Paterson schools, facing heat wave, will dismiss early Thursday and Friday

PATERSON — With the September heat wave expected to stretch through the week, city schools will have early dismissals for the first two days of classes, officials said.

Students in Paterson Public Schools will be dismissed at 1 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and staff members will be asked to work until 2 p.m., officials said.

Paterson has more than a dozen school buildings that are over 100 years old, and many classrooms lack air conditioning.

North Jersey braces for heatwave: Schools announce early dismissals for Thursday, Sept. 7

Teaching vacancies stand at 155

District officials on Wednesday said the number of teaching vacancies has been reduced from 175 to 155. Special education accounts for the largest number of openings: 50. The next-highest numbers of vacancies are in bilingual education and middle schools, with 21 each, officials said.

Some of those vacancies will be addressed by paying stipends to other teachers to cover open classes during their free periods, officials said. The district will also be deploying substitute teachers.

School 3 students will be relocated

School 3 won’t be reopening on Thursday. The building has been shut down for repairs after a ceiling collapse over the summer, the latest problem at one of the district's oldest buildings. Some of School 3’s 300 students will be relocated to Dale Avenue School, several blocks away. Others will be bused to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. school, on the other side of the city.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ schools will dismiss early because of heat wave