Construction teams will be hard at work in the halls of Holbrook Middle-High School over February vacation because the sixth and seventh grade students don’t have lockers. When this school building was originally planned in 2012, they accounted for the number of students from that year. Since then, the size of the student body has grown significantly.

Because they ordered lockers for the original number of students, the sixth and seventh graders have been without lockers since the beginning of the school year. This has meant that the students have to carry their heavy belongings around throughout the day. Ms. O’Driscoll, the vice principal, describes the situation as “unfortunate and sad.”

Fortunately, the school has since ordered enough lockers, which they planned to install during the winter break, but that had to be pushed to February. They had to wait for a vacation to keep the noise of the installation from bothering the surrounding classes.

Mr Bolger, director facilities for the district, says, “It is unfortunate that the lockers were delayed and could not be installed last month, but in large construction projects it is often time difficult to stay on schedule. We are fortunate that they will be in place next month.”

Temporary walls have been put up in the sixth and seventh grade common areas in preparation for the installation. They are there to mark where the lockers are going to be and will be taken down after the new lockers are installed.