Ramaz spent over $2.6 million renovating, refurbishing, and upgading the Upper School building—officially called The Morris and Ida Newman Educational Center—this summer, according to Mr. Rochlin. The changes to the building include completely revamped science labs, soundproofing in room 702, new computer software and hardware, six new SMARTboards, a new air management system, and new fire alarms.

As of press time, Mr. Rochlin said all construction would be completed by the start of classes on Sept. 9, a feat which he deemed “amazing.”

Mr. Rochlin hired Pung Sung contracting to overhaul the school, but he said the Ramaz maintenance staff deserved the “extra-credit” for getting things running on time.

“No one really knows just how much work our guys have done this summer—both day and night.”

The majority of that work went to redesigning the fifth floor. Plans called for three new classrooms, a science department office containing cubicles for science faculty, an independent research lab, and three student labs (one each for biology, chemistry, and physics) to be built in previously occupied space on that floor, according to a June article in The RamPage. The “science floor,” as Mr. Rochlin put it, cost $2.4 million, he said, some of which was financed through outside donations.

Student reaction to the makeover was mixed. Rebecca Schlangel ’05 wandered around the floor for 10 minutes upon returning to the school in September for orientation.

“Where is room 501?” she asked. “Where is the staircase out of here? Where did it all go?”

Jonathan Rosen ’05 called the new labs “awesome,” but added that he still missed his old locker, which was removed to make way for a new lab.

During the fifth floor transformation, two floods—caused by an exploding flushometer (a device that regulates water-flow in plumbing) on the third floor—destroyed parts of the ceilings and floors on levels 3, 2, 1, and C. Since the third floor is below the labs, the floods didn’t interrupt the renovation, according to Mr. Rochlin, but they did necessitate several other upgrades to the building.

New plumbing was installed on the third floor, new wood tiling was installed in the half of the auditorium which had been soaked, the College Office and Beit Knesset (room 202) ceilings were replaced, and the Student Activity Center was refurbished with new closets and shelving.

Although the floods were obviously beyond his control, Mr. Rochlin seemed concerned that students would disapprove of the restorations they demanded.

“The new half of the auditorium floor tiling doesn’t match the old,” he said. “But tell students not to worry—that after stepping on it for awhile, it will look exactly the same.”

He added that Ramaz also hired a professional artistic painter to decorate the new Beit Knesset ceiling, which he said “would brighten up the room as whole.”

In total, Ramaz spent $250 thousand repairing flood damage, three thousand of which went to the artistic painter, Mr. Rochlin said. All flood expenses were covered by Ramaz’s property insurance.

Additionally, Mr. Rochlin and the administration decided that after nearly 25 years of running its original systems, the Upper School building needed new fire alarms and a new air control system. The latter device, already installed, is a computer that monitors and regulates the building’s air-flow electronically.

“It’s incredible that our old systems lasted as long as they did,” Mr. Rochlin said, “but after 25 years, we really had no choice.”

Effectively, Mr. Rochlin may have had little choice in deciding to install another new high-tech apparatus: the pyramidal ceiling over the staircase on the fifth floor. For years, teachers have complained about noise from the fourth floor lounge interrupting their classes, and that prompted the school to install the pyramidal-shaped ceiling, which “picks up and absorbs” noise from the lounge, Mr. Rochlin said.

Another acoustic change was made in room 702 (where most music classes are held), which was soundproofed with foam. The Ramaz Parent Council paid for the $12 thousand soundproofing.

Room 702 was also among the six classrooms to receive SMARTboards and new computers over the summer. New desktops were installed in the library, faculty lounge, College Office, Israel Office, and Publications Room (room 402) as well.

Mr. Campagna praised the new SMARTboards, one of which was installed in his main classroom, 303.

“I’m just thrilled about it,” he said after demonstrating the system’s capability to transfer a graph from his calculator to the SMARTboard screen. “It’s really going to revolutionize my instruction.”

For Mr. Wan, head of Pung Sung Contracting, the revolutionary renovation took its toll.

“That deadline was really tight,” he said. “Sometimes we stayed at night in the building working until 1 A.M.”

Indeed, during August, Pung Sung’s carpenters worked on the building night and day, ripping out pipes, drilling, sawing, sanding, moving furniture, and constructing new ceilings. But by the time student orientations commenced on Sept. 7, there was barely a sign in the building of the previous month’s maelstrom.

“Besides the fifth floor, I can’t really see anything different here,” Rosen said.