PORTFOLIO

The Passaic Board of Education addressed multiple recommendations within its Long Range Facility Plan with renovations and additions to three elementary school facilities.

The Mario Drago School encompasses the addition of 45,600 s.f. of new space, and the renovation of 22,500 s.f. over three stories. The Martin Luther King School includes a 37,000 s.f. addition and a 12,000 s.f. renovation over three stories. The Grant School encompasses 13,000 s.f. of new construction, and renovation of 11,000 s.f. The renovations incorporate the urban school district initiative of developing community schools that are responsive not only to the needs of the students but to the goals of the larger community, providing resources and programs to meet the needs of all stakeholders. They include a new parent resource center at the Mario Drago School, a community meeting space at the Martin Luther King Jr. School, and a renovated multipurpose room to support community events at the Grant School.

A progressive District in terms of construction technologies, Passaic elected to construct the Mario Drago School’s three story addition with modular components. This saved the District approximately a year of time over traditional construction, allowing them to bring all three expanded facilities on line by 2005.