The Bayonne Board of Education has signed off on preliminary work to study whether a new school could rise at the former St. Andrew's property at Fourth Street and Broadway, but officials are being careful to frame it as research, not a done deal. Drilling and soil sampling are already underway at the site, with results expected in about a month, and Superintendent John Niesz says nothing beyond that has been decided.
According to a report from TAPinto Bayonne, the board approved a resolution authorizing school officials and professional consultants to carry out planning, feasibility, site-assessment and financial work tied to the 126 Broadway property, the former St. Andrew's school. The resolution identifies the site as a potential school location and also recognizes what it calls the need for appropriate, modern and adequately sized educational facilities for the district's current and projected student needs, per the same report.
Superintendent Insists It's Still Early Days
Niesz was blunt about where things stand. “We want to stress that this is information gathering only,” he wrote, according to the outlet's report. He added, “This is a very preliminary step. No decision has been made, and none will be made until we have the facts and costs.”
The superintendent described the district's current phase as fact-finding, saying officials are gathering information about the property's condition and suitability, construction logistics, and likely financial requirements. No final decision has been made on proceeding with the project or seeking voter approval, according to Niesz, and any move forward will come only after that information is collected and shared publicly.
Soil Tests and a Possible Referendum
Once the drilling and soil-sampling results come back in roughly a month, the board plans to review the findings before going further. The district has said it will share its findings with the community after collecting the necessary information, and will eventually provide the proposed project's estimated size and cost as part of that process.
The resolution also directs the administration to develop a comprehensive referendum plan, since any new school at the site could ultimately be put before voters in a school facilities referendum. That plan is expected to cover project scope, estimated costs, financing, potential tax impact, public communications and required regulatory submissions, the district's resolution states. Under New Jersey's Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act, any referendum language would need to identify the final eligible project costs as determined by the state commissioner, as well as any amounts beyond those eligible costs, according to the New Jersey Department of Education.
The board also approved a proposed educational program for a school at the site, which officials are treating as a basis for continued planning rather than a finished blueprint. The preliminary work aims to advance the proposal through the state education department's school facilities process, which requires that an application be submitted whenever proposed work exceeds routine maintenance and meets the regulatory definition of a school facilities project, per the state agency's guidance on project applications.
A Property With a Long History
The St. Andrew's building has sat at the edge of Bayonne's school planning conversations for years. The district purchased the school and convent for $6 million, according to a lower-confidence account from nj.com, after the building closed to students in 2008 when the archdiocese consolidated its parochial schools. Since then, the district has converted some of the property into office space.
Bayonne would hardly be the first New Jersey district to repurpose a shuttered Catholic school campus for public use. In Paterson, the state Schools Development Authority bought the former Paterson Catholic High School site from the Diocese of Paterson in 2015 for $30 million, and that 8-acre property is now slated to become a five-story, 266,000-square-foot public STEAM high school with room for up to 1,564 students, according to nj.com. That $200.8 million project is expected to break ground in December, with an opening targeted for 2029, the outlet reported — a reminder of just how long and costly these transformations can run once a district commits to building.
What Comes Next
For now, Bayonne's effort remains confined to data-gathering. Niesz said the district is committed to keeping the community informed at every step, and that the board will indicate whether it intends to proceed with a referendum only after the soil testing, cost estimates and other groundwork are complete. Until then, the fate of the St. Andrew's site — and whether Bayonne voters will eventually be asked to weigh in — remains an open question.
