As the work proceeds, however, students will have to make some adjustments, including, for example, where to rehearse and stage the annual musical.
By: Linda Seida
WEST AMWELL Despite construction delays, South Hunterdon Regional High School will adhere to a normal schedule in the fall, allowing parents to plan vacations accordingly, Superintendent Lisa Brady said.
Teachers are scheduled to return to the classroom Tuesday, Sept. 4. Students will return to school Wednesday, Sept. 5.
The school calendar is slated to receive official approval from the Board of Education later this month.
The back-to-school date was released during a community meeting held Feb. 27 when the board and the district’s architect discussed delays in the plan to renovate and expand the 350-student school.
Voters approved the district’s construction and renovation project in a $20.8 million referendum September 2005.
As the work proceeds, students will have to make some adjustments, according to officials. These adjustments include details that still need to be worked out, such as a performance space for the school’s annual musical.
Right now, the school’s stage is located in the cafeteria. The stage and adjacent space will be turned into classrooms. Before then, it could be used as an alternative library space as the current library is renovated into office space, including guidance offices.
In the meantime, a new auditorium and stage will be under construction. An anticipated completion date is April 2008.
"If the stage becomes the library, and the auditorium isn’t available until April, there is no performance space," said Audrey Frankowski, who directs the annual production.
Traditionally, the school holds its annual musical production in March. Ms. Brady suggested the possibility of holding it elsewhere or even moving the production date back until April.
"We do need to meet and talk about how we’ll resolve that," she said.
But finding an acceptable rehearsal space for several months still could present a problem, Ms. Frankowski said.
Pushing back the date of the production presents another set of problems, with students being drawn to other activities, according to Ms. Frankowski.
"It’s always an issue in a school this size," she said. "Students have many interests."
Students also will have to make do with another space for a library while the media center is being built. They will have access to a smaller volume of books at this time, Ms. Brady said.
"This is a major building endeavor," said board President Douglas Coleman. "When you tackle any project of this size, there are going to be some problems along the way."
Ms. Brady said, "There will be inconvenience. It’s just the nature of the beast. The one thing we do have in our favor, we don’t have increasing enrollment. One thing we do have is space to begin with. We have ‘swing spaces,’ empty areas to be used as alternatives while certain areas are being renovated."
Also discussed was the need to redo the new gym floor. It already has been painted, but the paint is chipping off. The new paint lacks the heavy metal content of older types of paint and, therefore, does not hold up as well, said project manager Arthur SanFilippo of The Thomas Group.
The job remains under warranty, and the contractor will return this summer, according to Mr. SanFilippo.

