NJ Education Report

There’s been tons of coverage of the decrepit conditions at Trenton Central High School, including this from the Huffington Post, that describes “leaky roofs, disintegrating ceilings, and moldy walls.” According to yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer it’s almost as bad at Camden High and, in response, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit seeking to force NJ’s troubled School Development Authority to release  record of facility conditions:

In March 2012, the state’s Schools Development Authority (SDA) named Camden High, along with Trenton Central High School, Hoboken’s Thomas G. Connors Elementary School, Orange’s Cleveland Elementary School, and Orange High School, to the list of schools in most need of “emergent repairs.” 

But those repairs have yet to start at Camden High, leaving the district on the hook for millions of dollars in short-term fixes and prompting a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union seeking a facilities condition report that the SDA has refused to release.
“Frankly, it’s inexcusable that almost a year and a half later nothing has been done,” said David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, which filed the denied record request for the facilities report. “The SDA owes an explanation to the students and the staff who they’ve said deserve safer, more secure facilities.”