Old, abestos buildings housing Peoria's kids six hours a day must be saved at all costs. District 150 must be stopped from destroying 19th century schools ill equipped to serve 21st century children. I heard on news radio this morning that the Peoria Hysteria Society is attempting to have three schools declared historical. Such a declaration would block District 150 from demolishing dilapidated schools in order to build schools designed to better educate children.
Gosh, if the Hysterical Society finds these old schools so precious, why don't they make an offer to buy them? Don't have the funds? Well, why don't you raise the necessary funds to buy them? Oh, there aren't nearly enough people willing to donate their hard earned dollars to save these old schools? Guess what? THEN YOU ARE (OR SHOULD BE) SCREWED.
Don't get me wrong. I love old buildings. Give me brick. Give me hardwood. Crown moulding. Cornices. Trees. Love and need all of them. However, if giving up my charming older home was necessary in order to provide a better education for my offspring, I would give it up. Kids come first. At least kids should come first. I notice the three schools the Hysterical Society are trying to save are in the poorer areas of town. Huh. I wonder how many Hysterical Society members have children enrolled in those schools?
Schools are meant to serve and educate students not monuments. I don't care if Whitter School was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and he built it all by himself by hand (no, he didn't do either) if there isn't anyone out there willing to pay for the property, it has to go. It is more important to invest in the future than preserve the past.
If your mind is too open, your brain will fall out. Warning: Names, identities, descriptions, and pictures have been changed and/or used to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. PollyPeoria should not be used or quoted as a source for your senior college thesis.
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4 comments:
Perhaps district 150 should understand that new buildings will do nothing, not even a little bit, to help dig them out of the hole they are in. Buildings do not educate kids and new buildings are not the answer to district 150's problems. I have a child that attends an old school (19th century) not a 150 school but in an old building, they have electricity, so they have computers and a gym and classrooms and a playground, but mostly they have people that care, both parents and teachers. I am no fan of the historical society, I just hate to hear the whining that somehow because a new building cannot be built the education of these children is in jeopardy.
Anon,
The schools up for demolition are not suited the number of students they need to serve. Moreover, they are expensive to heat, can not be cooled (can not add air conditioning ducts because of the abestos) and even more expensive to maintain. You are correct that buildings don't educate kids, teachers do. However, an over crowded, poor ventilated, and deteriorating building makes their job that much harder. Yet another obstacle for them to overcome.
I really have trouble seeing how tearing down an old building, and putting a new one up is cheaper than putting a new AC/Heat system into an old building.
It would seem to me they are taking a more expensive route so that someone can say 'look at my shiny new car!'.
Look at your house for example. Would it cost more to replace your furnace and duct work or build a new house? Pretty obvious. Cost more to put in energy efficient windows? or tear down and build a new house?
These old buildings are structurally sound. They desperately need new heating and cooling. They need better electrical systems to support technology. But tearing them completely seems overkill.
Mahkno,
ABESTOS, ABESTOS, ABESTOS. The cost of removal and clean up of abestos is more than a new building. (This is the reason Kelly School in Peoria Heights was replaced with a new structure.) Abestos is fine as long as you leave it alone. Once you disturb it -to put in duct work- for example, you have a real mess on your hands (real or imagined, it doesn't matter, there are tons of laws dealing with this). Some District 150 schools can not even have ceiling fans installed because of the abestos issue. It is up for debate as to whether the buildings are structurally sound. Demolishing three old buildings and building one energy efficient building makes more since and would be more cost effective.
Moreover, at some point in the near future the repairs on my old house ARE going to exceed its value. Sooner rather than later.
Seriously, I need new windows, a new roof, gutters, furnace, lead paint removal... it never friggin ends.
About three weeks ago I was in a District 150 for work. (IT presentation). What a hole. I'd never send my kids there.
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