Raising the Roof
Students of the 2017-18 school year who attended Leonia High School understood the pain it was to not be able to go through the Ray avenue exit during lunch. This exit was the main access to the east part of town and toward Englewood. Students who walk to get their lunch normally go this way, making it extremely irritating to go out for lunch. The construction took around a year, covering the whole school year. After the construction finished and the 2019 school year started, students were able to travel the halls of the new wing and use the exits this wing offers to go out for lunch. Although the wing was finished and lunch routes reopened, there were still some downsides.
The time it takes to get from the new wing all the way across the school for class can cause students to be late which could eventually lead to a loss of credits. The normal four minutes to class does not cut it, especially if the halls are filled with other students. Not to mention if a student has a handicap or perhaps a broken leg. This may cause many problems and upset students throughout the school.
Along with the time of travel through the halls, there are other disadvantages of this wing. I sat down with a couple of students that have class in the new wing and asked them what they didn’t like about it. Both students, Julia Greenberg and Julia Principe, said the same thing, “some of the classrooms still have not yet been fully cleaned out and space is limited amongst the students. Boxes and supplies are still out around the place.” Some things that they liked about the new wing were the modern advancements and the new bathrooms along with the new technology in the computer room. Little things like that are what keeps the school fresh and up to date. Although the new wing is ready for class use, not all boxes are checked off the list. There are still many improvements that can be made and more work that needs to be done until the new wing is fully complete.
Although there are some disadvantages, students and teachers are just happy that it is finally finished and everything is back to normal. Despite the amount of time it took to complete this wing, people of the Leonia school district were looking forward to this expansion. I definitely was.
