Perhaps.
Let's look at M. R. Reiter itself, where two trailers have been in use for about seven years now. In the picture below, those are the two white rectangles on the Hillcrest Avenue side of the school.
I'm sure one of our very knowledgeable readers has the details, but they were purchased as emergency housing several years ago. They were purchased at a deep, deep discount because they had already reached the end of their expected useful life.
They stand there still, today. Once the new school was built, they would no longer be needed, but, things change...
Here's a shot of Grandview as it stands today.
There's a lot of playground area that can be used, isn't there?
As an artist's rendition, let's add the eight trailers that would be needed. These "temporary classroom units", or whatever the politically correct euphemism is, are double wides, so for comparison purposes, I've taken a standard blue trailer and a standard white trailer at the same scale to indicate "one" classroom unit, and presto! Grandview with eight trailers.
Pretty, isn't it?
There are plenty of ways to configure the actual placement of the trailers, but consider this: The "where" of placement is less important than the "how long." We can all agree this is an emergency situation requiring flexibility on all sides. If this was really going to be temporary until a permanent solution was available, all would probably be well.
These trailers should not be installed without a long-term viable community-accepted plan in place.
Accepting trailers without assessing the longer term implications does not place the town's future, or the welfare of the students, as a high priority core concern.
3 comments:
Was doing some internet surfing, and came across this eerily familiar looking website from some folks down in Palm Beach, FL, right down to the poor grammar, bad spelling, and hyperinflated rhetoric. I have to give a big edge to the Palm Beach folks for overall quality compared to Morrisville's Stop the School or QSRE websites.
http://www.stoptheschool.org/
From Morrisville's Stop the School website:
"The Platform".....
DEAR NEIGHBORS,
The primary election is May 15th, 2007. You will be voting for six school board positions. This election will decide the future course of education in our school district..
We are the candidates that pledge to work together with the parents and residents, in an open and honest partnership in the best interest of our children’s education.
With your help we pledge:
to provide a quality education for our children.
a curriculum that will enable our children to achieve proficiency on the PSSA tests and academic excellence.
state of the art technology for grades K through 12.
a financial management plan to assure every possible dollar goes into educational programs and materials and stops waste.
to STOP the outrageous yearly double digit tax increases.
We are the candidates that DO NOT want this proposed pre K-12 school building as we believe it is poorly designed, will be cheaply constructed, and could never be built for only 30 Million. The plan originally described by the current school board has been downgraded into an inferior, substandard building that will have 5 year olds mingling with 18 year olds on the same campus.
Our children and our future children deserve better than a school not meant to last more than 20 years. The current school board has refused to consider any alternatives since the feasibility study was prepared by the same architects hired for the project. They have not included the people of this community in the planning.
We are paying the highest school taxes in Bucks County while our students’ test scores are among the lowest in the state. Administrative costs per student are among the highest in Pennsylvania. Are you aware that the current cost to educate a student in the Morrisville School District is $22,000.00 per student per YEAR? Did you know that projections increase costs to over $30 thousand dollars per student per year by 2012?
WE CAN AND WILL DO BETTER!
We will address the physical condition of our buildings!
We will form Community Advisory Panels comprised of residents, parents, seniors, etc. to take suggestions and make the school board a more transparent governing entity!
We will implement a maintenance plan with accountability to assure that buildings are never allowed to deteriorate again!
We will demand that administration have accountability standards for instruction to assure that our children learn!
We will stress academic and behavioral standards for our students. Every child needs to feel safe in our schools!
First printed on stop the school flyer April 2007
It is my understanding (from meetings I attended at the time) that the trailers were purchased as an interrin "stop-gap" measure to house students while the school board deliberated about a more permanent answer. I think the board was seriously considering major work on Reiter at the time (one of those engineering studies that was later ignored) but that they NEVER intended the trailers to be permanent. That was, in fact, why they purchased inexpensive ones at the end of life, so they wouldn't be sinking money into new 'permanent" trailers.
But of course, temporary is only temporary until a new majority is voted in to change things to permanent.
I.E. A permanent solution to the problem (being a new school) was only permanent until a new board majority was voted in.
And, of course, a NEW new majority can reverse what this board will do, but it all costs.
(Do I hear the phrase "re-open Manor Park school" echoing through the halls?)
Post a Comment