Operations staff, contractors make summer upgrades

By Juanita I.C. Traughber, Director of Marketing & Communications

Although school is out during Summer Break the busy hum of the Edgehill Campus rarely subsides, giving Operations staff and contractors little time to make facility improvements. Yet each summer, Operations pulls off dozens of classroom upgrades, replacing lighting and carpet, painting hundreds of walls, replacing dated whiteboards with modern glassboards, and shuffling around desks and office furniture so that faculty and students return to optimized classrooms in August.

“We’ve gotten really good at changing tires on a moving car,” said Operations Director Erik Mash of the volume of work his staff completes while USN Summer Camps and Horizons at USN are taking place.

This summer, the most notable construction project required closing the 99-year-old, 5,133-square-foot Durnan Auditorium. Contractors refinished the main floor, repaired trip hazards, and replaced the stage floor. Later in August, new garnet-colored window curtains and grand curtains for the stage will replace the dark blue curtains that are sunbleached and nearing dry rot. 

“I am excited about the auditorium because it is our most well-used space and will feel like a dramatic difference,” said Director Amani Reed. “This is our strategic plan in action — preserving our historic spaces and preparing for our growing academic and community programs.” 

Operations staff handled in-house the demolition, framing, plumbing, cabinet installation and most of the work to convert the former PE Office and a locker room into the new Health Room. The renovated space includes private screening rooms, a full bathroom with a shower, an administrative office, and a waiting area. The new Health Room location puts the school’s health services in a quieter area with more privacy yet also closer to the Fitness Center, gyms, and an elevator. After entering the second floor of the Sperling Center, students should follow the red directional signage to find the new space. The remaining locker room was subdivided into two to serve visiting volleyball and basketball teams. The former Health Room on the third floor of the West Wing has become an academic support space for Lower School’s Learning Specialist & Math Specialist and the students they aid. 

To emphasize its importance at a K-12 school dedicated to "representing [ing] the cultural and ethnic composition of the city," the Office of Diversity and Community Life is now in a more visible location where the Hassenfeld Library, West Wing, and Main Building intersect.

Operations added metal paneling to the Alper Gate and extended fencing higher to make it difficult for someone to climb as part of a wrought iron fence improvement project for the Alper Courtyard and Berkman Goodman Library Terrace, the outdoor area connecting the Sperling Cafeteria, Hassenfeld Library, and West Wing. Instead of holly bushes originally planned to hinder access to that outdoor area from the 21st Avenue Garage below, iron railings will be installed in October.

Librarians have added what Library Director Kate Pritchard calls a “cozy corner for upper MS students” in the Hassefeld Library’s Garrison Reading Room to give seventh and eighth graders age-appropriate seating. This is an upgrade from the first floor, which primarily houses books and space for Lower School readers.

Other summer upgrades include resurfacing the tennis courts and regrading the softball fields at the River Campus, sodding the Outdoor Classroom at the Edgehill Campus, replacing stairwell treading in many stairwells on the, and upgrading the HVAC and carpet of the Morris Conference Room. Also in progress is USN’s transition to Vanderbilt University’s chill water supply, which is expected to reduce the school’s energy costs. The Class of 2024 gift to their alma mater was to paint a mural on a set of third-floor lockers.