Students, parents, residents and community leaders attended the ceremony at the site of the school, which will ease overcrowding, enhance academic achievement for elementary students and provide early childhood educational programs for 3- and 4-year-olds.
"This new school is representative of Elizabeth Public Schools' commitment to providing its students with new and modernized school buildings to learn and develop in," stated Pablo Muñoz, Superintendent of Schools. "I am very proud of the Elizabeth Board of Education and the members of my staff who have made this groundbreaking and eventual opening of Dr. Antonia Pantoja School No. 27 possible."
Dr. Pantoja was a nationally renowned educator, community activist and a leading force behind the ASPIRA Association – a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging and promoting excellence from Puerto Rican and other Latino youth.
The 118,000-square-foot, three-story school is being built on a 2.4-acre site on Morris Avenue in this Union County community. The school will include general classrooms, a media center/library, science labs, a technology lab, choral and instrumental music class rooms and art rooms. It also will have a cafetorium,
