City’s new high school now under construction

BY CHRISTINE VARNO

Staff Writer

Long Branch’s school construction program is picking up steam. Work on the new high school, expected to be complete in 2006, began Feb. 9.

"This is a very exciting time in Long Branch," Superintendent of Schools Joseph Ferraina said. "Renovating does not have the quality of brand-new construction. We are now going to be able to meet the needs of the children."

The school will have the capacity to hold 1,500 students, and the classrooms are being designed larger to aid special needs students, according to the superintendent.

"There are more students with special needs today," Ferraina said. "Classrooms were once built all one size; now we can accommodate to different needs."

In addition to accommodating different needs, the district will be able to serve more students. As the current high school is configured, it can hold 1,100 students, but they are elbow-to-elbow, according to Walter J. O’Neill Jr., the assistant director of communications for the district.

The city’s original high school, built in 1926 on Westwood Avenue, was created to hold 600 students, and additions were made over the years to increase the capacity.

When the new high school opens, all of the additions added to the original school will be torn down, but "the old school will remain intact," O’Neill said.

The original high school will remain within the school system. It will be used to house the school-based youth-services program along with the Annex, the alternate high school now located on Second and Chelsea avenues, O’Neill said.

To make room for the new high school, and a new middle school that also is expected to be completed in 2006, the city acquired a number of properties, Indiana Avenue, and between West End and Bath avenues.

The new Amerigo A. Anastasia School is already under construction on Seventh Avenue near the Gregory School. It is expected to be completed in December.

The existing Anastasia School on Morris Avenue will remain within the system and may be used as a swing school, housing students who might not be able to attend their current school due to construction.

In August, Long Branch plans to break ground on the new Gregory School, proposed for construction on Monmouth Avenue.

The old building on Seventh Avenue will be turned over to the city in exchange for the land the school system received on Monmouth Avenue, according to O’Neill.

Part of the city’s redevelopment plan is to build a school on the property at Monmouth Avenue, according to Ferraina. He said the city has to acquire the land and hopefully by March 1, they will get the approval.

"[At] No time in the history of this wonderful city have four schools been built at the same time," Ferraina said, "One of the greatest accomplishments of these projects is that not a single student has been displaced as a result of the construction. We have kept our schools open and have not interrupted instruction."

The cost of building the new high school is $63.7 million, the total cost of construction of the four schools is es­timated at $150 million. The money for the work is coming from the state be­cause the city is designated as an Ab­bott, or special needs, district.

In a series of cases dating back to 1985, the state’s Supreme Court has found that the state’s poorest school dis­tricts were not able to fund their schools at a level that would meet the state constitution’s guarantee of pro­viding a "thorough and efficient edu­cation." In an effort to get the district’s to fulfill the "thorough and efficient" standard the state has been required to provide supplemental funds to those districts.

"Gov. McGreevey has a strong commitment to educating every child in our state," Ferraina said, "He is also dedicated to improving educa­tional facilities, making sure every child has the same opportunities to suc­ceed. Without his efforts, we would not be constructing these facilities."