Construction Around EJHS

By: Kyndal Shafer and Charlotte Gargiulo 9/17/26

Have you been hearing drills beating against the wall recently? Or maybe you’ve been seeing the dirt getting moved around outside? Well, all of this is due to the new changes coming to EJHS. The school has had changes being made since after winter break of last school year, leading all the way into this school year. These changes are expected to take around 2 years to be fully in effect since school is going on and construction is just taking a while. Changes to be expected include new musical arts rooms, new flooring in the gym, more classrooms, new AC, and more. Now, let's dive into the details of what's coming to our school, EJHS.

Where the new band and Choir room is planning to be.

EJHS has been planning to add new Band and Choir rooms near the Multi-Purpose Room for a while now, and construction is about to begin. The old rooms will be converted into about 4 different classrooms, which will largely benefit teachers who have to share classrooms with other teachers because of how large the 6th grade population is this year. For the band room, besides being moved, the ceilings will be much taller than the ones it currently has. As for the Choir room, its size will increase significantly, making it large enough to fit at least 50 students. The choir room risers will be adjusted in height, and the spacing between them will be changed to be safer for students when dancing or singing.

In EPS and EIS, you’ve probably heard about the Journeys class, but what about EJHS? Well, when Band and Choir move out of their rooms and into their new ones, the school is going to turn their old rooms into about 3- 4 new classrooms, and one of them will be a Journeys class. As for the other 2 or 3 classrooms, they’re going to be classrooms for the teachers who are sharing a room with another teacher and for new teachers who come in. This will help with classroom size and help make classrooms not so crowded since we gain more and more students every year.

As you may already know, EJHS got new bleachers last school year around spring break. No harm happened to them over the summer, but since there was a water leak over the break, the gym floors need to be replaced. The floors are about 20-30 years old, so it's a good idea to replace them anyways. Due to this happening, Dodge and Donate fundraising will still be these upcoming weeks, but the Dodgeball part will be postponed until after fall break. During this project and others, it's been pretty tough in many different ways. Mr. Rentschler, the principal of EJHS, states, “The hardest part is trying to stay positive through all of this.” Only a few sports will be affected now, including volleyball, which will move to the high school, but staff and students hope the gym floor construction will be finished by the time basketball season starts up.

As you’ve probably seen or maybe even heard, the school has been working on fixing the roof and AC for a little bit now, and both are expected to be completed by September 14th. You’ve also probably felt how cold many classrooms have been and how hot others are. Well, the school’s AC hasn’t been replaced for about 20-30 years, which is causing the intense and different temperatures in the school. However, when the AC is finished, it’s expected to help regulate the temperatures better. Recently, the High School’s AC was replaced, and the school became very hot and not very comfortable for students and staff during one of the hottest weeks of the year. But staff and students hope that this isn’t going to have the same effect for EJHS.

A ladder leading up to the roof that they are fixing.

The current state of the baseball field.

Among the other changes coming to Edgewood and EJHS, we will be expecting a new baseball and softball field. They have already started construction on this project and plan to conclude around winter break. Along with these changes, they plan to add a press box, a concessions stand, and a bathroom to the fields.

So, as now concluded, you can see that many new changes are expected at EJHS in the near future. Whether in the next year or in the next month, Edgewood has a lot to look forward to.

Author's Bio:

Kyndal is an 8th-grade student who enjoys being creative, hanging out with family, and being outdoors.

Charlotte is an 8th grader who likes to read and eat Subway, Jimmy John's, and Jersey Mike's. (not sponsored but please do)

Sources:

Mr. Rentschler