Smoke clears to reveal an enduring community

The East Brunswick school district will be making the best of a bad situation by leasing the former Corpus Christi School building in South River for at least the coming school year. The building will become home to East Brunswick's Memorial Elementary School staff and students, thanks to an agreement worked out between the township Board of Education and the Corpus Christi Pastoral Council.

The deal came about in the aftermath of a July 10 fire that destroyed part of the Memorial School and resulted in water and smoke damage to much of the building, rendering it uninhabitable for the coming school year. Fortunately, the fire, the cause of which remains unknown, did not occur when any children were in the building, and no one was seriously injured.

But the incident left school officials with an extremely challenging situation. They had to quickly figure out how and where Memorial's student population of nearly 400 students would attend school in September. An initial plan called for the students to be housed in classroom trailers at three other school sites, an option that many saw as unappealing.

Pursuing the Corpus Christi building, which has been vacant since the Catholic school closed in June 2007, was the better option. And fortunately for East Brunswick, the parish, seeking to pay off a loan to the diocese and fund some capital projects, was in need of a tenant. The resulting agreement is truly beneficial to both the school district and the church, since the students will get a spacious building with great features and be able to stay together.

Officials such as Superintendent Jo Ann Magistro deserve credit for bringing about such a positive outcome in a time of need. But as she has noted, she's had plenty of help from other school and township officials and residents. The township's emergency management coordinator, Austin Kosik, worked hand in hand with the school district throughout the recovery process. And the Memorial PTA and greater school community continue to do their part to rebuild supplies lost in the fire. A good example of this is the East Brunswick Young Adult Charity Players, who staged a series of shows last weekend in part to benefit "Mission Memorial."

The events of the past month show a community that truly cares about its students, a town that has come together to overcome what had appeared to be a devastating setback.