To anyone who takes the bus and has had to adjust to the now jam-packed seats, it's obvious that the middle school and high school have combined hours. But what might not seem so obvious is that the schools have become practically one, with some teachers and students switching between schools.

With the budget situation, the school has been making changes and sacrifices to keep in budget. By combining the schools and the bus routes, Mr. Michael Mastrullo, Vice Principal of the High School, says the school was able to cut two buses, saving the school a total of $100,000.

To add to the idea of the campus, some teachers go back and forth between the school. Mr. Mastrullo says that at least six teachers work at both schools. He also says that while change can be tough to adapt to, the teachers seem to be adapting to the change pretty well.

Mr. Mastrullo also defends the superintendent's' choice to combine the schools, saying that when the school was first made, it was made for grades 6-12, so this isn't unheard of.

Mr. Mastrullo also says that it's easier for the school to share resources now. But, at the same time, everyone's being asked to do more, due to the budget and the fact Mr. Don Ciampa now runs both schools.

Mr. David Chaple, teacher of Science and teacher of ninth and eighth grade, says that it's not any harder to keep up with what the students do while teaching two grades, and since the majority of the high school work is being done on the computer, he isn't misplacing papers and worksheets in the wrong building.

The one hard part, says Mr. Chaple, is trying to get his own way to teach Biology, the new class he teaches in the high school.

According to him, "it's like starting teaching all over again, I have a book to tell me what to teach, but I'm still working out how to present it in my own way." That isn't a worry for his eighth grade science class, since he has been doing that for a while.

Mr. Chaple has only had to add one biology class to his schedule, first period; other that that, he stays in the middle school.