With curriculum and teaching style what it is today, the front of the classroom is hard to find. Elementary school children sit in groups at tables, and a classroom might have several activities going on at the same time. Special education is as likely to be going on inside the classroom as out. The teacher isn't the only one teaching anymore. Among students and teachers there is more give and take, something our current classroom configurations don't take that into account.
Technology is another consideration.
Many of our classrooms were not designed with space for the requisite 2-4 computers, nor is the wiring for those computers available. Like the school districts around us, Mendham Borough schools are bursting. Bob Marold, principal at Mountain View, says he's trying to hold class size at 26 students. And at Hilltop, whereas in past years all grades could be neatly divided into three groups, every grade at Hilltop is in four sections except for one. A quick renovation was needed at Hilltop in the summer of '99, in which office space was converted to classroom.