In 1980, Dr. Robert G. Petix was named the fourth principal of Westfield High School, a position which he maintained until his retirement in June 2006, making him Westfield High School's longest-serving principal. During the 1980s and 1990s, several new additions to the facility and grounds were made, including renovated playing fields outdoors, updated science labs, a new and expanded library/media center, several state-of-the-art computer labs, and a technological infrastructure of approximately 300 networked computers with Internet access. With the opening of the 1988–89 academic year, Westfield High School welcomed ninth graders to its halls for the first time. The last decade of the 20th century was marked by substantial increases in enrollment in the elementary schools that necessitated the construction of additions to all but one of the district's six elementary school buildings. During the first year of the new millennium Westfield taxpayers approved a $22 million referendum bond to accommodate the arrival of these enrollment increases at Westfield High School. Construction at the high school began during the summer of 2001 with the replacement of all windows and the conversion of two former shop classrooms into four large classrooms for use during the 2001–02 school year. By the spring of 2002, the "portable" classrooms on Trinity Place had been razed in preparation for the construction of a three-story Science wing which began following a ground breaking ceremony in April 2002. At the same time, construction also began inside the existing building. By the end of the summer, a new Student Center and an Art studio classroom had been created by extending the building into the main courtyard, and a renovated Foods Lab was ready to greet students. Work on the expansion of athletic storage facilities and the creation of new teacher work and preparation areas was also finished. With construction of the new Science wing completed in the spring of 2003, classes in the existing science classrooms and labs in the main building were moved to their new location in the new wing. During the summer of 2003, work was completed on the renovation and air-conditioning of the former science classrooms for use as general purpose classrooms, as well as on other aspects of the referendum construction project, including the creation of a Counseling Suite for the departments of Guidance and Special Education, the expansion of administrative offices, and the renovation of the varsity gymnasium floor and replacement