MKA Middle School Campus Sees Major Renovations

As students moved out, construction crews moved in to The Montclair Kimberley Academy Middle School this month.  Extensive renovations to the Penick Centre, which includes a 450-seat auditorium and main reception area, will be one of the most visible facility upgrades resulting from Strategic Planning initiatives instituted four years ago.

Facility upgrades that compliment new programming are an important part of these initiatives.  A new weight room was added to the Upper School last summer in concert with a new health and fitness curriculum, and both the Middle and Upper School campuses will also see the addition of new Tech Centers to support September's 1:1 Laptop Learning program for all students in grades 4-12.

The Middle School Auditorium, which not only hosts fine and performing arts productions such as the annual Sixth Grade Musical, Seventh Grade Shakespeare play and band, chorale and dance concerts, is also the location for MKA's public Academy Forum lectures.  Renovations, which in addition to state of the art sound and lighting include seats with tablets and wiring for laptops, (provided to all students in grades 4-12 at MKA)will now allow the space to be fully utilized as a classroom.

"This is a tremendously exciting time for MKA," says Headmaster Thomas W. Nammack, "These renovations are an essential investment in MKA's Middle School in support of an exceptional program.  The school community should be both proud and grateful that funding for these projects will not encumber the operating budget at all and will come from capital gifts to MKA."