2,000 Students Taking Part This Week
In 'Beam Signing' At Long Branch Middle School

State Funding New $50 Million Facility
That Also Will Serve as Red Cross Emergency Shelter

Long Branch, NJ (May 17, 2004) - Over 2,000 Long Branch School District students, along with teachers, district officials and community leaders, are participating in a week-long “Beam Signing” to mark the progress of a new $50 million Long Branch Middle School being built through New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (SCC).

The new middle school at Bath and Indiana avenues will accommodate 1,100 students in 6th through 8th grades and also is designed to serve as a Red Cross emergency shelter.

This week, during the course of each school day, 1,000 current middle school students and 1,100 elementary school students in grades 3rd through 5th will sign their names on a steel beam which will become part of the new 246,000-square-foot three-story facility on the existing high school/middle school campus. The project, scheduled for completion by summer 2005, includes 68 new classrooms and 12 science labs.

The new middle school in the Monmouth County community is part of a district-wide expansion program that SCC is fully funding and managing through New Jersey’s unprecedented $8.6 billion school construction program.

Governor McGreevey - who initiated SCC in July 2002 to streamline the building of much-needed quality schools statewide - said, “The projects in Long Branch represent New Jersey’s continued commitment to our children. Working together, we are living up to our most important obligation by providing 21st century schools to ensure every child has the opportunity to get the education they deserve and skills necessary to succeed.”

Joseph M. Ferraina, Superintendent of Schools, stated, "This is a special time in Long Branch. With a new elementary school under construction, an additional elementary school in the design phase as well as a new Middle and High School under construction. “No time in the history of Long Branch has such school construction taken place. It is important that the students be part of this history. Having their names and thumbprints on a beam that will be displayed in a school for generations to see is something unique and very special," Ferraina said. John F. Spencer, CEO of the SCC, said, “Under the Governor’s leadership, SCC is providing high-performance schools for New Jersey students in a cost-effective, streamlined and efficient way. Our schools are being designed to give students state-of-the-art technology and academic environments that promote learning and achievement.” The SCC is responsible for school projects throughout the State of New Jersey. The $8.6 billion program is the largest public construction program ever undertaken by New Jersey and represents one of the largest programs of its type ever undertaken in the nation.

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