

But the planning process behind the school delved beyond surface esthetics. Acknowledging that the first months of work on the school were an emotionally difficult period, Edward N. Rothe, the architect, explained that months of observing the children, interviewing their teachers and therapists, visiting other facilities - and even testing ideas and hardware by sitting in wheelchairs - helped his concern to devise its plan.

For example, since the children spend much of their time in activities on the floor, the architects adopted a vinyl floor that is easy to maintain and is warmed with hot air recycled from the roof. And rather than have the youngster staring up from the floor at fluorescent lights, indirect lighting is provided.

The key design element of the 45,000-square-foot, single-level school is a spine-like corrider, which the architects prefer to compare to a street. There are clusters of classrooms on one side of the corridor, and therapy rooms, an infirmary, a vocational workshop, a gymnasium and a ''home training center'' on the other side.

The last two elements are particularly important, according to Mr. Butchko. ''The gym is the one place that lets children be children,'' he said. ''They're supposed to be so good so much of the time. They're supposed to be good at home, good on the way to and from school and good in the classroom. It's very important that they have a place to let go.''

The ''home training center,'' which by any other name would still be a small apartment built into the school, has been designed with appliances and bathroom facilities geared to the handicapped. The purpose of the apartment, much like the purpose of the school itself, will be to train young adults in the everyday skills they will need for independent living.

As Mr. Butchko envisions it, two or three students will live in the ''apartment'' for two-week periods. During that time, they will be responsible for maintaining themselves, preparing meals, doing laundry, cleaning up and entertaining guests.

''Many of these kids have not had to take responsibility for the kinds of things we take for granted,'' Mr. Butchko said. ''We still get kids at 16 who have never been to school. At 18, they may not know how to handle personal hygiene. With the 'teaching bathroom,' for instance, they'll learn how to transfer to the bathtub or how to use the shower.''

Mrs. Valenta, who does not know whether her daughter will be able to be ''mainstreamed'' as she grows older, nonetheless thinks that the apartment is a ''great asset.''

As for Lauren, Mrs. Valenta said, she was excited about the new school on opening day partly because it is air-conditioned, partly because there is a poster in her classroom like the one she has in her own room at home and because there is a ''real bathroom in her classroom. She thinks that's top banana.''

''She loves school,'' Mrs. Valenta added, ''but that has nothing to do with the building.'' Clifton 14 Canterbury Drive 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath split-level $112,500 Central air-conditioning, finished basement. Taxes: $1,400 Little Falls 17 Villa Road 3-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath split-level $92,000 New driveway, fireplace. Taxes: $1,341 Pequannock 6 Baxter Place 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath Colonial $100,000 Pool, electric garage-door opener. Taxes: $2,028 Ringwood 143 Cupsaw Avenue 3-bedroom, 2-bath contemporary $98,900 Cathedral ceiling, central air-conditioning. Taxes: $2,186 Wayne 180 Beechwood Terr. 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath Cape Cod $98,500 Deck and brick patio, fish pond. Taxes: $1,641 Sales in Other Areas Avon, Conn. 6 Cottonward Lane 2-bedroom, 2-bath condominium $83,000 Built in 1976. Monthly charges, $119; taxes, $969 West Hartford, Conn. 63 Arnoldale Road 4-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath Tudor $94,500 Built in 1923, gas heat. Taxes: $1,632 Weston, Conn. 42 Mary Lane 4-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath Colonial $180,000 Occupies two acres, built in 1973. Taxes: $2,822

PARAMUS WHEN Lauren Valenta was 2 years old, doctors advised her parents that she had cerebral palsy and should be institutionalized because, as her mother recalled, there was ''nothing for her.'' Undaunted, the family moved from Sussex County to Bergen County largely because the latter had a program for such handicapped youngsters.

Earlier this month, Lauren, who is now 6, was among the initial group of more than 100 students to be enrolled in the state's first regional day school for the multiply handicapped. The school occupies a new building in Paramus, and its opening might be said to represent as much of a meeting of challenges as Lauren's own.

The school is the first of 11 regional facilities whose construction was given the go-ahead in 1973, when New Jersey voters approved a $25 million bond issue. Of the 10 other facilities, five are under construction (in Atlantic, Salem, Ocean, Middlesex and Morris Counties), three are scheduled (in Camden, Mercer and Hudson Counties) and bids have been received for the remaining two (in Essex County).

