Trenton High School Gears Up for Renovation

TRENTON, N.J. — The more than 1,800 students currently enrolled at Trenton Central High School will be attending three separate buildings come fall, while the antiquated building is being replaced as part of a $130 million construction project.

The state Schools Development Authority finally approved the project back in February, and a decision about where the students will attend school for the next four to five years was made in early April. The Times of Trenton reported that ninth-graders will go to the Chancery Street site of the former Emily Fisher Charter School, while the visual and performing arts and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning communities will be housed at a location rented on the 500 block of Chestnut Avenue, the former site of the Immaculate Conception School.

Students from two of the TCHS learning programs — hospitality, restaurant, tourism and business, and the communications community — will attend classes at the Daylight/Twilight Alternative School on East Hanover Street, a facility owned by the district, while 450 alternative school students from the Daylight/Twilight Alternative School will be moved to the Cadwalader School in the West Ward, according to the Times of Trenton.

While the displacement of students will make it difficult for school camaraderie, the students will be staying in better facilities than the current 82-year-old building. The current facility consists of areas where students dodge leaks and crumbling plaster, and they are unable to drink the brown tap water. The building’s red brick façade, entryway, auditorium and iconic clock tower — all trademarks of the historic school — will be preserved for future students. However, most everything else will likely be demolished and rebuilt to modern standards and health codes.

The current proposal outlines the construction of new heating and cooling systems, classrooms, more than two dozen new science and computer labs, and a host of vocational and instructional areas. A spacious media center and gymnasium will also likely be added to replace the much smaller existing facilities.

Construction on the project is scheduled to begin in the fall and could take as long as four or five years to complete. New York-based STV Architects Inc. was selected last summer to provide pre-design services on the project.