Successes and challenges in designing and constructing school facilities in New Jersey’s urban districts were explored by over 100 participants at a November 16th conference held at Rutgers University. The event showcased several schools completed by the NJ School Construction Corporation (SCC), and others ready for construction, to illustrate the "best practices" that need to be more fully evaluated and then replicated as the school construction program moves forward.

Along with ELC, conference sponsors included the Center for Architectural and Building Science Research at NJIT (CABSR), Public Education Institute (PEI), Association for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ), and New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ). The agenda included speakers from Newark, Jersey City, Union City, Camden, Elizabeth and Paterson.

ELC’s Joan Ponessa opened the conference by urging stakeholders to dig-in, examine and evaluate the many completed projects, and those designed and ready for construction, to determine what’s worked well, and areas in need of improvement.

Conference participants reviewed several projects, including the restoration of an historic Jersey City office building into a high school for freshman; Newark’s Science Park High School with geothermal energy systems that will be integrated into the curriculum; and Union City’s Jose Marti School designed by the local community to include a health clinic and a neighborhood library. The elements of the "joint use" projects in Trenton, Vineland, and East Orange were also highlighted during the discussions. The audience was able to view a diverse group of projects and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.

The conference discussions led to the following recommendations:

• The Abbott districts, as clients, need to have more authority in the design process to ensure that school facilities meet the unique needs of their students and communities
• Any design standards developed by the SCC should consider not just construction cost, but long term operating costs to the districts
• More flexibility is needed to allow districts more opportunities to create "joint use" partnerships with cities, corporations, non-profit housing and other developers, and other partners
• Land acquisition remains difficult, but improved municipal engagement and legislative changes could ease the process
• Districts and SCC must develop a process for post occupancy evaluation of buildings that have been completed and are now occupied
• Legislative authorization of additional construction funds is critical

The conference sponsors committed to advocating for these recommendations with Governor-elect Corzine, the SCC and Legislature. The Center for Architectural and Building Science Research at NJIT, which is presently reviewing the school construction program for SCC, agreed to further develop the recommendations, and circulate to conference participants.

For more information, contact Joan Ponessa at jponessa@edlawcenter.org, or 973-624-1815, ext. 23.

Prepared: November 22, 2005

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