Over the summer, Lauren Zirpoli, the former principal, moved beyond her role as the principal of the New Providence Middle School (NPMS) and the New Providence High School (NPHS) to become the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services for the District. Mrs. Zirpoli’s position was filled by Brian Henry, the former vice principal of NPHS. 

The switch from being a vice principal to a principal is obviously not easy, and especially with the COVID-19 pandemic going around, the challenges have changed. After taking the position of principal, Mr. Henry says that the “responsibilities are different,” but thankfully, “the job is fulfilling and rewarding.”

He said that working at two schools, and trying to learn about the both of the schools’ staff and students is difficult. However, while things are hard, there are some things that are definitely good.

When asked about his favorite part of being the principal, Mr. Henry said “It’s that the students and staff were back in the building.”

Mr. Henry was also happy to know that there were 8 new teachers that decided to come to the school. All of these teachers work at the High School, and 3 of them work at the Middle School. These teachers include: 1 new English as a Second Language teacher, 1 new Science teacher who started very recently, 1 new Japanese teacher, 2 new Special Ed teachers, 1 new Art teacher who also started very recently, 1 new Engineering teacher, and 1 new Orchestra teacher.  

And, as the state reopens further, there will potentially be changes to the current state of school.

Mr. Henry said that when it comes to reopening, the schools will follow suit with other things, such as restaurants, stores, or anything else. He gave an example to make the statement clearer: if the CDC is allowing complete indoor dining in restaurants, there could be a change to our capacity limit. The bottom line is that the school will follow the direction of the CDC, and the more positive the direction, the less restrictions. 

This, however, could raise the question: will the school ever be able to return to normal?

“That’s the goal,” Mr. Henry said. He said that it will all depend on what the CDC has to say about the matter, as they dictate the openings.

Until then, there is a new schedule currently being tried out. This schedule involves most students going to school every other day, and the day they are not going to school, they do school completely virtually. Every class is attended for 32 minutes, then there’s an hour long lunch break before 2 virtual classes on Mondays through Thursdays afternoons. This schedule is new, and like all new things, needs to be reviewed from time to time.

Mr. Henry says that since the schedule is new, we need to wait until the year progresses a little bit to see if there needs to be changes.