Newton District Cuts The Ribbon on New Science Labs During Tour of High School

NEWTON, NJ—Before the Newton Board of Education September meeting at Newton High School on September 24 the public and board of education members were invited to tour the school to see the updates to the facility. They also held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the two newly renovated science rooms.

The tour began at 6 p.m. and was led by the new high school principal, Jon Deeb and Superintendent Joseph S Piccirillo.

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Deeb started in the senior lounge, where he noted that some of the changes that he and Assistant Principal Ryan Caffrey worked on during the summer.  The waterfall, televisions throughout the school that displayed sports games throughout the week, as well as pictures of student groups, and some of the pictures on the walls were all part of the update process.

The cafeteria was next, where the old-time booths and attached long table seating had been replaced by circular tables and a mural on the wall read “Newton Brave” accompanied by many words about what it means to the students to be a Brave.

The two new science labs were next. The first ribbon was cut by Deeb and science teacher Yvonne LaForge. The second ribbon was cut by Board of Education President Stella Dunn and Vice-President Ed Caffrey.

According to Piccirillo, $1.289 million from the district's Capital Reserve was made in order to fulfill this project.

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“This was a plan that was a part of our Long Range Facilities plan and formally adopted by our May 7 board of education meeting as part of our final budget approval," he said.

The board had been eyeing many ways to improve the facilities in the district, but needed to stay within budgetary means, according to Piccirillo.

“That means saving money a little bit at a time, which is only possible through prudent spending decisions throughout the year. We applied this same philosophy last summer when we replaced the tennis courts at the Merriam Ave School,” he said.

The two science labs at the high school, which have now been completely renovated, were chosen because they were especially old, worn and outdated.

“Our new labs have many more options when it comes to instructional design and lab functionality. This includes movable furniture, many power sources which drop from the ceiling, several technology features and added storage space,” said Piccirillo, “We believe these rooms will help enhance instruction for the reasons mentioned, but also because you can already feel the pride that it brings to students and staff to be in a state-of-the-art room. In a real way, our commitment to keeping our facilities updated reflects our mission and vision and our care for our students. And when students feel valued, cared for, and proud to come to school, it reflects in their attendance, their grades, and ultimately their well-being.”

LaForge, who was on the tour, gave a brief description of the rooms that were there prior to the renovations, noting that in one of the rooms, the rows of desks with chairs were unmovable and posed danger as it was almost impossible to get from the front of the room, through a row if anything were to happen during a class.

She also noted that in the second renovated room there is now a “prep spot” that was not there before. It is an office behind the front of the room which holds the various science equipment and chemicals needed for classes, as well as a desk, where some of the “floating” teachers can go if they need a spot to prep in between classes. This is a game changer for the department, she said.

After the ribbon cutting, the tour continued back to the library for the meeting, with a quick pit stop in the CADD lab to say hello to the new Robotics team starting work on their robot for the year.

The two newly renovated rooms passed their inspections on Thursday, September 26 and had new students and teachers using them on Monday, September 30.

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