The North Bergen Board of Education has officially approved the construction contracts in order to upgrade two existing schools and to build a three-story extension to another, in time to have approximately 450 four-year-olds attend pre-kindergarten classes next September as part of the state mandated program.
Work has already begun to upgrade the existing facilities at McKinley School, located on Liberty Avenue, just below Paterson Plank Road and 33rd Street, and Kennedy School, located between 11th and 12th streets.
Brockwell and Carrington, a construction firm from Wayne, will handle the work done at Kennedy School, at a cost of nearly $4.6 million. Liam, Inc. of Ringwood will take the job at McKinley School at a cost of nearly $1.9 million. Both construction firms offered the lowest bid on the projects, as submitted to the Board of Education. The renovations at McKinley School will include turning five existing classrooms into rooms to be used by the pre-K students, equipping each room with bathroom facilities. The school’s current cafeteria will be turned into classrooms as well, and the school’s current auditorium will become a multi-purpose area and gym area.
The changes at Kennedy will include installing two classrooms that will be equipped for small group instruction, as well as a science lab/demonstration room, as well as a dual-purpose gym/cafeteria.
Both schools will also feature new elevators to facilitate handicapped students.
They also will receive new playground equipment as part of the project.
Strictly pre-K through 5
The project will then allow the Board of Education to turn McKinley School into strictly a pre-K through grade 5 facility, while Kennedy will handle grades 6 through 8.
“This is all being done in preparation for the pre-school program,” Superintendent of Schools Peter Fischbach said. “We are projecting our student enrollment to be similar to the kindergarten numbers, between 400 and 450, so we basically had to find the best way to house all these students.”
Overcrowding has been a major dilemma in the North Bergen schools for the past decade, with all of the township’s schools, including the high school, far exceeding the maximum total allowed.
“No ifs, ands or buts,” Fischbach said. “Overcrowding is our biggest problem. But hopefully, when all the work is done, we will be able to accommodate all of our students. Even then, we’ll still have a problem with overcrowding.”
The Board of Education also recently finished purchasing the property surrounding Lincoln School, on Durham and Smith Avenues, between 63rd and 64th streets, paving the way for a $6 million, three-story, 20-classroom extension to the existing school.
The remaining nine homes in the area were recently purchased, according to Fischbach.
“All of the homes are vacated and there is no one living there,” Fischbach said. “As soon as we receive approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, then we will be able to raze the homes and begin construction. Before demolition can take place, the EPA requires tests to see if any oil tanks or hazardous materials are there. But once approval is given, we can move forward.”
The new extension will also house pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students from the uptown portion of the township.
Fischbach is hopeful that once the Board of Education receives EPA approval, that construction could be completed by Sept. 1, 2001.
“We’re hopeful that it can be done,” Fischbach said. “Equipment has already been moved into place at McKinley and Kennedy schools. Lincoln was delayed, because we had to purchase the buildings. But everything seems to be in place now.”
Fischbach said that the Board of Education is still doing research for a possible site for a new high school. Former plans to build a new high school within the confines of North Hudson Braddock Park were scrapped last year.
“We’re still looking for possible land, but right now, it appears that we’ve exhausted all possibilities of land on the east side of Tonnelle Avenue,” Fischbach said. “Without causing a tremendous inconvenience to the community. If we looked to build on the east side of Tonnelle now, we could be disrupting the community and could even be removing the students we planned to educate.”
Fischbach said that the Board of Education was looking into the possibility of building a high school on the west side of Tonnelle, like West Side Avenue, where there is a lot of undeveloped land.
“Sure, there’s land there, but we have to see if it is suitable for the placement of a school area,” Fischbach said. “At the present time, we still don’t know.”