In April I wrote about this ill-fated battle to save a neighborhood school. Well, blow the bugle and sound the shofar; they're baaaaaack. The School Closers are back and they’re packing multiple warheads. It’s not just about one or two small schools this time. They are discussing a proposal to abandon a dozen neighborhood elementary schools with the aim of consolidating them into regional education supercenters.
Among the targeted is Rountree School, in my neighborhood. My kids went there. Their grandpa went there. Many of our friends are graduates. It's more than just an educational institution, this 90 year-old, red brick structure is the heart that pumps the life through our little part of the city. At the very least, Rountree acts like a matriarch, shaping each new generation of neighbors in her image. As each new resident moves into the 'hood, or grows to the age of awareness, the old girl slows them down, fills their hearts with history, and puts a healthy glow on their faces. They learn that places aren't just spaces; they are meaning-makers that influence the way we inhabit the world. The gaggle of young voices passing by on the sidewalk each morning is not an insignificant curtain of sound; it is a sound and a sight that cuts a goove in our hearts.
The district hired an outside consultant, who has determined that small historic school buildings do not "achieve maximized facility usage" standards. Yeah? Maximize this.
He would have us believe that modern buildings, housing 500 students, are far more economical and conducive to education than decrepit old buildings that drive students and teachers to failure and mayhem. He's wrong.
Well, true to our reputation as an activist community, the Rountree neighbors have rallied, organized, protested, and persuaded. We continue to fight for, not only our school, but all the small schools that anchor neighborhoods throughout the city.
I have spent countless hours researching, writing, calling, etc. I hate what the Walmartization of education does to us as individuals and as communities. The good news is that I'm building buns of steel, what with the angry butt-clenching all day. Righteous indignation can be liberating. But it keeps me up at night. It's exhausting.
Friday night I got some perspective.
I watched Born Into Brothels. It's a documentary about an American photographer, Zana Briski, who befriends a group of children in Calcutta's red light district. Their mothers are prostitutes and the men in their lives are criminals and drug addicts. Zana gives them cameras and teaches them photography. The result is beautiful and heartbreaking. The work they produce is quite good, and they garner a great deal of international attention for their art. However, in her attempt to get the kids into boarding schools and out of the hellhole they're in, Zana is only partially successful. Some of these amazing children are doomed to a life of poverty, humiliation, and violence.
As documentaries go, it isn’t the most amazing piece of cinema I’ve ever seen; but the story vandalized any notion I had that my life was difficult. It didn't lessen my resolve to continue fighting for my neighborhood and the value of community; but it gave me perspective.
If we win and our school is preserved, it will be hard to go home, prop my feet up, and feel like we’ve actually done something, when Gour, Puja, Manik, Shanti, and Suchitra are still searching for a chance to escape the red light district.
When I pray tonight, I will pray that the consumeristic minds of my generation loosen their grip on the worlds within their fists. May we reach beyond the convenient. May we see beyond our desires. May "the least of these" be moved to the front of the line.
God help us.
12 comments:
Americans really do have it easy. Anyone that makes above fifteen thousand lives a better lifestyale than most of the people in some nations.
I've never been in Roundtree school, but from your description it sounds like a great place to grow up. While supersizing education isn't a good thing, make sure that you aren't protesting just to "save the building."
A school I taught at was falling apart and, even though the school board tried three times in a decade, the community was too stingy and sentimental to vote to remodel or rebuild. The kids are suffering and the faculty is not happy.
I know that some of the schools that are going to be closed are in pretty bad condition. Does Roundtree fit this description? Would compromising with the Sam Walton institute of child rearing be beyond the acceptable choices considered by your neighborhood coalition? Could they add another floor, gut the classrooms or do something else? I think that if you just shout "keep things the same, keep things the same" you will lose. If society doesn't watch out, the kids might lose either way.
We absolutely have to be willing to knock down the old or renovate what's there for the sake of the kids. It would be a shame to lose the historical value (which is great) of those buildings which very structures in many ways shape "how we inhabit the world" around us. But if it comes down to whether or not these kids will be shipped off to mega-schools, I'll support whatever it takes to save the neighborhood SCHOOL, which is the children, faculty and staff themselves.
Renovation is expensive, but considering the structural solidity of most of these ancient buildings (compared to the worthless construction that's being thrown up these days) it may well be more cost effective in the long run to renovate, and to spend the big bucks up front. And, for heaven's sake, if more churches (like North Point in Springfield did for Robberson Elementary) would take their time, energy and resources and pour them into these schools, there would be a lot less for Mr. McCall and this committee to complain about.
