Old school to take on new role
Kara Fitzpatrick
MONTGOMERY Today, members of the 34th class will receive their diplomas from Montgomery High School. But there will be no 35th class to graduate from the brick building situated on Burnt Hill Road. Instead, the class of 2006 will be the first to depart as seniors from the district’s state-of-the-art high school on Route 601.
As students in summer attire left school on Monday chatting in clusters with their peers and anticipating summer the scene was typical of any high school preparing for vacation. Only it felt slightly more memorable: It would be one of the last afternoons they would spend on the current campus.
And for most, that’s just fine.
"I won’t miss this school at all," said Cara Pavia, experiencing her final hours as a sophomore. "Not in the slightest bit," she said, clarifying, "It’s crowded."
Cara, a swimmer, said she is looking forward to the pool that the new high school boasts.
Her peers were similarly unsentimental about their last days at the campus.
"We were only here for a year," said freshman Sam Conforti, adding, "It’s not really sentimental."
Although many students carrying thoughts of gym classes spent perfecting their freestyle stroke won’t regret exiting the building for one last time, Montgomery High School has 36 years of history.
Making its debut in January 1969, the school was then the educational hub for students in grades 7 to 10. That year, juniors and seniors continued through Princeton High School, where all Montgomery pupils went prior to 1969. And in 1971, the first class graduated from Montgomery High School.
But space limitations and rising enrollment forced the building into an unsuitable state, and construction of a new high school began in the fall of 2002. Originally slated to open in 2004, the facility will make its debut a year behind schedule.
The many tasks associated with the district’s move to the new location as well as the transfer of the upper middle school into the current high school undoubtedly will provide administrators with plenty to keep them busy during the summer months.
"At this juncture, we have a lot of work to do," said high school Principal James Misek. "Anytime you do all this planning, you’re hoping it goes well."
Mr. Misek said that although the new building is going to be "a wonderful facility to work in," he is thinking of the next steps first. Those next steps include a weighty packing effort by teachers.
"Our teachers are going to be here Wednesday and Thursday to complete the packing," he said.
The guidance department along with the child-study team will move into the new building in early July, Mr. Misek said, and on July 11, professional movers will transport all the desks, textbooks and other equipment "from point A to point B." Shortly after that move, the upper middle school will make itself at home in what is now the high school.
Aside from contemplating the stresses of moving, Mr. Misek said the opportunities and space offered by the new school are endless.
"We’ve always been an overcrowded school," said Mr. Misek, who has been principal for two years. Feeling a crunch for space the old building is 142,350 square feet, compared to the roomy, 400,000-square- foot new school the district implemented 14,600 square feet of trailers.
"It will be nice to be in a less cramped building," Mr. Misek said.
But unlike the trailers that will be removed from the parking lot of Burnt Hill Road, "We want to bring the tradition along," he said.
Mr. Misek said administrators have been careful not to be premature about calling the new building home.
For example, he said, as per the request of today’s graduating class, commencement ceremonies will be held at the current building. Although the option was provided to the students to be the first class to graduate at Cougar Stadium, they declined the invitation.
"A strong majority said we want to graduate here, because this is our school, and we want to have graduation for the last class here at this campus," Mr. Misek said.
Although he is excited about moving, 2006 class president Dave Dippold said he doesn’t deny he will likely have pangs of nostalgia when he shuts his locker and strolls down the hall for the last time.
"The old high school has some good memories, so I am kind of going to miss it," he said.
For student Jenny Heil, the last-day-of-school emotions presumably promise to be "more excited than sad."
Mr. Misek believes that enthusiasm to be widespread.
The overall mood of students and teachers is one of excitement, he said. "All of our students haven’t seen the (new) building they’ve heard a lot and seen it from a distance," he said.
But, he added, those who have seen the resources offered inside its walls seem to be spreading the word to all: "I think (the students) are starting to see there are big things down the road for them."