Our History: A Timeline

Sisters of St. Dominic, Caldwell use their commitment to education and social justice to help Newark heal after the civil unrest of 1967 devastated the city. Sister Vivien Jennings led the charge. The Sisters design a caring, private school environment for children of all religions, as well as a successful educational experience to students in those crucial years of early adolescence.

Project Link Educational Center is incorporates. The school, located in a three-story frame house at 221 Hunterdon Street in Newark, opens with 50 7th grade students. The building was owned by St. Rocco’s Church and the rent paid by the Mt. Carmel Guild. Sister Joan Richardson is the principal.

Project Link moves to 318 South Ninth Street, owned by St. Antonius Church in Newark. Sister Maureen Murnane steps in as principal. The school adds a second grade level (class), so now there are 100 students, between 7th and 8th grades.

Project Link begins a partnership with Project U.S.E., a nonprofit based in Red Bank, NJ, for outdoor education.

Project Link moves to St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church at 146 Irvine Turner Boulevard in Newark. The school’s first class graduates in 1971. Sister Sally McGrath serves as principal.

Sister Ann Marie Rimmer is named principal.

Project Link begins partnerships with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and Prudential’s Tutoring Program.

Sister Jeanne Adrienne is named principal.

Sister Patricia Crowley is appointed principal.

Sister Alice Uhl is named principal.

Sister Marie Paul serves as principal.

Project Link changes its name to Link Community School to let the broader community know that Link is a school designed to serve the needs of the community as well as to stress its mission to build a sense of community among its students and their families. No longer a short-term project, Link Community School is here for the long haul to serve Newark youth. Social Studies teacher Jamey Verrilli (Mr. “V”) is named principal, the first layperson to be selected for the leadership role.

Sister Patricia McKearney is named principal.

Link celebrates its 25TH Anniversary with a dinner at Eaglerock Club in Roseland, N.J. in November. The honorees of the evening are Sister Vivien Jennings (visionary founder of Link), Dr. John Noonan (Bloomfield College), and John Roessner III (Link Trustee Emeritus). A “state of the art” computer lab and media center is installed.

The Jr. League of Montclair-Newark renovates the school’s library.

Former teacher and principal Jamey Verrilli leaves Link to co-found NorthStar Academy, a public charter school in Newark, along with Link Trustee Norman Atkins. The new charter school is based on the Link educational model and Link sprouts her first seed in the educational landscape! Read a news article about how Link inspired the establishment of a new school.

Bill Kurtz is named principal and launches Summer Academy for entering students and adds music class through partnership with Education Through Music.

Link begins a partnership with The Island School, Eleuthera, Bahamas, and sends 10 students for a week to study marine ecology, sustainability and Bahamian culture.

Bill Kurtz leaves to launch Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) in Colorado with the Gates Foundation, using much of what he learned, experienced and impacted at Link during this tenure. Marnie McKoy is named principal in July 2004. Link is inducted into WNET Thirteen’s Tri State Community Advisory Board’s Community Hall of Fame.

Link is the subject of a documentary on CBS TV Channel 2’s Morey Alter’s A Salute of Our Schools program. Link adds Performing Arts to the arts program.

Former Link teachers and administrators launch Pride Academy, a public charter school, in East Orange, NJ – and another seed has sprouted.

Link produces a video about the school and its founding – A Matter of Justice.

Principal Marnie McKoy leaves Link to lead Paterson Community Charter School in Paterson, NJ. The Link Board of Trustees names Maria Pilar Paradiso as interim head of school. Link holds a 40th Birthday Party! Link begins a partnership with the Black Leadership Forum at Prudential for a work readiness program, called LearnDoEarn, for 8th graders. Link begins a partnership with Jazz House Kids.

The Board of Trustees appoints Mrs. Paradiso as head of school.

Link Community School moves to 23 Pennsylvania Avenue in Newark during the winter break and resumes instruction in January in the new building.

Link’s Board of Trustees removes tuition as a barrier to admissions for families and applies to the NJ Department of Education (NJDOE) to convert to a charter school and to expand to grades 5 and 6 to deepen the school’s program and reach.

In March, Link Community Charter School incorporates, after receiving preliminary approval from the NJDOE, in preparation for full conversion. In July 2014, the NJDOE grants approval for Link to convert to a charter school, to serve middle school students from Newark, Irvington, East Orange and Orange. The first 5^th grade class enters in the fall of 2014.

Link Community School, the original non-profit organization, changes its name to Link Education Partners (LEP), to carry on the Dominican Sister’s work towards social justice and educational equity. In the spring of 2015, LEP purchases the facility the school was renting at 23 Pennsylvania Avenue in Newark, and continues to rent the building to the school, providing a permanent home. Link welcomes four full grades in September.

New Jersey Department of Education renews the charter for the school after a full review of the school’s program and results, and approves expansion to 8 more seats in each grade over a period of four years, to bring the total number of seats to 320.

Link was approved for expansion to include an elementary school. Starting with the addition of Kindergarten in the fall of 2021, the school will add a new grade level in subsequent years.