Paterson must relocate 300 students after part of ceiling collapses at School 3

Joe Malinconico
Updated ·2 min read
11

PATERSON — A ceiling collapse has prompted the shutdown of School 3, and its 302 students are being transferred elsewhere while officials decide what to do with the 124-year-old building.

Plaster from the ceiling on the school’s first floor fell onto an employee’s desk on July 28, but no one was hurt, officials said.

There have been similar plaster collapses on the school’s second and third floors in recent years, the district’s facilities chief, Neil Mapp, told the Board of Education on Wednesday night.

“This condition exists throughout the building in classrooms and hallways,” Mapp said.

Officials estimated it would cost $2.1 million to fix the problem at the school on Main Street. They said the work would take about 16 weeks.

This is the rule in Sandra Auletta’s third grade class at School 3 in Paterson: When students understand the answer to the question, they stand.
This is the rule in Sandra Auletta’s third grade class at School 3 in Paterson: When students understand the answer to the question, they stand.

But Superintendent Laurie Newell said at the meeting that the repairs are “on hold” as district officials decide the best course of action regarding a school built in 1899.

“We aren’t doing anything at this point,” Newell said of possible repairs. “The children will be housed temporarily. We have no idea for how long.”

School 3 parents were notified about the situation on Aug. 9, officials said. The district has many schools that are overcrowded, but officials said the School 3 children moved to other buildings with enough capacity to handle them.

The district plans to provide busing for children who need it because of the transfers.

School 3 students in grades kindergarten to two will be moved to Dale Avenue School, which is less than half a mile away.

Students in grades three to eight will be sent to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Complex, which is in a different part of Paterson, on East 28th Street.

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Also, one group of special education students will be moved to School 28, on the other side of the Passaic River on Presidential Boulevard, officials said.

Moreover, they said, about 55 students who were mistakenly enrolled in School 3 will now be sent to their proper neighborhood schools.

The district has about five schools older than School 3. Under court rulings, the state’s school construction agency has the responsibility for providing education facilities in Paterson and about 30 other low-income districts in New Jersey.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.

Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ School 3 ceiling collapses, students must relocate