Glen Ridge High School may be having a problem with its lockers, but Bloomfield High School looks like a war zone. And with it being just two weeks from the opening of school, no wonder there are rumors that the building may not be ready for prime time.
Not to worry, says Pasquale Orsini, the school’s principal. “We are opening up on time.” For the next two weeks, SWAT teams of janitors will be cleaning out the inside of the building. “We are working our tails off and our anticipation is that we’ll be opening school on time and clean,” Orsini told Barista in a telephone interview this week.
Naturally, there’ll be a little inconvenience, as well as, ahem, noise. Sidewalks are closed on the Belleville Ave. side of the building, and many of the old entrances to the building are closed. That includes the gym entrance, which was used by 90 percent of the students.
As for noise, well, “You’re going to be under construction,” Orsini admits. But except for one elevator shaft, all of that construction will be outside and the school’s three-foot walls should buffer the sound, he says.
Ground broke on the $58 million construction project, which will add 170,000 square feet to the school, in March.
Freshman orientation will be Sept. 1 for parents and Sept. 2 for students.
Reading, ‘Riting and Riveting
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No disrespect to Pat Orsini, who I think is a great guy, but this building project is a nightmare. Noise, dirt… hell, a trophy and pieces of ceiling have fallen and struck students. And the “old” board of ed wasted everyone’s time carrying on about dress codes all of last year. Dress code? I have an idea – let’s put the kids in hard hats and steel tip boots!