New Brunswick BOE Approves Redshaw School Resolution

A.C. Redshaw School is taking small steps toward its eventual completion, as the New Brunswick Board of Education Tuesday night approved a resolution that would send early drawings of the new school to the state for review.

The resolution permits the district to send schematic drawings of the new school to the School Development Authority, the state entity who is overseeing the long-stalled Redshaw school project.

Redshaw school was identified by the state as a school to be rebuilt. It was knocked down in 2005 and all students moved into a converted warehouse space on Jersey Avenue for the duration of the construction, which never began, as the project stalled out at the state level. The school continues to operate in the Jersey Avenue space.

The submission of the drawings does not mean construction is imminent on the project, which began back in 2005. But it is meant to get the process moving forward, board officials said.

According to Superintendent Richard Kaplan, the projected start date of construction on the Redshaw school is March 2013, with completion anticipated in August 2015.

The resolution passed nearly unanimously, with the abstention of board member John Krenos.

Board vice president Edwin Gutierrez voted yes on the resolution, but remained skeptical.

"When I see it approved, I'll believe it," he said.