Sometimes we forget that the church has an obligation to care for the needy as well as for each other. All those people who got dropped from Medicaid, all these schools whose doors are being threatened to close, all those precious human beings who live up on Commercial Street... they are our neighbors and we have the responsibility of building relationships with them and investing our time, energy and resources into their lives. People aren't changed by handouts. It may help them live a few more days, months, or years. It may fill their stomachs, but it certainly doesn't fill their hearts. Granted, you can't love someone without meeting needs, but the fundamental human need is love. That's why the two greatest commands of God are these: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself, and do so with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind, and ALL your strength.
Funny how love really gives us the proper perspective on just about everything. Keep reachin', boys and girls.
We have the final mix on three tracks, with nine more to go. I'm not making any estimates at this point, but we're getting closer.
The school battle is progressing as well. We will soon have a site up at www.neighborhoodschoolsalliance.com that will be a clearinghouse for contacts and info.
As an architect and a rountree resident, I can assure all that the neighborhood is not trying to save a building. The building is not in the greatest condition, but is any 90 year old? However, the issue is not the structure. It is what it stands for. It is about our neighborhood.
I did not have the opportunity to attend Rountree, but I did go to a similar sized school in a small town. I grew up with community. That is what is disappearing across the nation. The masses are spreading out, reaking havoc on the environment and on society. Money and greed now possess everything. A child's education is not about a profit! A relationship between neighbors is not about how much you can physically gain! Humans have lost sight of being people who can and do relate to others. We are not just statistics. We need warmth, contact, love. It saddens me daily to see the loss of humanity in our society.
Even though I do not have children, I am going to stand behind the saving of the school. Not because it's a historical building, but because we have to hang on to the few places we have left in this world that will help shape better human beings.
Right on. Preach it, Heather.
Lest anyone be confused, let me assure you that the Rountree rally is not an edifice complex, it is a show of support for the unique style of community life that even our neighborhood struggles to preserve.
However, I would say this: The preference we show for restoration over new construction speaks volumes about what we value. We would never elevate a building over our children, but our commitment to historic structures demonstrates a type of faith in community that consumeristic expansionism does not. Such values do not go unnoticed by our children.
I don't see my 95 year-old house as a member of my family, but I do view it as more life-like than a tract home in a new subdivision. Its survival and my commitment to its longevity change how I inhabit the world. The building isn't of supreme importance; the relationships it contours are.
I can't speak to a lot of this, because I don't have any experience in it. I can make comments of what a few have said and since this is a comments section...
I like what I'm hearing about community!
I live in an apartment with my wife right now. We are not yet home owners.
For the first year I was there I would always get frustrated with the fact that no one wanted to talk. Not a "hi, kiss my foot or nuthin'" as my momma would say.
Then one day, (Light bulb) I realized I wasn't saying anything. I started saying hi!
Now I know "the people in my neighborhood." For example, I know that my first floor neighbors are from India. His name is Tyrone and his daughter is Komal. I can't pronounce the wife's name. Komal is precious. She is seven and an absolute delight. She also loves Ruby Sue, my dog and thinks my beard is ugly. (If she could see me without it...)
Anyway...
I work in decorative concrete and look at a lot of new homes or remodels. The biggest diffence in New homes and Old ones? New homes, BIG Back patios (covered). Old homes, front porches with swings or rockers.
The new homes are not designed to even associate with the walk by traffic, much less get to know your neighbors. Ironic since lots are now butted up against each other.
I drove by Roundtree this last weekend, as I was in town for a few days to celebrate my folks 40th year of marriage. Woo hoo! When I drove by I thought about this post, Reach. Whether the building stands or falls, I pray you can keep hold of that community. It is a special thing.
Next time you're in the 'hood, Skip, stop by and check out my concrete countertops. We can share community, and you can show me all the stuff I did wrong.
This word "community" sure is thrown around a lot these days. I'm a big fan of the concept. I would be interested in what you all, out there, think it means.
Come back, good buddy. (For those of you that grew up after the 70s, that's CB talk for "respond to me, radio acquaintance".)
Stay tuned to the next installation of the Rountree Register to get my take on "community".
You will be able to find Heather's article at www.rountreenews.org.
I can vouch for the super-sweetness of Reacher's home, particularly said kitchen countertops. In fact, last we met, I slipped a slow-acting poison and mind-control serum into his beer. Soon the deed will be mine, muahaha. I will bury him behind the garage.
Why do I feel so sleepy. I'm just...it's so...I'll just sit here for a...What are you doing with my keys...Hey, I know y...
I just love it when people "muahaha!"
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