Honesdale High's auditorium getting full renovation
Proverbial school bells rang Monday, August 29 for the 2,049 students in the Wayne Highlands School District. Some of the new developments for the 2022-2023 school year is the ongoing, total renovation of the high school auditorium and a resumption of free breakfasts― the latter a statewide initiative announced by Governor Tom Wolf.
In addition to the auditorium, multiple renovation projects took place over the summer at the high school. Student restrooms, public restrooms at the auditorium and the high school kitchen renovation projects were completed in time for the school year.
Superintendent Gregory Frigoletto said that they are expecting the high school auditorium renovations to be completed November 16. In the meantime, the auditorium space is not in use.
He said this is a complete renovation of the auditorium, the first done since the high school was built in 1959. The restrooms and kitchen prep area were renovated for the first time.
"We look forward to the Honesdale High School musical, 'Chicago - School Edition', being presented Friday, April 21, 2023, Saturday, April 22, 2023 and Sunday, April 23, 2023. We will be proud to showcase both the talents of the Honesdale Performing Arts as well as our new beautiful space," he said, speaking of the auditorium.
"It was important to us to preserve some of the aesthetics of the 'old' auditorium while at the same time making it a modern space for our school community," he said, acknowledging that many people are nostalgic about this space.The 63-year-old rows of seats are being replaced. The old seats were reupholstered in 1980. A new sound and lighting system will also be installed. Renovations began on April 14, 2022.
For more than 30 years, commencement has been held at the Middle School gymnasium. Frigoletto said that the high school stage is being considered for commencement again, although a decision has not yet been made.
Renovations for the auditorium, HHS kitchen prep and storage areas, student restrooms and the auditorium public restrooms were bid together with the successful bid being approximately $7,596,005.
The new school year also has brought three new teachers and a new school nurse.
The new personnel and their assignments are as follows: Mrs. Marisa Avery (Science, Honesdale High School), Mr. Dustin Roberts (Middle School Math, Preston Area School), Mrs. Lacey Utegg (Nurse, Honesdale High School), Mr. Robert Wasylyk (Long Term Spanish Substitute Honesdale High School).
"I am also happy to report that the Board has approved the creation of two additional School Police Officer (SPO) positions, which will now have us covered at every campus, district-wide," Frigoletto said as the new school year was starting.
The 2022-2023 school year brought the resumption of school lunch and breakfast fees for school districts nationwide. As of October 1st, however, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is underwriting the cost of free breakfast for all students regardless of income eligibility.
The Governor announced the $21.5 million universal free school breakfast program on September 12.
In response to the COVID pandemic, for the past two years, the USDA offered waivers to Child Nutrition (CN) programs across the United States, allowing these programs to be offered free to all students. The waivers expired June 30, 2022.He said that as of September, approximately 52% of the Wayne Highlands School District student body is eligible for free or reduced priced lunches, based on family income. This is up from 45% last February.
This year they are expanding their Wit & Wisdom literacy curriculum. At the primary level, Wit & Wisdom, will focus on literacy. This addition will complement the literacy curriculum that launched in grades 3-8 in the 2018-2019 school year.
The curriculum is described as comprehensive, for K–8 English language arts. It is designed to help students build the knowledge and skills they need to be successful readers, exceptional writers, and effective communicators.
This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Honesdale High's auditorium getting full renovation
