The time has come to separate NPMS from NPHS.

Having six grades in one school is complete chaos, and is poorly affecting each grade level. It takes away from the students’ learning environment, and impacts their access to resources everyday. Having two schools would benefit each grade level because it would allow them to have more room to grow, with better tools aimed at their age level.

The middle schoolers are distracting for the high school, and vice versa. Having different bell schedules allows either group to hear and see loud groups of students right outside of their classroom many times throughout the day. These disruptions take away from the lessons, prompting students to become more off task. It takes away time for teachers to get their students back on task, and it happens repeatedly throughout the day.

Mixing these two age groups can also pose issues. In the hallway, some less mature middle schoolers will often act inappropriately and intentionally try to annoy the older grades. Similarly, there is always the danger that high schoolers could accidentally say something inappropriate that could be passed onto an entire class of middle schoolers.

With New Providence having a nationally recognized school program, more people are moving to the district every year. This is causing the number of students to increase, making the class sizes larger. Soon enough, the classrooms, cafeteria, and hallways will not be able to accommodate all of the students. However, with another school building, both schools would thrive with more room, class space, and attentive teaching.

The two schools share a cafeteria, library, musical wing, auditorium, art rooms, and some hallways. The teachers are constantly telling both groups to avoid each other, not disrupt each other’s projects or equipment, and to stay away from certain areas that are designated for a certain school. If each school got their own speciality classrooms, they would be able to have more specialized equipment in each classroom. This could help the students’ learning environment.

The staff and teachers that have to work for both schools are also overwhelmed because they have twice the workload. For example, the cafeteria workers have to serve and clean two lunches instead of one, the hall monitor has to control twice the amount of students, and librarians have to help twice the amount of students. Having separate buildings would make staff that work more efficiently and have an easier day.

The students in both schools deserve better than what they are getting being crammed into a small, overcrowded school.