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Central High School’s three-story science addition opens

Date: 4/16/2015

SPRINGFIELD – The $32 million expansion of Central High School was officially opened on April 9, although students have been using it since the beginning of this school year.

Central High School Principal Dr. Thaddeus Tokarz, said, “It’s everything everyone though it would be.”

The three-story addition to the high school includes 12 new laboratory classrooms as well as the updating of six existing science labs and the addition of a greenhouse.

School Superintendent Daniel Warwick called the upgrading “great.” He added the new science facilities would “offer the kind of curriculum at the high school level the kids need.”

Central High School was built in 1986 and Warwick said the science classroom were inadequate for today’s educational needs.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is reimbursing the city with $25.6 million for the construction of the expansion.

State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who supervises the MSBA, said the state’s main natural resource is the intellect of its citizens and innovations that come from them. She added the Commonwealth “needs to give kids those opportunities by giving them these kinds of rooms.”

Jack McCarthy, the executive director of the MSBA, said, “These are the happiest days … it makes all the hard work worthwhile.”

The new classrooms feature interactive whiteboard, WiFi access, laptops or tablets and assisted listening systems. Each classroom has sinks, water, gas, power and data utilities. The desks are all on rollers to the classroom can be configured based on the needs of the instructor and students.

Frank Spina, the Central High School science teacher who worked on the new wing simply said, “I think’s beautiful.”