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At tonight’s meeting, the board will consider an initial schematic design proposal for the renovation of Horace Mann Elementary. I was a little surprised to see the proposal, which you can view more fully here. In the proposal, the addition to Mann is 17,440 square feet—much larger than the roughly 10,000 square-foot addition we had talked about earlier this year when we solicited public input. As a result, its placement on the site and its effect on outdoor playground space and traffic flow seems very different from what I would have expected, given my perception of the public feedback we received. Our administrators may have good explanations for these differences tonight, but I’m inclined to think we need to hear more from the public on this design before approving it. Readers—what are your initial thoughts?
9 comments:
I think that the new layout looks awesome, but I would have major concerns about limited space on the site. Does this proposed plan acquire the two properties directly on the site, or any adjacent that were discussed previously in the options presented to the public? If so, how much and is this cost included with the bond? Where is all of the parking going to be? After these renovations does it show what the school capacity will be? It seems like the capacity should be much greater than previously expected, just looking at the floor plans and added spaces in this plan. This is just for the design, correct? How much are the actual building estimates for these plans compared to what it estimated for the bond, maybe I overlooked this but I don't see that shown here?
Is the district quietly and behind the scenes planning on closing Lincoln or Shimek and making Mann's boundaries bigger? Can whatever the superintendent says will be built at Mann later be turned into new capacity for more students? Where is the money coming from?
Keep in mind that if the bond passes the Mann plan may well change yet again or even be eliminated entirely. The ongoing flip flops that go on with the Facilities Master Plan such as this latest "revision" provide a textbook example for why there should be a no vote on the bond until we know exactly what is going to be built.
That is what concerns me. Is it typical that a bond vote occurs before design work is completed, or even really fully thought out. They want to show us all of these pretty pictures and potential design options, but there are so many unknowns. Some of the projects are so far out that things with most definitely change. There is no doubt that once Liberty is fully functional the area around it is going to grow exponentially. Liberty high school is simply awesome - way nicer than any high school I have ever stepped into.
Do the key players on the east side see "new schools on the edge of town" and "new home construction on the edge of town" as what's best for the east side? Or do they value the established neighborhood schools? Looking at the old Hoover situation and hearing rumors about Lincoln, Mann and Hills being put on the chopping block makes me wonder.
9:56 a.m. The east side group Every Student Any School that supported bussing for balance supporting closing schools when necessary.
12:02 again....should have been "supported" not the second supporting.
The horrific video which surfaced on Facebook page of "Discuss IC Community Schools Part II" of a wheelchair kid stuck on the poorly surfaced playground at Shimek was very disturbing. This is a brand new facilities installation, and they didn't make it suitably accessible, so this kid got stuck. He couldn't join his peers on the playground...what a terrible way to start out on the first day of school.
I'd be shocked if an ADA lawsuit doesn't ensue, and it will cost the district way more money than it would have if they had just done the job properly.
How could Murley have been so oblivious to this outcome? Of course he cannot have been oblivious to it.
So I have to wonder if Shimek is on the back-room chopping block too, and Murley wanted to minimize investment on a school that will close soon.
After the bond vote, regardless of whether it passes, I expect Mann, Hills, Lincoln and Shimek will be closed soon after. We'll have additions to the newer schools on the outskirts, making more mega-schools that virtually all students will need bus or car transport to reach. The core of IC will be hollowed out further, with more single family homes turning over to low-cost rental properties, and retirees between downtown and 1st Ave losing big on their property values while developers cash in on building new outlying neighborhoods and urban sprawl.
Turn out and vote NO on this bond. NO more funding for a vision which sacrifices our existing Iowa City neighborhoods. Let's have a new bond that explicitly restricts the initial funding to ADA accessibility, climate control, and other renovations to EXISTING schools. Those are projects already included on the existing bond language, but subject to removal. As it's currently written they don't actually have to do any of these projects on existing schools, they can shift all the money to the newer projects on the outskirts. That's why they put so many projects in there, so they could have more flexibility to close neighborhood schools in defiance of community opinion.
It won't take 7 years, as claimed by the pro-bond advocates, to rewrite a more focused bond we can all support. The ADA and climate control and related updates and renovation plans to existing schools are already in the bond. Let's just carve those out and vote on those only.
Anon 10:11,
What about the 300+ extra kids at Garner? And the soon to be 100+ extra kids at the other North Liberty elementary schools? And the 100 plus extra kids at Wickham?
I hope you will want to build a new elementary for many of those kids in North Liberty. These kids are already here. The new North Liberty elementary will almost certainly open full.
In a district with multiple municipalities, a bond that focuses on just one area while there are needs in other areas will almost certainly never pass. I think most people agree on that.
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