Most construction complete as two campuses merge
$66.7M project has brought districtwide school additions
BY LAUREN MATTHEW
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff

With the school year just around the corner, Old Bridge schools are ready to go, complete with a whole new look.

“My understanding is that everything is on target,” said Board of Education member Gail Kubicke, who sits on the board’s construction committee. The district is completing district-wide improvements associated with a $66.7 million referendum approved in 2001.

What has not been finished, Kubicke said, is minimal.

Construction is completed at the elementary schools. Memorial, Madison Park, Miller, Shepard and Voorhees have all been expanded in order to reduce overcrowding. All other elementary schools were renovated to add kitchenettes, storage rooms and air conditioning in their all-purpose rooms.

Part of the new look at Old Bridge High School is at its entrance, located at what used to be called the school’s east campus. Also, a computer lab (above right) is one component of the recently completed construction at the high school.

Internet access has also been provided for all classrooms in the district.

A single high school campus has also been created in time for this school year at the former east campus and former Carl Sandburg Middle School site, which have been connected. The old Sandburg facility will now be used as the high school’s freshman wing.

In turn, the former Old Bridge High School west campus has been converted as the new site of the Sandburg Middle School. The number of students attending Jonas Salk Middle School has also been reduced.

“Sandburg Middle School has been successfully moved to its new location, the former Old Bridge High School West,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business R. Gregory Quirk. “It is fully prepared to receive students.”

The west campus staff, according to Kubicke, has totally shifted to the high school’s location.

In total, approximately 3,100 students and 270 teachers will occupy the single high school campus.

Final work on the high school will continue into October, Quirk said. But gym floors, guidance suites and the main office were being finished in time for school’s opening.

Teachers will report to work next Tuesday, with students settling in two days later.

The ninth-grade science wing, Quirk said, will not be finished until October. Classes scheduled in those rooms will be relocated until construction is complete.

Work will also continue on the high school locker rooms, ROTC, home economics, computer graphics, sewing and health rooms.

Kubicke said she and some other board members had the opportunity to tour the new high school building about two months ago.

“It’s gorgeous,” she said. “It’s just incredible.”

The auditorium, she noted, was not finished at that time, but rows of seats were being put in last week.

“I’m excited about it all,” Kubicke said. “I think it’s going to be great.”

Old Bridge received aid for the construction in the form of an $18.9 million state grant.

Kubicke noted that state funding is no longer a sure thing for school construction projects being proposed now and in the future.

“They say timing is everything,” she said. “Our timing was perfect with the referendum.”

“We were really blessed.”

Though adjustment time will be needed for all students who will be shifted because of the new single high school, Kubicke said she is confident the change is for the better.

“We’re well on our way,” she said.