New classrooms begin to open in East Brunswick

EAST BRUNSWICK - The first fruits of the $106.1 million building project under way at three township schools are now visible as students are now learning in new classrooms at Central Elementary School.

Students in kindergarten through third grade at the Cranbury Road school moved into some 14 new classrooms just prior to winter break in December. This allowed renovations to begin in two wings of the original building. Because the size of the original classrooms do not meet current code requirements, every three classrooms will become two.

Also at Central, a new entrance and lobby has opened, and the main office staff, nurse, child study team and student assistance specialist have moved into new work spaces. A new gymnasium being built at the school is scheduled to become usable on Jan. 16.

"It is wonderful to watch the progress at all three of the district's construction sites," Superintendent of Schools Jo Ann Magistro told the Sentinel. "To see teaching and learning actually taking place in the new space at Central School is truly uplifting."

Construction work is continuing at Lawrence Brook Elementary School, and Magistro told the Board of Education Dec. 21 that she is hopeful the new addition will soon receive a temporary certificate of occupancy that will enable students and staff in four classrooms and one small group room to relocate to the new area. The school will get 12 new classrooms, a new gymnasium and other improvements.

At Hammarskjold Middle School, which will be mostly replaced with a new building, the concrete foundation and slabs are nearly complete, and steel construction has begun on the Rues Lane side of the project, Magistro reported.

Work at Central and Lawrence Brook began last spring and is still expected to be completed by September, while Hammarskjold is scheduled to be done by September 2008, according to Patricia LaDuca, coordinator of community relations and programs for the school district.

Township voters in a December 2004 referendum approved the additions and renovations, which are designed to ease overcrowding district-wide at the elementary and middle school levels. Next fall, elementary school students who do not attend the schools near their homes because of overcrowding will be able to return to those schools, officials said.

"I am so very grateful to the East Brunswick community, who saw the need for these renovations and additions, and came out and supported the district's efforts to improve these facilities," Magistro said.

PHOTOSBYMIGUEL JUAREZ staff Clockwise from top right: Third-graders at East Brunswick's Central Elementary School walk the hallway where a new wing meets an old section Wednesday. Fourteen new classrooms opened last month at the school, and two older wings are now undergoing renovations. Central School Principal Phyllis DiNatale shows former Board of Education student representative Eric Walker the school's new lobby and main entrance. Walker, a 2005 graduate of East Brunswick High School who helped raise awareness about the need to vote in the 2004 school referendum, stopped by Wednesday to take a look at the fruits of his labor. Students in the Central Elementary School Orchestra rehearse in the newly renovated multipurpose room, formerly the gymnasium. The students will perform a concert here Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m. Workers hammer out the final touches on Central's new gymnasium, which will begin to be used by students Jan. 16.