Secaucus Making A Dramatic Change At Its 2 Elementary Schools

SECAUCUS, NJ — Major changes are pending for the Secaucus school district, specifically at its two elementary schools: The district is currently working on plans to house lower grades only at Clarendon, and upper elementary grades at Huber Street.

This was confirmed Friday by Secaucus school superintendent Dr. Erick Alfonso.

Alfonso first publicly announced this in the superintendent's address he gave at Thursday night's Board of Education meeting. You can watch the meeting here:

However, Dr. Alfonso also called this Patch reporter Friday to explain more: What he is planning is to have PreK-2nd or 3rd grades in Clarendon, and the upper grades 3-5th in Huber Street. However, a final determination of which grades will go where has not been determined, he stressed.

If everything goes according to plan, this will go in effect in September 2024.

This is a dramatic change, and something that has never been done in the history of the Secaucus school district, which has always had two elementary schools on either end of town. However, Secaucus school district administrators have been quietly thinking about this for some time. Many parents have long complained of overcrowding at Huber Street Elementary.

This change is necessary for a number of reasons, said Dr. Alfonso, but first because of structural challenges in both schools. He stopped short of saying Huber Street is overcrowded, but he did say:

"Clarendon has more space for the primary grades," he said. "Our schools were laid out and designed before there was so much construction in town."

For example, ever since the XChange complex was built, students from there have been bused to Huber Street. More children have been filing into Huber Street as more and more new construction happens around town.

While the same exact curriculum is taught at both elementary schools, there are "nuances and variables" in both schools that resulted in differences at the two elementary schools, which both feed into Secaucus middle and high school.

"It makes sense to keep all the grades together, and make things uniform," he said.

This major change will require Secaucus school board approval, but Dr. Alfonso said the Board indicated they support the idea. The Board will have to give a formal vote on this at some point. Dr. Alfonso also said the district has been in communication with Mayor Mike Gonnelli and the town Council of the proposed changes.

Alfonso said he will be talking to the town of Secaucus this upcoming week about the next steps, which may involve the district holding public meetings to formally present this to the town residents. Stay tuned, Secaucus!