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SCC Says No to Acquiring Disputed Land
School Board Never Had State Approval for Funding of Proposed
School Site

Elizabeth, NJ 04/10/06—Councilwoman Patricia Perkins-Auguste released a letter from the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation which specifically states that the SCC does not have any intention of building or acquiring land for a new Vocational High School. The letter also revealed that “there are outstanding questions that remain as to the appropriateness of this site for a school,” according to Gerald T. Murphy, SCC Chief Operating Officer.

The SCC letter responding to Councilwoman Patricia Perkins-Auguste’s inquiry regarding a contaminated 4-acre site adjacent to a waste hauling station, chosen by the Elizabeth Board of Education for a new Vocational High School, states that lack of priority, funding, and environmental concerns are the reasons why there are no plans to acquire land or build a new school.

“After months of back and forth discussion about a new $60 million dollar Vocational High School to be built on land designated for redevelopment we come to find out that the Elizabeth Board of Education never had State approval for funding,” stated Councilwoman Perkins-Auguste. “Not only that but the School Board also chose to ignore the fact that the disputed land is not suitable as a school site. If the School Board’s public position was accepted, our children’s health could have been endangered from cancer-causing petroleum by products.” Referring to a study from the PMK Group, an environmental engineering firm, which concluded the site was contaminated with petroleum byproducts including benzene, a known carcinogen.

Perkins-Auguste said School Board members have used the site – a former New Jersey Transit bus depot on Livingston Avenue – as a fabricated political issue and wasted taxpayer/Abbott dollars on engineering studies, legal fees and several television commercials.

As a result Patricia Perkins-Auguste is asking the Elizabeth Board of Education that they personally reimburse all taxpayer/Abbott funding used to promote their efforts in obtaining unsuitable land to build a school. In addition, Councilwoman Perkins-Auguste is asking that all funds collected at fundraisers in the future be returned.

“Since July of 2005 the Elizabeth School Board has known that they could not build a high school so why are they wasting taxpayer/Abbott funding and hosting fundraisers to do so. Nearly $100,000 has been expended by the School Board on a site that they never took the basic proper steps to secure funding for,” said Councilwoman Perkins-Auguste. “The school board members irresponsibly spent taxpayer/Abbott money on politics instead of in the classroom where it could help our children. They should be ashamed of themselves and held accountable. I wish the Elizabeth Board of Education would put as much effort into improving test scores and the general education of our children as they do in promoting their own political agendas.”