Chabad Hopes to Use McGinnis School

The wants to lease the , and tonight it will get its chance.

The East Brunswick Township Council will vote on a resolution at 8 p.m. tonight (Monday, Oct. 9) that will authorize the execution of a lease of the McGinnis School to the Chabad. Rabbi Aryeh Goodman said Chabad of East Brunswick wants to use the building as a community education center. Community education is a central tenant for the Chabad, which already offers a wide range of programs and activities for youth, women and adults. He also said he hopes to serve the entire community, and not just Chabad.

In May, the council declared McGinnis School “surplus,” allowing the township to seek alternative uses for the property. The building has been unused by the municipality for years. Township Officials have said it would be a major expense to bring the building up to code.

In March, township attorney Catherine Tamasik said the property is deed restricted for educational purposes and that she is looking into options regarding overcoming those restrictions should the township have no further use for the property. Mayor David Stahl said several charitable groups have inquired about the building, most of which would meet the education requirement.

According to Mark Nonestied, host of EBTV's "On the History Trail," the McGinnis School represents the second generation of schools that were built in the township. The first being wood framed one room school houses.

By the early 1900s many of those buildings were inadequate for education purposes and the improvement came in the form of buildings like McGinnis School. They were usually masonry construction (McGinnis is brick with terra cotta trim) and they had multiple classrooms, central heat systems and large windows for lots of natural light and fresh air. 

For farming families living in rural East Brunswick in the 1920s McGinnis School, and its nearby neighbor Weber school, were the pinnacle of the educational system in the township, according to Nonestied.