State and local officials broke ground today on the site of Jersey City?s future School 20, a $54.6 million project on a former chromium site on Ocean Avenue.

The 106,763-square-foot facility will replace the aging School 20 on Danforth Avenue, which was built more than 100 years ago. Fletcher Williams, the school?s PTA president, called the current school?s condition ?terrible.?
Williams said he?s been working for over a decade to get state officials to approve construction of a replacement school, and even at today?s groundbreaking, he didn?t want to get too excited.
?I am overwhelmed, but I?m still doubtful until I see the first piece of steel go in the ground,? he said.

The new School 20 is among 10 projects costing a total of $584 million that Gov. Chris Christie announced last year. The project is entirely funded through the state Schools Development Authority.
When Jon Corzine was governor, he pledged $46.5 million to construct the new school, but the project was placed on hold when Christie took office in 2010. The state gave the project a green light again after Christie visited School 20 last year.
State Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham, who officials today said was instrumental in getting the project started again, praised Christie for recognizing that Jersey City needs a new School 20.
Cunningham recalled when she urged Christie to visit the aging facility, where storage closets act as classrooms and the auditorium accommodates a library, a computer lab and a stage.
?If you don?t want me to be strung up by the parents, you will come to Jersey City and see School 20,? Cunningham said she told the governor.
The new school, at Ocean and Cator avenues, will sit on the site of a former grocery store, a lot that was formerly tainted with chromium. A sign hanging on the fence surrounding the property warns of ?environmental investigation/cleanup in progress.?
A woman who answered the phone at the state Department of Environmental Protection said the site had ?groundwater and soil contamination,? while the site?s remediation professional, Michael Metlitz, said the cleanup is complete.New School