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Completely agree with the Cedar Hill issues and it serves as a perfect example of the need for a comprehensive, long term look at all the facilities. When Potowomut was closed, none of the funds saved went into improving the Cedar Hill facility or the addressing needs that arise from adding 100+ students to the school. Some grades have over 25 bodies (and over 28 when adjusted) while others have 14. There is no policy to balance class size in the City, nor look at redistricting (or stricter districting) to make better use of current elementary facilities. Many families(at least 50 kids in the past few years) have moved or sent kids to private schools as a direct result of the dissatisfaction with the school. The parking lot is unsafe, there is no space to hold school or even grade level events (with 75+ in a grade and an all purpose room with a fire code capacity of 185 you cannot even invite two parents to see a grade level performance without safety issues), and some classrooms you can barely walk around in. In addition, there have been constant health concerns of students and staff which may be from overcrowd classes and outdated mechanicals/roofing. I think many were fearful that the same fate of Cedar Hill would occur at the secondary level with the consolidation plan.The one thing many of these facilities have going for them is the space to compensate for outdated designed/crumbling facilities. If we fill the secondary schools to capacity without major facility improvements over the long term, education and our children will suffer. Capacity needs to be analyzed according to the modern day educational needs, not by the capacity these buildings were designed for decades ago. We need to be looking at innovative approaches to education and long term facility needs, not closing buildings to save money that won't even cover annual maintenance needs on these deteriorating facilities. The problems are much larger than the LTFPC was tasked or had the authority to solve. The process and solution has to be a collaboration between the City and school system because they are dependent on each other, both in success and failure.

From: Stuck in neutral

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