Trinity Hall Expansion Moving Forward

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By Laura D.C. Kolnoski |
TINTON FALLSFollowing approval by the Tinton Falls Planning Board earlier this month, Head of School Mary Sciarrillo anticipates the expansion of Trinity Hall all-girls high school will be completed in time for the 2018-19 academic year.
Plans call for the construction of a two-story addition to the school at 101 Corregidor Road, with a footprint of 11,230-square-feet and total area of 22,460-square-feet, adding additional classrooms, office/administrative space, a multipurpose room, a chapel and a new entrance lobby, officials said.
“We are looking forward to a winter 2018 groundbreaking once all permits are secured,” Sciarrillo said. “The new addition will double our classroom capacity and allow us to serve our growing student population.”
Originally located in Middletown, the college preparatory high school purchased, renovated and moved in to the vacant child development/daycare center on the former Fort Monmouth U.S. Army base to start the 2015-16 school year. Trinity Hall spent $2 million for the 7.4-acre parcel with its 19,600-square-foot, one-story building built in 1996. The building was intended for educational re-use by the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA), the public-private agency overseeing the fort’s redevelopment. The school’s expansion plan received unanimous approval from FMERA members last October, the first hurdle before the project went before the Tinton Falls Planning Board.
“The opening of Trinity Hall marked another milestone in the fort’s redevelopment,” said Dave Nuse, FMERA director of real estate. “Bringing an excellent school on site was essential to developing the dynamic community we’ve envisioned.” The 1,127-acre fort, which spans portions of Eatontown, Oceanport and Tinton Falls, was closed by the Army in 2011. Under FMERA, parcels of land and buildings are being leased and sold for technology, educational, business, residential, retail and public uses.
Last fall, Theresa Kiernan, Trinity Hall’s director of advancement and admissions, placed enrollment at 201 students in grades nine through 11.
“Our students come from over 45 different sending schools throughout Monmouth, Middlesex and Ocean counties,” Kiernan said. “Our location has allowed us to reach a diverse, academically focused group of young women, providing them with a single-sex option for high school where none existed before.” The school teaches in the “Catholic tradition.”
“We remain committed to our students and their families and are ready to be a resource for local businesses, nonprofits, municipal leadership, educators and the community,” Sciarrillo said. “We vow to be good neighbors and responsible citizens as we help to revitalize this beautiful town. We feel fortunate to be in Tinton Falls and feel blessed to have the support of this community. Once we moved to our permanent and forever home on historic Fort Monmouth, we realized just how much opportunity we can provide to our greater community.”
A gala to raise funds for the school’s capital campaign, entitled “Celebrating the Year of Branching Out,” is planned for March 9 at the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel in Asbury Park.


This article was first published in the Feb. 1-8, 2018 print edition of The Two River Times.