On May 4, 2005, Passaic School District officials gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony at Parker and Dayton Avenues in Passaic to mark the start of the new Dr. Robert H. Holster Educational Complex, which will be New Jersey’s largest public school campus.

The complex will be built on the 12.4-acre site of the former Passaic Beth Israel Hospital now undergoing demolition. The $90 million project, funded and managed by New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (SCC), will include three 21st century, state-of-the-art educational facilities: an early childhood center as well as an elementary school and middle school that will have separate cafeterias but share a common kitchen. The middle school also will serve as a neighborhood facility that will provide educational and recreational programs for residents. The complex also will feature Board of Education offices, underground parking for 300 vehicles and a regulation-sized soccer field accessible to the schools and community at large.