Support Millburn Institute of Talent's Application to Rent MHS
 

Millburn Institute of Talent  would like you to support our application to rent Millburn High School (MHS) on Sunday mornings in the coming school year.

BACKGROUND

Millburn Institute of Talent is a parent volunteer, Millburn-based, 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting cultural diversity by bringing formal Chinese language instruction to the Millburn community.  Language classes are available for students of all ages, but are primarily for school-aged children who wish to begin learning the language in a supportive, friendly, stress-free environment.

Although many non-Chinese MHS students are interested and motivated to study Chinese as a foreign language at MHS, they often do not because they have had no introduction to the language and are afraid it may be too difficult to study (and as a consequence, negatively impact their GPA).  This is a pity because the Chinese language program at MHS is really top-notch.

Millburn Institute of Talent hopes to rectify this situation by providing the Millburn community with a significant benefit. By offering weekend Chinese language classes, students can gain an introduction to the language, learn about Chinese history and culture, and gain confidence in their ability to take advantage of the excellent taxpayer-funded Chinese language classes in MHS.

PROPOSAL

Millburn Institute of Talent wishes to rent MHS on 32 Sunday mornings (9am-12:30pm) from September 2016 to June 2017 to operate the Chinese language school.  The rental arrangement would be similar to other previously-approved Millburn educational facility rentals (e.g. Russian School (South Mountain), “Steve and Kate’s Summer Camp” (Hartshorn), SAT Ultimate by Princeton Review (Millburn High School), etc.), and would provide rental income from otherwise unused facility space.

CONSIDERATIONS

The rental of Millburn educational facilities is a welcome source of supplemental income for the community, however residents often have concerns about enrollment, facility use, and traffic/parking.

Enrollment/MHS facility use
Some residents want to know what the level of enrollment Millburn Institute of Talent is planning for and how will MHS be used.  To make the language classes work well, Millburn Institute of Talent plans to enroll ~150 students in the school, primarily those who reside in Millburn/Short Hills.  This level of enrollment should support interactive in-class dialogue across a wide range of instruction levels (from beginning non-Chinese learners to native speakers taking advanced classes). The facility use arrangement for MHS would be no different than any other except this would be a longer term to accommodate 32 sessions of instruction.

Traffic/parking
Some residents are concerned about potential traffic/parking issues.  At the anticipated level of enrollment, the total number of vehicles added to Millburn streets would not exceed one hundred. This number is nominally negligible and should not present a burden to Millburn residents or typical Sunday traffic patterns.  Likewise, MHS has three primary entry/exit driveways, and associated vehicles could easily navigate the school parking lot and driveways without any need for additional traffic control, even if MHS is simultaneously used for other events (e.g. Millburn Soccer Club, Car Wash fundraisers, etc.). Indeed, on two consecutive Sunday mornings with four to five soccer and lacrosse games playing simultaneously at times, more than one hundred free parking spaces in the MHS parking lot were consistently observed between 9am and 12pm.

CONCLUSION

Although many other NJ communities offer weekend Chinese schools in rented public schools, Millburn township does not yet have this arrangement.  Please support this petition to encourage the Millburn BOE to accept the Millburn Institute of Talent proposal to rent MHS, and bring this tremendous community resource to our town.  Thank you!

Millburn Institute of Talent

millburntalent.org