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Stunning N.J. middle school set to make colorful debut. Here's a sneak peak inside.
Walking around their newly constructed middle school a full three weeks before classes start, Rihanna Amaya and Victoria Rodriguez-Clavel were already picturing their seventh grade school year.
Their new school, which opens Sept. 2, is splashed with color. Like many new schools, segments of the building are unified by bright hues.
But the newly-constructed South Hunterdon Regional Middle School in Lambertville takes the design element to a new level by adding color to hallway ceilings to create a mood lighting effect.
Each grade level is represented by one bold color and in shared spaces, including the cafeteria, all of the colors are visible.
'I like the lockers and with the colored hallways. It's going to be easier to navigate,' Rihanna said.
The new school also brings new options for the seventh graders.
Victoria said she is going to take choir this year, an option she didn't have last year in the much smaller school building that housed the fifth and sixth grades.
'I noticed there's a softball field,' said Victoria, who also hopes to join the team this fall.
The girls were among the first to tour New Jersey's newest middle school earlier this week.
Some of the people visiting the building — which will serve 220 fifth through eighth graders this year — fought a difficult battle to pass a $33 million referendum to fund not only the construction of the new school but also a renovation and expansion of South Hunterdon Regional Elementary School.
The district, established 11 years ago, combined three small school districts: Lambertville, West Amwell and Stockton in Hunterdon County.
In 2021, the referendum for the construction projects won by a two-vote margin. A lawsuit challenging the school board's handling of the referendum was dismissed in 2023. Then, the case was dismissed again in March after the decision was appealed.
MORE: N.J. opened one of its most massive high schools ever. Here's a sneak peek inside.
The new middle school, located near the district's high school, was designed as a learning hub for tweens and teens. Students in fifth and sixth grade previously went to one school while seventh and eighth graders went to another located in a wing of the district's high school.
Carrie Zegarski, an architect and project manager with USA Architects, helped design the school. She said some spaces have sound baffles, like the cafeteria and music rooms, to make it easier for students to hear each other.
The firm met with science teachers and nursing staff before the designs for the science labs and nurse's office were complete, she said.
Students touring the new school this week expressed plenty of excitement about the new school year. Their enthusiasm for the new space aligns with what public policy experts have found— new school buildings can improve student outcomes.
In a 2018 study, researchers Julien Lafortune and David Schonholzer found attending school in a new facility can 'lead to modest, gradual improvements in student test scores, large immediate improvements in student attendance, and significant improvements in student effort.'
The state chipped in a little over $6.7 million for South Hunterdon Regional's construction projects, including the new middle school. Local taxpayers are still paying off a $26 million bond issued in 2021.
Because of the extra tax cost of the referendum, the school board has tried to keep school tax increases as close to 2% as possible each year, South Hunterdon Regional Superintendent Anthony Suozzo said.
Janet Nocar, a former school nurse and local taxpayer who worked at the elementary school before the renovation, came to tour the new middle school to see her tax dollars at work.
'Does a building matter? I don't know,' Nocar said. 'But I like the fact that our kids are having a new building that hopefully is safe environmentally with no mold,' she said.
Suozzo, who joined the district as superintendent after the bond referendum had already passed, is a fan of several parts of the new middle school. But the water treatment room, with its giant black water tanks, is a space he's especially excited about.
Recently some wells in the surrounding area were found to contain high levels of polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, also known as 'forever chemicals.' The state is investigating where the contamination may have come from.
PFAS can reduce fertility and increase risks of high blood pressure in pregnant women and may cause some cancers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
'We are always monitoring, but a lot of time and effort went into the design of this room — and money,' he said of the school's water treatment space.
The two rooms with the building's best views look out onto miles of rolling farmland. They will serve special education and English Language Learner students, Suozzo said. Often rooms used to work with these student groups are in makeshift spaces, like closets or in a building's basement.
'We thought it was really important to send that message of how important those students are for us,' the superintendent said.
One classroom in the school also has a kitchen area. Special education students who are in a self-contained class will use the space for hands-on learning, including running a coffee and tea service for teachers.
In a similar program in the high school, students learn practical skills, including how to add up orders and what to say when making a delivery.
'Teachers would coach them about how to have conversations,' Suozzo said.
After a while, some special education students who struggle with social cues started asking Suozzo if he had any plans for the weekend when they delivered his coffee on Fridays, he said.
The school's science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — or STEAM — makers' space is unique in the building because its ceiling was left open. It reveals all the pipes, vents and engineering hidden in the rest of the school's sleek classrooms.
Woodworking, hand-building with clay, and art made on computers will all be part of the STEAM curriculum, said Jennifer MacKnight, the new school's principal. She is shifting from leading the high school to being the principal of the new middle school.
MacKnight said the school's design will make it possible to do learning support in groups of about 10 before or after lunch — a practice that can help both students who might need more practice with a concept and students who are ready for the next thing. The schedule for this support time, like all of the furniture in the classrooms, will be flexible and based on students' learning needs, she said.
Suozzo is also excited about a room called 'The Nook' which includes a variety of comfortable L-shaped, low-to-the-ground spots where students can relax if they need a mental or emotional health break.
Last year, students were surveyed to find out what playground equipment they are still interested in playing on as middle school students.
The new school will include new playground equipment and a basketball court on a former parking lot.
'Believe it or not, kids still love swing sets,' Suozzo said.
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Liz Rosenberg may be reached at lrosenberg@
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