Countdown to April 29 to PERMANENTLY close M. R. Reiter. Ask the board to see the 6 point plan.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

The Old Schools

So why is Morrisville replacing three schools with one? Cost effectiveness. The baby of the three is the Morrisville Middle/Senior High school, which was built in 1958. Grandview Elementary, which celebrates the big 5-0 this year, was born in 1957. The hybrid granddad/grandchild is the former Robert Morris High School, which was built in 1924, closed for renovations in 1958, partially burned in a fire, and was reopened as Manoah R. Reiter Elementary in 1961. Source: the awesome Earl Davis' photography site. See his Tidbits of History.

So the students of Morrisville are using buildings not only from the era of the poodle skirt, but reaching back to the pre-Depression flappers! Kudos and greetings to our older folks who remember these eras fondly, but I doubt Grandma still has the "bee's knees" and Fonzie's getting a little long in the tooth.

I shouldn't forget the matched pair of trailers at Reiter either. The overcrowded district decided to stop holding music and art lessons in the hallways and purchased the trailers at a bargain...because they were already at the end of their useful service life. Make note of that "end of their useful service life" phrase, because it's going to be a familiar theme.

Let's go to Exhibit 1: The school district building report, freely available at the District Website. Does anyone want to count the number of times "end of useful service life", "not suitable for continued use", "not capable of repair", and similarly worded lines appear? I lost count. I'll have to get a new highlighter and check the printout again. BONUS: Do you think the phrase "manufacturer no longer in business" should be counted as well? I'm leaning toward "yes" myself.

So...the harvest gold and avocado green appliances all need to go, replaced and updated to the spotless stainless steel of the 21st century. Hmmm...but when we replace the appliances, the windows will look pretty bad. And then there's the air conditioning and the electrical systems. They've been updated since the 1970s too.

SPECIAL QUESTION FOR HOMEOWNER HANDYMEN: Does this sound like a weekend of bliss? I'm thinking possibly not.

Remember how back in the day, Pennsbury Pottery, Vulcanized Rubber and U.S. Steel paid the civic bills? Why do I bring this up? Look around your house and see where you may have cut corners and foregone repairs to save some money. That's exactly the type of upkeep that these three schools have lived with for decades. The previous boards have worked with less and less money and the talented custodial staff made miracles from Kleenex and baling wire. Less than complete upgrades and repairs make the age and conditions of these buildings even more of an issue.

And then there's the pesky little matter of ADA compliance. The curb cuts, lever door handles, extra wide bathroom stalls we're used to in modern buildings are not required for grandfathered buildings. Remodeling like this negates the grandfathering and lets loose another round of renovations. Pretty soon, we'll have to build a new building.

Which leads to another question...if not now, when? The real "when" for this new building was some ten or fifteen years ago, not today. And every day it's put off, the cost just climbs higher and higher.

What do you think?