This afternoon, the North Bergen Board of Education and the Township of North Bergen held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new, North Bergen Junior High School West Campus. Located at 8511 Tonnelle Avenue, the new school will be housed on the former site of the Hudson County Schools of Technology’s High Tech High School and is part of the Board of Education’s school restructuring plan aimed at easing up crowding in the other school buildings throughout the District.
The North Bergen School District recently began construction on its long-anticipated West Campus project with the goal of being open for grades 7 through 9 starting in the 2023-24 school year. This will be the first time that the District has created a Junior High School structure, with grades 7 and 8 being removed from the elementary school buildings, and grade 9 vacating North Bergen High School, which also houses students from Guttenberg.
The interior of the building is being fully renovated. Additionally, the Jr. High School will house Culinary Arts and Expanded Career Technical Education programs for grades 9 through 12. This will include the return of vocational programs likes carpentry, plumbing, automotive tech and other disciplines that will prepare students for in-demand careers.
The school will also house an auditorium, include a turf field and a student walkway over a local street so students can remain inside during inclement weather when heading to back of the building.
The plan also provides for improvements to air conditioning and lighting at North Bergen High School on Kennedy Boulevard. Superintendent of Schools, Dr. George Solter, stated, “North Bergen students deserve excellent facilities that support their learning, growth and development, and the fact that we will be able to deliver that in a way that also meets our responsibilities to keep costs under control for local taxpayers is a huge win for our community.”
It is the District’s hope to provide a student/parents tour of the new school in the spring of 2023, prior to its fall 2023 opening.