NEW BRUNSWICK -- The brand-new, $185 million public high school in New Brunswick will have energy-providing solar panels on the roof, state-of-the-art lighting for its athletic fields and touch-sensitive, internet-connected "Smart Boards" instead of traditional blackboards.

But when it opened last week, it didn’t have a couple of comparatively low-tech necessities — a crosswalk and a stoplight.

Now, two off-duty police officers have been hired to direct traffic for four hours during peak traffic until the light and walkway are completed this spring. And the tab is being sent to the state, which built the new New Brunswick High School and is responsible for Route 27, where the school is located.

"The state didn’t do its job," Superintendent Richard Kaplan said.

Costs for the officers are estimated to reach $38,000 by April, when the traffic light is expected to be installed, said Sarah Clarke, vice president of Devco, the city’s non-profit development agency. Devco designed and managed construction of the school, which replaces the old high school on Livingston Avenue that was built in 1964.

A stoplight is crucial to keeping students safe, Kaplan said, because 22 school buses make turns into and out of the school parking lot exit across from Churchill Avenue, the site where the stoplight will be built.

The state Department of Transportation was ultimately responsible for the stoplight, Kaplan and Clarke said. Devco first sent proposals for the stoplight to the DOT in July 2008, Clarke said.

But DOT spokesman Tim Greeley defended the agency, saying the school was built eight months early and that wasn’t enough time for the DOT to coordinate building a stoplight just yards from a Conrail line and manage appeals by neighboring property owners.

Kaplan confirmed the school was originally supposed to open this fall. The DOT was informed in May 2009 of the new start date, he said.

"We expedited reviews and held meetings on short notice," Greeley said in an e-mail.

The two police officers are working from 7 to 9 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m on school days, Kaplan said.

Other than the stoplight, the 400,000-square-foot facility is complete, Clarke said. Finishing touches still to be added to the 1,300-student school include lighting for four athletic fields behind building and solar panels on the roof that will power up to half the school’s energy needs, Clarke said.

One afternoon last week, several students, parents and a bus driver said they’re frustrated with the school’s busy traffic.

Aside from the missing stoplight, there’s no crosswalk in front of the school, causing some children to jaywalk through zipping cars to get to the other side, several said.

"They built this nice new school, but they never figured out the traffic problem before they built it," said Bob Hartan, a bus driver for Iselin-based George Dapper Inc., as he picked up students on Wednesday afternoon. "The only thing they think about is throwing up the school real quick."