Driving through the site I noticed a school. Why is there a public elementary school in the middle of a blighted, unsafe area?
In 1999, Montgomery’s Board of Education purchased 12 acres from the State of New Jersey for the Village Elementary School. The site was thought to be optimal because of proximity to the other public schools, and because the school board assumed (as did the Township) that an agreement between the State and the Township to purchase the rest of the site would be completed fairly quickly. The Village Elementary School opened several years ago, with the Board of Education absorbing the cost of all environmental cleanup on the 12 acres. A similar deal was struck with the state to purchase land for the high school, with the school board again taking responsibility for clean-up costs.
