$49 million renovation slated for Eastside High School in Camden, N.J.

Eastside High School in Camden, N.J., will undergo a $49 million renovation.

Among the upgrades to the 92-year-old campus: new science labs; art rooms; automotive and cosmetology rooms; new library, auditorium and gymnasium; new locker rooms; and HVAC and lighting improvements, reports The Courier-Post.

Camden superintendent Katrina McCombs said the upgrades at Eastside, which opened in 1930, are "long, long overdue." The rebuilt Camden High School, which opened in 2021, made the inequity of facility conditions at Eastside more pronounced.

"So I said then, we have to do everything we can to get this school renovated," McCombs said.

Eastside High had been known as Woodrow Wilson High, but the Camden board renamed it earlier this year because of objections to Wilson's segregationist views.

Money to pay for the upgrade comes from the federal American Rescue Plan Elementary & Secondary School Relief (ESSER) Fund.

The work is expected to begin in July 2023 and take about three years.