This first day of school in Passaic will likely be the last. Here's why

Passaic High School students returned to school Thursday embarking on what's likely to be their final year in the current incarnation of the high school building.

Beginning next July, the state's Schools Development Authority plans to demolish the existing buidling and eventually replace it with 490,000-square-foot facility, as part of a $328 million plan that will temporarily displace students while the SDA constructs a building.

More: Passaic High School will be demolished, rebuilt. Students will be split up. See full plan

Four high schools and 174 years of history in Passaic

The existing high school originally opened in April 1957 and had been designed to accommodate 1,250 students. By 1963, the North Jersey Herald and News reported that the high school "desperately needed" an expansion as the burgeoning high school population had reached 1,700 students.

After additions in 1966, 1975, 1977 and 1996 the school had expanded to a 313,000-square-foot facility. Even after the school board created its science and college prep academies, which house several hundred students, the SDA determined it is woefully undersized and educationally inadequate to serve Passaic High's roughly 2,400 students.

"The existing site is inadequate to further expand the existing structure and significant renovations would be required to address both education program needs and replacement of existing building systems that are either at or near the end of their useful life," an SDA report determined.

The legal address of the high school in Sept. 21, 2008 became Shirelles Boulevard, 170 Paulison Avenue, Passaic, NJ 07055.

An ongoing challenge

The first free public school in Passaic and known as No. 1, located at Passaic and Williams streets, opened for the first time Oct. 3, 1870, when Passaic was still an incorporated village. The school had a principal assisted by six teachers, who cared for 375 scholars, according to the book: "A History of Passaic and Environs."

In 1873 the City of Passaic was incorporated, a Board of Education was organized and the city's high school program, which was on the second floor of the school, graduated its first eight students. The school closed in 1919 and burned down in 1921.

In 1887 the city's first dedicated high school opened in the fall. It was located at the corner of Lafayette and Bloomfield (now Broadway) avenues.

In 1910, a burgeoning city population required the city build a new high school which was located across the street from the 1887 high school. When the new school opened, the old building became School 11.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: This first day of school in Passaic will likely be the last. Here's why