Unlike the Bergen County school, these 10 also will serve the needs of deaf, deaf-blind and severely emotionally disturbed children. At the time of the bond issue, the Bergen County Special Services School District was operating its program out of space it had rented from Bergen Community College. Why has it taken eight years for the first of the 11 schools to open?

''I wish you hadn't asked that,'' said Dr. Frank Johnson, a planning associate in the state's Department of Education. ''Actually, we probably went as fast as we could. In the beginning, several plans were advanced, including use of a few surplus schools that some people wished to be considered. It took time to extricate the state from those kinds of negotiations.''

As planning proceeded, it also became clear that it would be more desirable to have 11 smaller schools built rather than the five that were called for in the bond issue. The state's Attorney General had to rule on that decision.

And considerable time was spent in acquiring the land, at no cost, for these schools. To do this, the Department of Education had to negotiate with the counties, cities, local Boards of Education or colleges that owned the property involved.

According to Dr. Russell Layden, Superintendent of Bergen County's Special Services School District, much of the credit for convincing legislators and the Department of Education to locate one of these special schools in Bergen County belongs to the county's Board of Chosen Freeholders, the school's parents' group and its Board of Trustees. (The school is owned by the state and run by the county.)

Ironically, none of the children involved in the county's program for the multiply handicapped eight years ago will be students in the new $3.2 million facility in Paramus.

The new school is designed to serve as many as 155 pupils, ranging in age from 3 to 21, from Bergen, north Hudson and Passaic Counties. In Dr. Layden's words, it is ''one of the most barrier-free schools in the country. It has everything we feel that the handicapped will need. Fortunately, the architect was listening to what we were saying.''

All concerned had told the Iselin-based architectural firm of Rothe-Johnson Associates that the school should not look like an institution. Only half joking, Leon Butchko, the program director, pointed out that the color green had been expressly forbidden.

Instead, the interior, which imparts a sense of airiness because of the use of skylights and clerestory windows, is painted in what Mr. Butchko referred to as ''ice cream colors'' (cream, blue and tangerine pastels).

But the planning process behind the school delved beyond surface esthetics. Acknowledging that the first months of work on the school were an emotionally difficult period, Edward N. Rothe, the architect, explained that months of observing the children, interviewing their teachers and therapists, visiting other facilities - and even testing ideas and hardware by sitting in wheelchairs - helped his concern to devise its plan.

For example, since the children spend much of their time in activities on the floor, the architects adopted a vinyl floor that is easy to maintain and is warmed with hot air recycled from the roof. And rather than have the youngster staring up from the floor at fluorescent lights, indirect lighting is provided.

The key design element of the 45,000-square-foot, single-level school is a spine-like corrider, which the architects prefer to compare to a street. There are clusters of classrooms on one side of the corridor, and therapy rooms, an infirmary, a vocational workshop, a gymnasium and a ''home training center'' on the other side.

The last two elements are particularly important, according to Mr. Butchko. ''The gym is the one place that lets children be children,'' he said. ''They're supposed to be so good so much of the time. They're supposed to be good at home, good on the way to and from school and good in the classroom. It's very important that they have a place to let go.''

The ''home training center,'' which by any other name would still be a small apartment built into the school, has been designed with appliances and bathroom facilities geared to the handicapped. The purpose of the apartment, much like the purpose of the school itself, will be to train young adults in the everyday skills they will need for independent living.

As Mr. Butchko envisions it, two or three students will live in the ''apartment'' for two-week periods. During that time, they will be responsible for maintaining themselves, preparing meals, doing laundry, cleaning up and entertaining guests.

''Many of these kids have not had to take responsibility for the kinds of things we take for granted,'' Mr. Butchko said. ''We still get kids at 16 who have never been to school. At 18, they may not know how to handle personal hygiene. With the 'teaching bathroom,' for instance, they'll learn how to transfer to the bathtub or how to use the shower.''

Mrs. Valenta, who does not know whether her daughter will be able to be ''mainstreamed'' as she grows older, nonetheless thinks that the apartment is a ''great asset.''

As for Lauren, Mrs. Valenta said, she was excited about the new school on opening day partly because it is air-conditioned, partly because there is a poster in her classroom like the one she has in her own room at home and because there is a ''real bathroom in her classroom. She thinks that's top banana.''

''She loves school,'' Mrs. Valenta added, ''but that has nothing to do with the building.