New Jersey Officials Focus on Bringing In New Blood
Perth Amboy may be a typical old-line industrial town in New Jersey, but town officials are hardly using a traditional approach to build a new $100-million high school. Eager to move away from the status quo in school architecture, they have launched a design competition that has already brought in top names to the pool of competitors and jurors. While some question the economics of such a complex process for a school, organizers hope it will jump-start a needed urban revitalization in 286-year-old Perth Amboy, New Jerseys first incorporated city.
Although the existing Perth Amboy High School building is less than 35 years old, it is bursting at the seams. Originally built for 1,600 students, it now has 2,100, with more to come as the citys heavily Latino population grows. In 2001, officials decided it was time to build a new school that could hold 3,000 pupils.