Come mid-June, the unearthing of rodents and roaches from the halls and walls of Cinnaminson High School will commence hand-in-hand with the reconstruction of the school. Cinnaminson citizens took to the polls on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 to vote on the new referendum which would decide the fate of Cinnaminson Township schools. The three voting options available were a. physical improvements on Cinnaminson High School; b. a new gymnasium capable of fitting 1,000 people at CHS; as well as c. the addition of six tennis courts strictly on CHS property.

The results of the Cinnaminson’s voter turnout were surprisingly low, with roughly 30% voting. With about a total of two thousand people voting, the polls were mildly crowded that day. An overwhelming amount of voters (1,913 to 1,070) voted “yes” for option one; the schools would be receiving a remodel and reconstruction. The majority of people also voted in favor of option two (1,640 to 1,212); a new gymnasium is in the future. However, barely slipping off the ballot was option three (1,368 to 1,474); there will not be on-campus tennis courts for CHS. Now with two thirds of the referendum passed, Cinnaminson High School will be transporting students into a whole new world come the 2017-2018 school year.

CHS Principal, Darlene Llewellyn stated that, “I definitely thought question one would pass because I thought the community valued education as much as they did, but I was not sure about question two or question three.” Going into the vote she was very positive and coming out of it she was happy with the outcome, as excited about the upcoming renovations as the rest of the community.

Many look forward to the reconstruction of CHS, such as sophomore Sophia Riviello who hopes, “to see a new school before we graduate so we have a few years here to see it restored.”

But there are others who have little interest in the schools construction, mainly the seniors. Senior Summer Chaouch expressed, “I personally, don’t really care about it, but I think it’s gonna make our school prettier.”

Chaouch, who won’t be disturbed by the construction along with the rest of the seniors, sees it as a great opportunity for CHS. However, Chaouch feels bad for her parents during the construction because, “It’s gonna be harmful for people like my parents that don’t have kids that are going to Cinnaminson and have to pay higher taxes now.”

The taxes will be raised by $199.59 per year (for about 25 years), which is a small price to pay for the much needed improvements to CHS.

Transfer student junior Josh Elder, within a month of being at CHS, pointed out where there could be renovations, “It’s not very updated. I know they’re doing the construction thing, but coming from Moorestown we had elevators and stuff. We had a bigger school.” One improvement Elder feels is needed is centralized air conditioning, which will be coming.

The renovations that will take place, will help elevate the safety of CHS, “not that it wasn’t safe before,” points out Mrs. Llewellyn. There will be less lunchtime leakage and a safer security system on the way. There will be better airflow (air-conditioning) in partnership with centralized air conditioning to keep places such as the auditorium from heating up, and to regulate other areas of the school with appropriate temperatures. While some may still search for the infamous pool that exists somewhere on our property, much larger gymnasium will be built for sporting events.

There are many hopes for adaptions and renovations to the school. One of the long awaited adaptions of CHS is the adjoining of A hall and D hall with the creation of the new science wing, “So [now] I can get to classes faster,” freshman Vincent DeLuca looks forward to. The absence of a connecting upstairs hallways has resulted in the handout of detentions for lateness, and missed education (as students come to class late), however the easy fix for this problem can now finally be acted upon.

The idea of a reconstruction renovation to the school has been an idea and hope for those involved in the curriculum for quite some time. “We’ve been talking about this since 2004 as far as I’m aware of. I have construction plans since before then. It was proposed in 2011 and the Board approved of it since then so we’ve just been waiting,” explained Lewellyn. Finally in May 2012, the funds from the state were approved and CHS became eligible for the proposal of a referendum.

Now that the referendum has been approved, the school board will do all it can to change the outdated buildings. Elevators will be included for ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act], which means classes will not have to be relocated if someone stubs their toes and cannot walk up steps. Elder, along with many other CHS students, is relieved by the addition of elevators because moving a whole class can be disturbing to the educational process, “When someone gets hurt, and they have to move the classrooms, it’s kind of lame, so having the elevators we won’t have to do that,”

Unfortunately the construction will not be done in a couple of months, but it will instead take a couple years. To the current graduating senior class of 2015, this doesn’t mean anything. CHS will not be as they remembered it, but that is all. To the junior class, it means a disrupted senior year, however Llewellyn sympathizes with the “Golden” class of 2016, “next year is going to be really rough, I really feel bad for the senior class. They’re going to suffer through the project and they’re not going to see many of the benefits, to be honest. That’s really the sad part about it. We’ll try to make as many accommodations for them as possible.”

A common fear and thought of the junior class is “That we’ll have to take our classes in trailers senior year [during construction],” said Elder. This would definitely be a drawback “but I mean, if it’s updating the school then it should be alright,” concludes Elder.

The best advice that can be offered to current underclassmen to make it through the next few years of “Worksite: CHS” is to simply ‘let it go.’ It will be a little more rewarding for the current sophomores and freshmen since they will most likely see benefits of the reconstruction. Although, benefits or not, no one wants to deal with more cockroaches than they already are.

In light of the situation Llewellyn has in mind a way to offer a homecoming of some sort to the classes that will be unable to reap the rewards of the long construction period. Once the final project is completed, those who did not see any of the CHS 2.0 will be invited back in a way to view their new old stomping grounds.