Newbury Redone
After every summer, the students of Newbury Park return to a slightly different campus than the one they left. The people change, and so does the school itself. Last summer, upgrades were made to the mass media lab, gym, and cafeteria, which is now the new home of the writing center.
Worn from years of use, the gym’s floor and roof were restored over the summer and during the first few weeks of school.
“The gym roof was added for safety purposes. The roof was leaking and also in danger of losing tiles,” said Josh Eby, principal. “The floor remodel was for aesthetics and an improved playing surface. The wood floor needed a sanding and repair of ‘dead’ spots.”
In addition, on the surface of the gym court, the growling panther face was replaced with a yellow paw-print surrounded by the words “Nori Parvin Court,” in honor of the legendary girl’s basketball coach, Nori Parvin, to whom the gym was dedicated to last year.
These renovations to the roof and floor were funded by Measure I, a bond which was passed in the election last November. Due to Measure I funding, a total of about $350,000 was able to be used for a variety of changes on campus.
The Measure I bond was also used to help fund changes to the on campus writing center, including additions to the cafeteria and room A2.
According to Alana Bond, English teacher and writing center coordinator, several Chromebook carts were ordered for the school.
“I think there’s one or two that were purchased specifically for each department and there may be a few others aside from that for special programs,” Bond said.
Bond said that the cafeteria also received new hexagonal tables with chairs attached at the edges “to provide for a more collaborative atmosphere during lunch as well as the writing center.”
The school is still in anticipation of more changes, however. Over the next 20 years, Measure I funding will be “used to improve and modernize NPHS and all CVUSD schools,” said Eby.
The amount of funds distributed to each CVUSD school from Measure I depends on the school’s size and enrollment. “(Newbury Park) is set to receive approximately $17 million for maintenance and facility upgrades,” Eby said.
Bond added, “I think somewhere down the line there might be one or two desktops in the cafeteria as well, with a printing station. But I think that’s a vision for somewhere in the future, it’s not immediate.”
However, not all the changes made over the summer were the result of Measure I. The Mass Media Lab acquired all new Mac Minis over the summer which were used to replaced the old Windows computers.
“The funding came from a grant we got through Ventura County called VC Innovates,” said Derek Grimes, mass media teacher, “It was a grant that the entire county got. And part of the program for arts media and entertainment was part of that grant and through that grant we were able to purchase everything.”
The grant provided the program with about $50,000 to fund the changes to the lab.
Tim Bochen, a senior who is taking video production, believes that the new computers are a large improvement over the old ones.
“There were a lot of errors when editing (with the old computers),” said Bochen. “If you had big project, sometimes the computer would be so slow it wouldn’t respond. And with these new computers, everything is a lot easier, the editing process is a lot quicker. Its nice, its a lot cleaner, we don’t have these huge boxes of computers anymore, we have these small Mac Minis and they are really nice, they’re fast.”
“We are pretty happy with it,” Grimes said, “It’s been a big change.”
