The headaches that have come with the construction of the planned Lincoln School extension continue, as North Bergen Board of Education officials came to the realization recently that the permanent home for the district’s early education program for 4-year-old students will not be completed in time for the beginning of the 2002-2003 school year.
In fact, according to Superintendent of Schools Peter Fischbach, the delays in the construction will prevent opening the three-story extension – which will also house other classrooms to offset overcrowding currently in Lincoln School’s classrooms – for a full year until September of 2003.
The delays mean that the district’s pre-kindergarten program will remain in temporary trailers inside Bruins Stadium in North Hudson Braddock Park for another full school year.
“We thought initially that we might have Lincoln School ready for next school year,” Fischbach said. “But there were many factors which caused delays in the construction.”
First, upon razing the existing homes that were located adjacent to the school, located on 62nd Street between Smith and Durham Avenues, contractors found that there were several oil tanks under the ground. Removal of those tanks was a slow and tedious procedure that slowed the construction considerably.
Then, after demolition had begun, the construction was slowed in 2001 by the severe winter weather.
Finally, another unforeseen obstacle occurred when two construction companies that were involved in the bidding process to build the extension filed lawsuits against each other.
“The litigation between the two bidding companies slowed the process down by three more months,” Fischbach said. “Once we knew that the process was slowed by the litigation, we had to push the opening back to September of 2003. We had no choice. We didn’t want to force a faster construction period, because then, the work might not have been done properly. We wanted to make sure everything was done right.”
Fischbach said that because the temporary trailer classroom setup worked so well at Bruins Stadium, there is also no rush to have the Lincoln School extension completed.
“Once we got the scheduling and the timing set up, the system worked quite well in the park,” Fischbach said. “I have no concerns about it working well there again.”
Fischbach said that since the litigation has been put aside and work began full force that the construction has moved ahead “according to plan.”
“The construction has moved along quite rapidly,” Fischbach said. “It gives me every reason to believe that it will be ready by September of 2003.”
Fischbach said that the Board of Education is still accepting applications for the early childhood program, for any 4-year-old students who want to attend classes in the fall. Parents are asked to call the Board of Education at (201) 868-1000 for further information.
While construction at Lincoln School will not be completed, Fischbach said that the extension construction being done at Kennedy, McKinley and Franklin Schools will be done in time for the first school bell in September, as well as the science, home economics and music labs that are being built in the high school.
Other board business
Another topic for the Board to approach during the summer months is the possible construction of a new high school, tentatively slated to be built on West Side Avenue in the near future.
“At the present time, we’re still searching for available space to build a new high school,” Fischbach said. “We’re currently doing environmental samples at the West Side Avenue site (a current trucking distribution center at the foot of 83rd Street and West Side), with the EPA also doing samples. It’s a process that takes a long time, so we’re making sure that we can find the safest place possible.”
As one of its final items of business before the summer vacation, the Board of Education appointed the town’s finance commissioner, Hugo Cabrera, to become the full-time Board of Education secretary, filling the position vacated by the passing of long-time secretary Jack Duffy earlier this year.
Cabrera had been also working in the Board’s finance office and will also oversee the Board’s financial records.
“I think we all endured a year of extreme tragedy and change,” said Fischbach, commenting on the losses of Board President Mary Calabria and Duffy, as well as the Sept. 11 tragedy. “We had to endure our own pain as well as growing pains. We were adding to the school population and to the faculty, but while working together, we still made great strides. There’s always room for improvement, but we’re moving forward, not backward.”