Camden district unveils plan to replace Eastside High School

In November, school district and city officials gathered outside Eastside High School to announce a $49 million renovation of the long-deteriorating building.

But at a recent school advisory board meeting, district officials unveiled a plan to replace the school, which opened in 1929, with a new campus.

The estimated cost: $105 million.

What changed?

The proposal is an amendment to a long range facilities plan already approved by the state's Schools Development Authority (SDA), which is funding improvements to Camden schools.

Under the original plan, approved in December, two district schools — Yorkship Family School in the Fairview section and Veterans Family School in East Camden — were to be razed and replaced with new schools.

The proposed amendment calls for Yorkship to be rebuilt at cost of $60 million. Veterans would still receive "substantial renovations," the district added.

Those costs, along with the $105 million estimated for a new Eastside High School, would leave the district with a $45 million shortfall.

Eastside High School, formerly Woodrow Wilson High School, currently has an enrollment of 517 students. The proposed replacement would accommodate 750 students.

The goal would appear to be to give Camden students who might otherwise attend Camden County Technical School in Pennsauken and Sicklerville or Freedom Prep, a nearby Renaissance school, a pathway to colleges and careers in a district school.

Why does Eastside need more?

In 2021, Camden High School Campus reopened in a brand new, $133 million building that housed four separate school communities: the traditional Camden High School and three magnet schools: Brimm Medical Arts, Big Picture Learning Academy and Creative Arts.

The original Castle on the Hill, built in 1916 in Parkside, had suffered years of neglect and had, district officials said at the time, deteriorated past the point where fixing it was economically feasible. Despite fierce opposition, the old school was demolished to make way for the new one.

Meanwhile, Eastside students, parents, faculty and alumni had long complained about the condition of their Federal Street school, with subpar classrooms, locker rooms, athletic fields and heating/air conditioning.

The November announcement was supposed to address those concerns, with federal funds allotted for improvements to the school's classrooms, science labs, locker rooms and HVAC system.

The proposal:Camden School District Update February 2023

The school was to get a new library, rooms for its arts, automotive, culinary arts and cosmetology programs, new auditorium and new gymnasium.

The amended plan calls for a school with all of that, as well as a new cafeteria, media centers for digital media, video editing and maker space; computer/technology and performing arts labs; spaces for Junior ROTC and trade instruction, including welding, HVAC, construction, plumbing, medical arts and nursing assistants.

What they said

Superintendent Katrina McCombs could not be reached for comment on Friday but at a Feb. 28 meeting (video of which is posted online) she said both Eastside and Yorkship (built in 1920) suffered from "deferred maintenance ... and have not gotten the tender loving care they need ... over decades."

At the November announcement and walk-through at Eastside, McCombs said, officials got a full grasp of the deficits at the school and encouraged the district to "consider doing more." Subsequent discussion with the SDA are underway and the new plan, with its amendments, is being prepared for local and state approvals.

With state-of-the art facilities at Eastside, "we can do more to prepare our young people so that they have more options and opportunities to learn in our district."

Keith Benson, who leads the Camden Education Association, said Friday he didn't want to speculate on the proposal since there was not a lot of definitive information yet and the state SDA had yet to approve the amended plan or allocate all the funding needed.

"Our mission is the same as it's always been," he said. "We want what's best for our schools, our district, our students and our staff. But things are still so fluid and there's a lot that is still unclear. We want to grow enrollment and give our students the best environment in which to learn, because that's what they deserve."

Phaedra Trethan has been a reporter and editor in South Jersey since 2007 and has called the region home since 1971. Contact her at ptrethan@gannettnj.com, on Twitter @wordsbyPhaedra, or by phone at 856.486-2417.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Camden school district proposes new Eastside High School plan