Cedar Creek Offers Engineering and Environmental Science Magnet Programs

Work will continue at Cedar Creek High School, Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School Superintendent of Schools Steven Ciccariello said Monday evening.

He informed the school board during Monday night's meeting that he met with the contractors who built the $81 million school about the ongoing problems with the school's roof and retention basin.

There have been some reported leaks within the roof since the school was completed and opened for the 2010-11 school year last September. The retention basin doesn't allow water to peculate through the bottom despite being built to engineer's designs, which had been noted at an earlier meeting.

"They are making some repairs," he said referring to Greyhawk, the contractor hired to build the school. He explained that the repairs are "going to be ongoing for awhile," but will be resolved.

As for the retention basin, the superintendent said there will be additional soil spore testing done.

Since environmental and engineering courses are being offered at the newly opened high school, board members asked if students currently taking the environmental science courses could watch the work being done at the retention basin.

"We can't," school Principal James Reina said. "Right now they don't want our kids anywhere near (the basin) because it's still considered a construction site."

Cedar Creek offers engineering and environmental science courses as part of a magnet program at the school. The magnet program allows students to study general education while focusing in on a specific field of study through electives taken over the course of four years.

Courses being offered include introduction to engineering design, principles of engineering, digital electronics, civil engineering and architecture, and engineering design and development. The science courses are environmental science and methodologies, ecology, human impact and the global environment, environment law and resource management and AP environmental science.

This is the first time that such a program is being offered within the school district. Board members asked whether the program would ultimately be taken to the district's other two high schools.

Additionally, they asked whether or not the school districts that send their students to Cedar Creek—which currently consist of  Egg Harbor City, Hamilton Township, Galloway Township, Mullica Township, Port Republic and Washington Township, Burlington County—will start similar programs to prepare them for the classes at the high school.

District officials indicated they have reached out to the middle schools within the sending districts.