I have just finished reading plans for the Horace Mann building updates. I understand that the school will not be part of the modular classrooms that will be added to other schools in the city. I am a former parent at HM and a teacher myself elsewhere and have a lot of concerns about the renovations. I am horrified at the amount of money being spent for a "state of the art" office space (once again $$$ benefiting administration ) and Art and Music which are used by each class once a week . The classrooms have not been updated for years. There is a classroom that was once used as a Language based classroom for maybe 3/4 kids . This is currently not being used! Please look at this unused space for music/art. The library could have stayed upstairs Why can't we put art/music in that room and save a lot of money We need to put our $$ into something our students benefit everyday! If we are not redoing entire school save the money and leave it as is Were the teachers asked for their input on these moves? Once again the teachers are being pushed aside to benefit admin. I volunteered in the library/music room. How are you going to fit 25 Kindergarteners in that small space. Will the Kindergarten bathrooms stay as is? Please HM parents look at these plans carefully. Why are we disrupting an entire school when there are other solutions!
Why is HM excluded from modular classrooms?
Because the mayor doesn't want redneck trailers at his neighborhood school where his kids go. But its okay for Hoover and Winthrop to have their schools turned into redneck eyesores.
It almost doesn't matter who is getting the trailers or who is getting the renovations. The elephant in the room is that they are not adding more STAFF. There are so many more children in the system but the administration has not added more staff. The amount of para professionals has been cut in half, and the system has not added a single administrator to help with all these children. Class sizes are enormous. The specials teachers are running from school to school and stretched so thin. Look at Roosevelt - they had the physical space but that school is in crisis now due to four kindergarten classrooms, four first grade classrooms, and three 2-5 with a single principal. The modular, new walls and paint are only the shell - they not going to make up for what Melrose really needs - good administrators and staff.
No need to spend millions to house a population bubble. Send them to the charter school.
MELROSE is under fire and not one person cares. The HM principal is trying to get rid of staff for CT. Hoover needs more help for the teachers. Roosevelt is so cramped another student can barely fit. The Lincoln has a VP to help with the population of students. Please don't put a teacher from the Roosevelt as VP, because that school most of the teacher's are bullies that's what I was told. Winthrop as no staff left because of the weirdo principal. The ECC makes up the rules as they go along. Vote yes on question 2.
Wait we will save the best for last, BC he is waiting for CT job. Maybe they are sleeping together or a orgy, because CT hangs out with his wife.
There are definitely no unused rooms at HM.
"Roosevelt" says that MBM is only trying to protect herself. Well, that is what the teachers and paras do as well. You don't really think the teachers and paras give a rat's a-- for the kids do you? They won't speak up about the IEP's not getting done. They just keep their mouths shut and get through the day, complaining all the way. Parents take note.
I listened to the conversation tonight about the Bond meeting with the BOA. I heard a lot of talk about handicap access at Horace Mann. Does anyone in this city realize that our police station is NOT handicapped accessible? Do the police come outside to help the handicapped that can't enter the building? We need to start thinking about other priorities in this City.
There's a call box outside the front steps. Great if it's raining or snowing.
That's not all, though. The entire place is a disgrace. It's an old telephone building, and it's been the police station for 65 years. I'm guessing it's about 100 years old. The way they have to bring prisoners through a narrow door and then down a flight of stairs to be booked is a lawsuit waiting to happen. That should all be on one level - drive in, booking, and cells. The phone system board is so old and jury-rigged there's no one still alive that knows how to fix it or what all the wires are for. But you can't buy votes by building police stations.
What ever happened to the "Public Safety Building Committee" Dolan announced during his inagural speecH?
O'Brien, McLaughlin, Nevin......can you spell FARCE.....?
Oh bother!
All you Dolan lovers - you get the government you voted for! The Hughes affair, millions of dollars spent on temporary modular classrooms, $100K's dollars spent on useless hard-copy textbooks while everyone else is going digital, exodus of all our good teachers from the school system, OCR violations with exorbitant legal fees, thousands spent on PR firms to show school admin how to communicate with the public, and on and on and on it goes!
Next time Dolan runs - don't forget to vote for him - I know that he will do much worse than he has in the past!