Barack Obama school poised to welcome students
Due to declining enrollment, building was shuttered in 2011
On Thursday, Sept. 4 at 7:50 a.m., the first official school day will begin for district students, including those who will attend the newly re-opened Barack Obama Elementary School.
Late last week, teachers put the finishing touches on their classrooms and bulletin boards as elementary students will be returning to the building for the first time since 2011, according to Chanta L. Jackson, the district’s director of communication.
During the closure, students from the city’s southwest side were divided between the district’s two other elementary schools — Bradley and Thurgood Marshall elementary schools.
Formerly the Bangs Avenue School, the Barack H. Obama building was closed by State Monitor Bruce Rodman in the 2011-2012 school year based on declining enrollment and the board’s failure to approve a reorganization plan proposed by then Superintendent Denise Lowe to use the Obama school in a different configuration, interim Superintendent of Schools Robert Mahon previously told the Sun.
The board opposed the closing of the school but Rodman’s authority in the matter prevailed, he said.
Due to high elementary school enrollment in the district, members of the Asbury Park Board of Education voted in March to reopen the school to accommodate the increase in enrollment as per Mahon’s recommendation.
The building will be led by Principal Kathy Baumgardner, Jackson said.
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