Classes held amid

construction at H.S.

Board of Education may allow North students

to enroll at South

By josh davidson

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — Students at High School North are learning to adjust to temporary classrooms and relocations during the referendum renovation work.

With construction under way at the school, classroom disruptions are now a fact of life for High School North students.

"The inconvenience is temporary, the improvements are permanent," said N. Britt Raynor, a Board of Education member and facilities chair.

The building improvements are part of the $78.4 million referendum to renovate the district’s middle and high schools, which was passed by voters in December 1996.

Major structural changes remain to be completed at High School North, Raynor said.

Only the first phase of the work is under way.

Currently, school corridors and the southwest corner of the building are being renovated.

"It [overcrowding and inconveniences] is something we’ll have to deal with, obviously," Leonard Inzerillo, a board member, said.

Temporary classrooms, including some installed in the gymnasium, are being used, Raynor said.

This is similar to what High School South students experienced during that school’s referendum work, he said.

Problems associated with the construction work include noise and a reduction in hallway space, board member Joan Minnuies said.

"The limited space in hallways [is a problem], because certain ones are closed off," she said. "It kind of pushes students off in one area."

However, Raynor said, taking kids from the normal learning situation is ultimately beneficial if it means making school improvements.

The district is rotating classes to different classrooms, so that no one class spends all its time in a temporary classroom, Raynor said. The time that each class spends in the temporary classroom varies, but usually lasts for about half of the school year, he said.

The completion of Phase I will free up class space and reduce the amount of temporary space, he said.

Students adjust to the changes the construction work creates in their learning environment, he said, adding that students can get used to it and tune out excess noise.

"You get conditioned to your study and work environment. We all do," he said.

"The kids seem to go in there and know they have to perform and do what they have to do to get the job done as good students," Raynor said. "It’s the parents that seem to dwell on noise factors."

Minnuies agreed with Raynor’s assessment. "It doesn’t seem to bother the kids as much as it bothers us," she said.

"Students and teachers understand that they have to control noise in their classrooms and they do," Raynor said.

This means not having televisions or radios in temporary classrooms, he said.

"It doesn’t negate people from speaking out loud or laughing from time to time," he said.

"I think the kids get used to it," Minnuies said. "They adjust to it."

All schools except North are nearing the end of their improvement processes.

"The important thing is we are now under construction (at North) and this definitely is the beginning of the end of the referendum," Raynor said.

To ease referendum classroom disruptions, the board offered an "open enrollment" program last spring which gave students the opportunity to switch schools.

A maximum of 50 students at each grade level who attended High School North would have had permission to transfer to High School South, said Nancy Whelan, assistant superintendent of schools. The switch was on a first-come basis, she said.

The program was created in response to parents’ concerns about the renovations, Raynor said. It was an option provided to them and no one was required to move, he said.

"It wasn’t a necessity. It was a reaction to those who brought up a concern," he said. "What we did was accommodate that concern."

About 30 students applied to switch schools, Whelan said.

All were allowed to transfer and about half used the program, she said. The open enrollment program has not been approved this year, she said.

"I’d like to take it to the principal at North (Barry Goldstein) to see how he would feel," Minnuies said.

Last year, the fact that some students asked to be switched and then changed their minds caused extra work for school officials, Minnuies said.

"The board needs to determine whether or not they are going to do that again," she said. "I believe it will be proposed at the March board meetings."

Enrollment at High School North as of Jan. 31 was 1,646 students.

Enrollment at High School South as of Jan. 31 was 1,326 students.

"If people would like to enroll at South, we have the space if they want to transfer from North to South," Raynor said.

Open enrollment was not needed during South’s renovations, he said.

"South’s total number of enrollment was smaller," Raynor said.