With potential renovation being on the horizon for the Triton community, it’s hard to envision where the original concept stands in modern day.

        The Triton Voice took a trip to Pentucket High School, a recently reconstructed and modernized building, to compare and contrast the environment between both districts.

        “This hallway… I didn’t even know this was here, to be honest.” Said Ava Greenbaum on various counts, the junior tour guide our group followed along with.

        This was one of three times in which a student attending Pentucket High School appeared to have discovered something new as of the day of touring. The scale was immense, ranging to room numbers around 40 on the third floor. So, the question begs- what is the future like for Triton? How does it compare to the past? Will upcoming students of our district be provided education in a building similar to Pentucket?

         Triton was founded in 1971 with the intention of holding up for a fair amount of years. As of the 2023-2024 school year, it comes desperate for fixing. The last marked renovation took place in 2001.

        The towns of Sailsbury, Newbury & Rowley weren’t the only inclusions offered in the creation of our school. Those such as Georgetown turned down agreements with Triton, working toward their own schools closer to home.

        With all three involved rural towns dating back to the 1630′s, the location of the school is ‘rich in historical traditions and attractions which add to the academic experience of our students’, as spoken by the TRSD website overview.

        There is a simple district vision: this community of learners is to unite and to meet the needs of all students involved, through the adoption of best practices and active partnership with families and the wider community.

        As it stands today, Triton now thrives with the three towns together and looks forward each year to the potential approval of reconstructing the ruin that has become of the current building.

        The question arrives every time our school is passed through with denial- what was it that prevented Triton from being approved of a new school project? The simple answer is lack of desire in comparison to other schools that made the cut. While this means we need to hold off longer as a community, it only inspires better for the future conditions of our building. Full renovation would be a significantly larger investment than only fixing what is broken, but it is what needs to be done.

        “For us, it started in 2015- a lot of the issues we had were structural, such as electrical systems. You’re really documenting that. It’s a cumulative effect.” Spoke Pentucket principal.

         Naturally, students at Pentucket have adjusted to things that Triton has never had the chance to offer- airlock technology, bulletproof glass, three floors of remodeled interior surfaces, system complexity- the list goes on. Groups were introduced to a dedicated turf room, an anatomy room with real hospital beds and large skeletal models, a two floor cafeteria similar to a hotel lounge, gender neutral bathrooms. Around every corner was something unseen for our district.

        “One part we love about this is that we are the capital team- we get to see teachers get excited, thinking they can do this and this and this.”

        So, what is the next step in getting approved from here? School committee member Nerissa Wallen believes we should simply “keep trying- the MSBA is saying it’s very close to being accepted. Worst case, use any set aside money [$1.5M in savings]  to hold off a little longer.”