Earlier this week the leader of the Bromfield School Science Department, Deborah Pierce, proudly showed off two renovated classrooms, one for chemistry and one for physics. The improvements result from a measure passed at the 2015 Annual Town Meeting, when voters approved a $185,000 capital exclusion for the project with only one dissenting vote. At that meeting Pierce spoke in favor of the measure, graphically describing how the old ventilation system allowed smells from the labs to spread throughout the school.
Now both rooms benefit from an improved ventilation system. Both also have plentiful new cabinetry for storing supplies and equipment.
In the chemistry room, each of six new lab tables will accommodate four students. The tables can be raised or lowered, depending on whether they are being used as desks or for lab work. Each has a sink, a gas jet, and a durable, acid-proof surface. The room also has an emergency shower and eye station in case of an accident with caustic chemicals.
The physics room also has new work tables that double as desks, although they are not nearly so elaborate as the ones in the chemistry room.
To thank the Harvard community for its support, Superintendent Linda Dwight has announced a “Bromfield School Capital Project Public Unveiling” on Friday, Aug. 26, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and on Tuesday, Aug. 30, from 6 to 7 p.m. Along with the science labs, the event will showcase the newly paved parking lot and the renovated bathrooms at Bromfield. Light refreshments will be served.
New lab tables in Dr. Kristen VanderVeen’s chemistry classroom have adustable heights so they can be used as student desks or raised to serve as lab tables. New storage cabinets and an improved ventilation system (not pictured) were also installed over the summer. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
