Lamp-post banners: Montclair uses them to sing the praises of local shopping and colleges use them to cheer on their sports teams. Now Verona High School has them to remind its students and the community what the high school is all about.
A series of banners, which now line Sampson Drive from Grove Street to Fairview Avenue, were given to the school by the VHS SCA’s needs assessment committee. The idea was to incorporate the core values from the Verona Public Schools’ 2013-2018 Strategic Plan–collaboration, diligence, initiative, integrity, respect and responsibility–into a project. The committee tossed around several ideas before hitting on the idea of banners, which they felt would have the biggest impact in relation to the limited money the committee had–roughly $4,500.
Vivian DiStaso, the outgoing SCA president, was instrumental in getting the design ready, and the committee, which consisted of DiStaso, SCA members Don Flood, Lisa Freschi and Daphne Smith as well as VHS teacher Dr. Stacy Smith and VHS Principal Glenn Cesa, worked with Paul McDevitt, the school district’s director of facilities, to complete the project for opening day. Verona’s Department of Public Works installed the banners.
Banners weren’t the only thing the needs committee accomplished this summer. It also had an audio system installed in the auditorium and put a new refrigerator in the faculty room.
