Report Identifies Newark's Most Decrepit School Buildings

A Newark-based advocacy group Tuesday identified the 20 worst buildings in the Newark public school system, all of which are more than a century old.

The Education Law Center based its assessment on the district’s own data, which utilized an index employed nationwide to rate the quality of school facilities.

Click here for a complete list of the schools.

The ELC also noted that despite being eligible for state school construction funds, only five new schools have been built in the district since 2002, even though a district facility plan from that year  identified a total of 17 schools that needed to be replaced.

“An Education Law Center analysis shows that, despite State control and eligibility for state funding, NPS schools remain among the state's most neglected, dilapidated and unfit for student learning. Every day, thousands of Newark school children attend school in facilities that are unsafe, overcrowded and inadequate to provide a 21st century education,” ELC said in a statement.

Among the schools rated “very poor” by the ELC analysis -- the lowest rating possible, denoting a need for a new building -- are Newton Street School, built in 1873; Alexander Street School, built in 1896; and Peshine Avenue School, which is just over a century old.