Walking through the halls, students might assume that all the doors at NPHS lead to classrooms. However, if you look closer, there are many hidden rooms that help keep the school running. We explored nine of these rooms to uncover what truly happens behind the doors.
Jonathan Henry:
THE SERVER ROOM
The first room that most people miss is the server room. This room is located across from the Department Head Room. This is one of the most critical rooms in the building for students and teachers. This room controls the wifi connected to iPads. Without this, the school would have to spend money to acquire internet access for everyone.
“It would cost us 50 dollars a month per student,” said Alex Menard, Manager of Information Systems for the District.
Six hundred fifty-two students attend the High school. The cost per month for the internet would be $32,600. This would mean the school would have to pay $326,000 a year when the server room does it much cheaper.
THE INSTRUMENT STORAGE ROOM
The second room that only a few students know about is the instrument storage room, conveniently located in the music wing. There are around 120 students in the NPMS and NPHS bands, and there is an instrument for every student. Those instruments need to be stored in a safe indoor location, instead of in the outdoor shed where the elements could affect them.
Band Director Michael Niedziejko said “This holds like other instruments require mainly that we would use regularly, special drums cars, acoustic and electric. So this is another storeroom that pulls our confidence higher samples so we wear specific things for high school and for fit students, we actually have the whole run of sizes so they know what size to order. So we hold that here we have extra black socks, black ties, cummerbunds, things that people need for concerts are the same.”
BEYOND THE LIGHTING AND SOUND BOOTH
Every student knows about the booth in the drama room for lighting and sound. However, the part that many never experience is the secret room that sits above it. I reached out to Mr. Duke in hopes of getting a photo and a quick interview about it. When Mr. Duke responded to my email, he told me that I needed the principal’s approval before we could go up there. This news made me wonder what they could be hiding. After meeting with Mr. Henry, I found out that the interview and photo wouldn’t be happening due to safety reasons.
I recall, however, that during my 7th-grade year, when I took drama as an elective, we went to that catwalk and had to walk through the gel room to get to it. It seems that unless you are a student in Mr. Duke’s class, this area will remain off-limits to you.
Max Pucci:
THE CHEMICAL STORAGE ROOM
One of the rooms that many students wonder about is the locked Chemical Storage Room. This room holds various chemicals and other essentials for science and STEM classes.
“You got chemicals, you got glass, you got equipment,” said Mr. McGeechan, Department Head of Technology at NPHS.
Most of the items stored here are used for various lab activities. However, most teachers aren’t allowed in this room due to the dangerous equipment and materials it contains. Many of these substances are hazardous, including flammable items.
Mr. McGeechen explains, “Hydrogen peroxide, 30%, you spill this on you, instant burn. It’s pretty bad. It’ll bleach your skin.” In addition to chemicals, the room also houses important infrastructure. When an addition was made to the school in the 90s, they needed space for electrical panels. Now, the room contains switches, routers for the internet, and a sprinkler connection for the water system.
Overall, this room is not only helpful to teachers but also benefits the student body. It helps science teachers know where the items are stored and what is in there. It helps the students body by keeping them safe but are still able to do fun activities and labs. This room is located in the 500 wing, right near Ms. Magnani’s room.
STUDENT ASSISTANCE COUNSELOR’S OFFICE
The Student Assistance Counselor’s office is not widely known to many students, but it plays a crucial role in supporting students through various crises and challenges.
“I’m like another resource counselor for someone if their school counselors aren’t available, or if they just need someone else to talk to,” says Ms. Grace Kinsella, the primary counselor for this office.
Kinsella helps students get through personal issues, both inside and outside of school. Her main focus is to assist students in overcoming whatever difficulties they may be facing.
Kinsella says she averages “3 to 10 students per day,” depending on the day and what students are going through that day. This is very beneficial to students because they can talk about their problems and share about good things and bad things. It also helps teachers better support their students when they are facing difficulties. The office is located near the nurse’s office and the middle school office.
THE COPY ROOM
The copy room is one of those rooms that students walk past all the time, but have probably never been inside. The main focus of the copy room is to make copies for teachers and other documents and activities for students. However, the process goes a bit deeper due to how the machines work.
The copy room has 4 large copiers that are new this year. According to Menard, they “use 30% of the electricity of the old units.”
“That technology has been around for a long time, and it requires heating up a fuse to 400 degrees Fahrenheit,” says Mr. Menard. This heating process allows copies to be made quickly and efficiently. Since the machine is heated to such a high temperature, it also uses less power and electricity.
This room is very beneficial to teachers in the school because they can also send things from email to copy and large quantities so they aren’t waiting there forever. This room can be located in the 400 wing right across from Dr. Hasson’s room.
Luke Cifarelli:
THE BOOK ROOM
From the outside, the book room would seem like another storage closet, but opening the door reveals a long narrow closet filled with books for all curriculums, whether it be geometry books for math or chemistry textbooks for science.
The closet probably holds around “1000 books in here,” said McGeechan.
Some of the books go back many years all the way back to the 1900s.
The use of books in the classroom has changed a lot throughout the years. More and more books aren’t being used daily because of the use of technology. Teachers and students now have the ability to access ebooks on their iPads so carrying around these heavy books doesn’t make much sense anymore. The issue with having all of these books is they can’t just be thrown out.
“You have to get board approval because these things were paid for by them,” McGeechan said.
This room is located next to Dr. Hasson’s room in the 400 hallways.
THE KITCHEN
Another room that most students haven’t been to is the kitchen, which many have caught a glimpse of behind the lunch lines.
Many long hours of preparation and cooking go into the cafeteria’s daily operations. Preparation is crucial when cooking for a large number of people, as the school aims to minimize food waste by ensuring they prepare the right amount.
Melissa, one of the people running the cafeteria said cafeteria workers use previous records to estimate how much food to prepare: “Say we make 12 hamburgers and only 9 kids eat hamburgers. We have three left over, so we might just make 10 the next day.”
The cafeteria workers must be ready for the large number of students who might be ordering breakfast or buying lunch that day. Inside the kitchen, there are various ovens, freezers, and stovetops. They rely on large freezers to store all their food and keep it ready for use.Some may assume the cafeteria simply reheats or puts frozen food in the oven, but in reality, they make everything fresh early in the morning, including the breakfast sandwiches.
“Every single morning, bagels come in fresh, and every day they make the egg sandwiches,” Melissa shared.
THE CHILD STUDY ROOM
Most students don’t even realize there is a room hidden in a narrow hallway near the auditorium, by the bathrooms. People walking through the hallway might notice the sign on the door reading “Child Study Team” and wonder what it is.
The Child Study Team is a group of counselors who monitor and determine whether students need extra support in the classroom. Some of the ways students receive help include an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) or a 504 plan. Both of these methods assist students who face challenges that hinder their learning compared to others.
The goal of the Child Study Team is to ensure that students with learning challenges receive the support they need so they can learn effectively.
The Child Study Room handles confidential material, so it isn’t open to curious students.
Even for students who have been at NPHS for years, there are still rooms that seem like just ordinary storage closets, but that aren’t. As you walk through the halls of the school, make sure to keep an eye out for doors that may seem unremarkable, but could lead to a whole new world.