New $240 million campus for underserved students in Passaic, N.J. officially opens
PASSAIC, N.J. -- It's almost back-to-school time for lots of kids in the area.
In Passaic, New Jersey, students return two weeks from Tuesday and thousands of them will walk the halls of a brand-new school.
CBS2's Nick Caloway got a tour of the new facility.
Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Dayton Avenue Educational Campus is officially open.
The sprawling, nearly 450,000 square foot building includes four schools covering pre-K to eighth grade. They will serve nearly 3,000 students in an underserved part of the state.
"It is representative of our demographics, of our community, and it speaks to the potential of our children. Not just in the state of New Jersey, but to the world. We believe they are the leaders of tomorrow. I'm very proud of today," Mayor Hector Lora said.
Gov. Phil Murphy attended the ribbon-cutting. He said New Jersey's top-ranked schools must extend to all corners of the Garden State.
"We don't complete our task until every student, every district, and every student can comfortably find their place under that banner, and today is a huge step in that direction," Murphy said.
Ground was broken on the new campus back in 2019. The price tag to build was $240 million, Caloway reported.
The result is a state-of-the-art facility where students can learn and thrive.
"I'm very excited. Everything is new," teacher and parent Ramona Baez said.
Baez's son is going to sixth grade across campus.
"That makes me very proud, because I live nearby. My son gets to walk here," she said.
Teachers said the new campus will be life-changing for thousands of students this year, and for years to come.
The opening comes just in time, as the summer winds down and students prepare to return to school.