N.J. program completes 15 schools

New Jersey's $12.5 billion school construction program will reach a landmark in its recovery from years of waste and mismanagement next week when 15 new school buildings and additions are scheduled to open in time for the start of classes.

Scott Weiner, chief executive officer of the Schools Development Authority, said yesterday the projects that have been in the works for years will make next week's deadline only because of a flurry of last-minute work to secure occu pancy permits.

"There are thousands of school children who are going to benefit this year because of your work," Weiner told the authority's staff at a regular monthly board meeting in Trenton this morning.

Among the schools scheduled to open for students next week are Newark's $102 million Central High School and the Neptune Community Middle School, two projects that typified the problems with the state's first effort to manage a sweeping overhaul of school buildings in the state's poorest communities.

Central High languished for years due to unanticipated construction complications and delays. At one point, Weiner said, work stopped altogether for six months because of disputes at the Newark site.

The Neptune school, meanwhile, had to be partially demolished and rebuilt last year, after mold contaminated construction materials that had been left ex posed at the site during months of construction delays.

In all, 14,000 students are scheduled to attend the new school buildings opening next week. They include new high schools in Newark, Paterson and Trenton, and new elementary schools in East Orange, Paterson, Plainfield and Barnegat.

Set up eight years ago in response to a state Supreme Court mandate to rebuild or retool dilapidated public schools in 31 needy communities, the program so far has spent $6.8 billion of the $8.6 billion originally allocated to it.

Earlier this summer, lawmakers authorized borrowing another $3.9 billion to continue the program for at least another three years.