Banneker opens as city district’s newest school

By John Zucal, Managing Editor
Early in the last decade, when administrators in the former Abbott school districts were asked to compile a “wish list” of facilities they believed were needed, East Orange officials responded with five schools.
Slowly the list was pared, but last week local officials’ patience paid off with the opening of the Benjamin Banneker School to city students.
Initially known as “Elementary School No. 5” by the N.J. Schools Development Authority, which provided the funding, Banneker spans more than 83,000 square feet along South Clinton Street It houses approximately 550 elementary-school students within its three-story building.
As the $42.1 million project neared its completion, East Orange school officials sought residents’ help in naming the school. Banneker, an 18th-century mathematician who used his knowledge to become an amateur astronomer, was selected to be the school’s namesake.
District officials have stated in the past their frustration at attempting to provide an education, based on the current world, in century-old buildings. Often this has been accomplished., they’ve said, by adjusting classroom uses between academics, arts or computers.
The situation has been solved at Banneker. Separate lab areas have been established for science, music, computers and foreign languages.
The other school within East Orange’s “wish list” which came to fruition was the current Langston Hughes School along Rhode Island Avenue. The school opened in December 2006.