With the Debt Exclusion Vote on Dec. 8, 2025 for the new high school fast approaching, a topic of conversation among teachers has surrounded what the new layout of the “Bloom” design will mean for the LHS curriculum. Rather than the isolated buildings and open-campus design of the current school, Bloom will be a large four-story building that encompasses all departments under one roof.
It appears that this newfound proximity will be used as an opportunity to give LHS a more interdisciplinary character where different subjects and teachers may end up interacting much more than they do currently.
“I really like the idea of having the various subject areas mixed across the school,” said Tracy Conte, the Special Education Department Head at LHS. “I think that sort of cross pollination of different disciplines, different interests, and different humans, is healthy and great.”
However, others have noted the convenience and practicality of keeping similar classes closer together. Not only is it much easier for people to navigate a school with dedicated sections to different classes, it may also help students shift into the right mindset for a particular subject.
“I think it’s really nice to have a wing of a school that is dedicated to world language, for example, because then anyone who walks in will feel that this is the world language space, and it helps us get into that mood for learning world language,” said Lily Zhu, a Latin teacher at LHS.
Another new aspect of Bloom is the addition of “breakout rooms” for independent or small group work. The current school notably lacks dedicated space for students to work on group projects, or even juniors and seniors with free blocks looking for a quiet space to work. Even teachers benefit from the additional space provided within a new high school.
“It’s really hard for a teacher to find a quiet space to meet with several students because we’ll usually have two teachers in a classroom, and both of them will have a large number of students sign up. Some of those kids just want a quiet place to work, but others really do need to talk to their teacher and get assistance or guidance. I can see that flexible space really helping us,” said Kerry Dunne, the History Department head at LHS.
Some teachers also see the new high school as an opportunity to add some fun colors and characteristics to life at LHS.
“It would be nice to have some color, not just total sterile white. It would just add to the learning environment… One thing I loved at Waltham high was that every hallway in every common area would have tiles up to about six feet high, and there were different colors in different areas of the building,” said Dunne.
The current high school, with its narrow hallways, inadequate classroom sizes, and aged infrastructure, leaves much to be desired among the LHS community. If the Debt Exclusion vote passes on Dec. 8, the vision of students and teachers alike may truly come to life in a fresh new building.
“[Just the extra space is] going to be a really positive thing because we just don’t have enough space, period, right now. Just having the space that we need will be marvelous.” said Conte.
