St. Joseph Elementary School Closing

A month or so ago, I heard that this will be the last academic year for the St. Joseph Elementary School, a private Catholic elementary school (kindergarten through eighth grade) in a beautiful old stone building over on Westervelt Avenue.

When I first heard about it, the discussion revolved around whether this would be another opportunity for land developers to move in and raze a historic structure integral to the history and culture of the Borough, to put up single family homes or condos, or whether the Borough would take steps to place the site under historic preservation protections, for purchase and re-use by another school, or history-preserving conversion into offices, shops, studios, or apartments.

But another implication was raised by a local resident at Tuesday’s Borough Council meeting during discussions about the fate of the historic structure at 40-42 Washington Ave.: what proportion of St. Joe’s current 160-some students will move from the private school into the local public schools next fall, and how much capacity do the schools have to absorb that increase?

Probably many of those children will go to other Catholic schools in the area, although the closest one appears to be St. Michael’s in Cranford, so some parents will probably enroll their children in the NP public schools.