New Jersey Schools Construction Corp

• State Taken to Task Over School Sites ; Agency Builds On Polluted Land

Angry lawmakers from both parties are calling on the state to stop building public schools on polluted sites a tactic of the troubled New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. The very idea that New Jersey is deliberately sending our schoolchildren to the worst possible places takes my breath away," said Sen. Barbara Buono, a Democrat from Edison. "There is nothing more important than this.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• May 04, 2006

• City Pins Hope On Mystery Investor ; Paterson Council Asks Mayor to Negotiate Land Sale

PATERSON - Facing a budget deadline and a $7.2 million deficit, the City Council has given the mayor permission to negotiate a land sale with an unnamed investor. Mayor Joey Torres had expected to sell four parcels of land to the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. for $4.7 million until a devastating state Inspector General's report this spring brought the corporation's land acquisition to a halt.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• June 30, 2005

• School Agency Readies Reforms ; Wants Students Protected

Officials charged with fixing New Jersey's bankrupt Schools Construction Corp. say they will shortly put forth a series of reforms to cut waste, fraud and other problems in the acquisition of new school sites. The officials are also working on changes that would increase protections for students in schools built on brownfields and other contaminated land.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• May 18, 2006

• Paterson Gets Update On 6 Planned Schools

PATERSON -- Builders will break ground this year on six Paterson school sites slated for state-funded construction, an official with the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. said. All these projects are going down the track," said Michael Maglio, a senior project officer with the SCC who presented architectural drawings of floor plans, and interior and exterior views of planned construction, for the International High School on Grand Street, Marshall Street Elementary School, and Schools 24 and 25. "I definitely want to get into the ground this summer.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• January 31, 2006

• Head of Embattled School Construction Agency Steps Down ; $8.6b in Funding Depleted by 'Waste, Fraud' and 'Abuse'

Capping six months of scandal, reform and disappointment for hundreds of school districts, the top official at the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. said he would resign Thursday. John Spencer, appointed by former Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2003 to oversee the state's largest public-works initiative in a generation, will step down and move to an unspecified job in New York City, SCC officials said. His successor hasn't been named.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• August 19, 2005

• School Building Agency Lauded for Fixing Finances ; Inspector General Supports Resumption of Spending

MOUNT LAUREL - After nine months of reforms, the state agency in charge of building schools in poor communities "has made solid progress toward improving its operation" and should be allowed to resume spending on new construction projects, the state inspector general said in a report released Thursday. Serious problems developed quickly for the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp., created in 2002. The $6 billion provided to build, expand and repair schools in urban districts did not go nearly as far as officials had hoped.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• January 13, 2006

• Demolition Nearing for Old Hospital ; Passaic Plans Schools, Annex On Landmark Beth Israel Site

PASSAIC - By March 1, a wrecking ball will have demolished the former Passaic Beth Israel Hospital on Parker Avenue, the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. said Tuesday. But the estimated $4.8 million project must still be awarded to one of three competing construction companies later this month, said corporation spokesman Kevin McElroy.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• January 12, 2005

• Gone with the Wind ; Seeking Wasted School Construction Money

THE latest chapter in the saga of the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. is that the state is moving to recoup some of the money lost in connection with this agency's tainted past. Justice will never be served completely. Much of the public money that was squandered will never be reclaimed. But Governor Corzine and Attorney General Stuart Rabner are right to try to get back what they can. Two lawsuits have been filed this month one against a Newark architect for structural defects in an Essex County elementary school and another to recoup environmental cleanup costs during construction of a school in Elizabeth.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• December 29, 2006

• Passaic School Projects Hinge On Land Talks ; State Construction Agency, District Agree On Start Dates

PASSAIC - The New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. and the school district have agreed on general start dates for four new schools and additions to two buildings totaling $300 million in construction. But four of the projects, three of which are set for next year, could be hampered if negotiations to acquire private property through eminent domain stall.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• December 29, 2004

• State Building Trust by Upgrading Schools ; Court-Ordered Effort has Doled Out $3.4 Billion

TRENTON - Cinder blocks were being cut and moved by the hundreds as Jack Spencer made his way around the construction site where renovations and additions were being done at Mott Elementary School. The chief executive officer of the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. wore a dark suit and hard hat last week as he walked the dusty site and discussed the state's $8.6 billion program to upgrade educational facilities.

• The Record, Bergen County, NJ
• August 09, 2004