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Cailin Belmont never imagined she’d be back at John Hill School yet that’s where she was in mid-March, navigating the halls of the building she left four years ago.
An electrical fire that occurred on March 7 in an electrical room adjacent to the boys locker room caused Belmont and the students from the nearby high school to share JHS for nine days. Classes for high school students were held from 7:15 until 11:15 a.m. Elementary and middle school students occupied JHS for four and a half hours each day beginning at 11:45 a.m.
Those who rode buses from Lincoln Park walked from the high school parking lot through the football stadium on the track and out the side gate to gain access to JHS.
“It’s interesting. It’s weird being back here,” Belmont said. “I never thought I’d be back.”
BHS students attended four classes, 53 minutes in length, each day. The earlier start time caused most students to groan. However, the dismissal time and shortened day made up for it.
“It’s very different having longer periods,” Bryan Clemente, a junior, said. “Some classes were a little too long. For the most part, it wasn’t that bad. It worked out pretty well.”
Michelle Becker, Class of 2020, felt the abbreviated schedule and longer classes had their advantages.
“Not seeing the same teachers every day made it less stressful,” Becker said. “There was more time for doing homework.”
For Samantha Wyatt, a junior, the shortened school day had a very personal benefit. Wyatt’s acne, which is considered stress related, cleared up temporarily.
“I liked it,” Wyatt said of the four-hour school day. “Scientific studies show teenagers need more time for themselves, homework and sports. Teenagers need time to be teenagers.”
The shortened schedule, though, had its downsides, especially when it came to sports. Not only did spring sports athletes lose the use of the gym, some had left equipment and practice gear in the team rooms, which were deemed off limits.
Becker noted that several practices were held from 7 to 9 p.m. That meant it was 10 p.m. by the time she got home. For those who live in Lincoln Park, getting back to Boonton for practice was difficult.
“Getting home at 10 or later is tough,” Becker said. “I usually go to bed at that time. Now I’m not going to sleep until 11:30 or so.”
Other issues with sports occurred as a result of the fire. Not only were practice schedules out of whack, some athletes’ equipment was in the team rooms and was unable to be retrieved.
“We had to use what we had for practice,” Clemente said. “We couldn’t use the gym because of the fire or the field because of snow. We had to go on the blacktop.”
Not everything was unpleasant. Spanish teacher Karen Reich was among those who liked the longer classes.
“As a world language teacher, I welcomed longer periods,” Reich said. “We can accomplish more and have more informal assessments in language acquisition.”
Science teacher Barbara Gilbert felt that “the collaboration and cooperation between John Hill and BHS was astonishing.”
“We could not have asked for a more seamless transition to a short schedule than the one planned by the administration,” Gilbert said.
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