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[quote=Anonymous]

The Forest Hills playground was just redone this year. The adjacent church space has only about 7 classrooms so the scenario presented by DGS would have trailers on the brand new ball fields, tennis courts, and basketball court, which could certainly damage them. A huge waste of tax dollars. Plus the play equipment is geared for young kids, not 3-5 graders. In the past, the neighbors vehemently opposed having a private school take over the church space because of traffic. This just seems like a nonstarter.

It's not that neighbors are opposed to trailers at Murch. Hell, half of Murch's 630 kids are already in trailers and have been for years. The problem is that once construction starts, the only place to put those (or new) trailers is on the NW corner of the lot (controlled by NPS). More than half of the current playground will be fenced off and under construction. There would be no buffer between the demountables and a huge excavation pit, where the soccer field and basketball courts (and several trailers) currently are. Murch would have a sliver of play space for the students. Maybe it could work. But maybe there is a better short-term solution to ensure the safety and learning environment of the kids, like swinging part of the Murch population off site for awhile. There is no perfect solution (otherwise the city would have built another elementary school in Ward 3 a long time ago to alleviate the overcrowding at Murch).

It would be nice if we could come together as neighbors and citizens to support our teachers and kids. Rebuilding our neglected schools across the city benefits EVERYONE. We need to have each other's backs. A year or two of inconvenience is a small price to pay for safe, modern, right-sized schools in every neighborhood. That was the attitude back in 1975 when Murch hosted Lafayette's preK and Kindergarten students during Lafayette's first major renovation. Meanwhile, Murch hasn't been touched since it was built in 1929, yet has almost as many students as Lafayette and in half the space.

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