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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Tuesday, March 11, 2008
For $4 million you can save Julienne HS
A Dayton Public Schools renovation plan for the former Julienne High School estimates such a project would cost the district about an extra $4 million over the typical price for a new elementary school.
The unsettled question is where the additional money needed to save the school might come from and if it can be raised in time.
Julienne, built in 1926, was slated for demolition and replacement with a new elementary school at its Homewood Avenue site before neighbors and preservationists asked the district to reconsider renovating it for re-use.
The estimated cost of the renovation plan is $17.3 million with a new gym and food service area added. But because its funding partner — the Ohio School Facilities Commission — would fund fewer elements of the renovation project, the district’s share would be higher at about $10 million.
District construction chief John Carr said the current cost for a typical new elementary school is about $13.5 million and the district’s share is about $6 million.
The costs to rebuild Julienne would be mostly borne by the district — about 58 percent of the total amount. By comparison, the district’s cost — with local extras such as a larger gym and more special education space factored in — for the typical elementary school is about 45 percent.
The Julienne renovation plan raises other issues. The facilities commission would ask the district to raze Julienne’s convent — considered one of the more historic elements of the school by preservationists — unless there is a plan for its use before the construction project begins.
The district also evaluated Wilbur Wright Middle School, which was to be torn down and replaced with new elementary school. Neighbors have objected to tearing down the school. School board President Yvonne Isaacs said the cost for renovation of that school also is significantly higher but exact figures were not available Tuesday.
Isaacs said she plans to hold with neighborhood groups for both schools.
“We’re going to lay it out there and ask them to help us explore options,” she said.
Isaacs said the district is not likely to commit extra money to the projects, but is willing to consider renovation if supporters can identify outside funds to fill the gap. A decision on how to proceed, she said, is needed by the end of the summer at the latest.
“Right now it is costing us money not to make a decision,” she said.
School board member Joe Lacey, a strong supporter of renovation, said he plans to share the renovation plans for the two schools with an outside architect to get a second opinion on the costs. He also was hopeful the facilities commission would ultimately commit more money to the projects.
“In the past, I’m not sure they really got everything they could out of the OSFC,” he said.
Permalink | Comments (14) | Categories: School Construction
Here’s $10,000 to go away
(Huber Heights teachers and school officials meet with mediators in 2006.)
Get this. An anti-union group called the Center for Union Facts wants to highlight what it sees as extraordinary efforts that teacher unions put forward to protect bad teachers. So the center has committed $1 million to a national campaign to showcase its complaints about teacher unions.
The group is taking nominations from across the nation to compile a list of the 10 worst teachers in the country and it will then offer each of them $10,000 to leave the profession.
This is obviously a politically-motivated publicity stunt. But it does highlight a real problem.
Too many bad teachers spend long careers in education. Is it because of unions? They certainly play a role. It is a union’s job to protect its members and enforce contract rules. When districts seek to discipline a teacher, the union has a responsibilty to see that the rules and procedures are followed. In fact, a teacher could actually sue a union that refused to defend him or her if there was grounds to contest the discipline.
But are unions the whole problem? Unions are quick to point out that discipline fails to stick when managers don’t do their jobs. Many times unions win because managment does follow the even most basic procedures to demonstrate the need for discipline, such as providing evidence of the teacher’s failings or engaging in progressive discipline that bring greater penalties when the teacher fails to improve performance.
In Ohio, teachers are also protected by laws that make it very difficult to fire them.
What’s your reaction to the center’s campaign?
(Image credit: Bill Garlow, DDN)
Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: Schools and Politics
