WVU DEALS ITS DIRTY INTERSECTION
(See also: Let’s Play in Traffic, Kids! - THE GREEN SCHOOL AS TIME BOMB; Warning! Hazard! - IDIOTIC AND INDEFENSIBLE SCHOOL SITING)
Here’s the $2.275 million question: Why would the Monongalia County School District pay WVU (College of Agriculture) $2.275-2.6 MILLION to site the Woodburn/Easton consolidation on WVU’s 7 or 8 acres at the Mileground intersection with 705? Never mind, for the moment, that WVU’s Mileground intersection site is a horrible location. Why pay the university millions for land, when as demonstrated at the recent board meeting, the school district could build the school on land it already owns, the great Woodburn community site, slightly expanded?
[UPDATE: At the 705/119 Mileground intersection, Mon Schools eventually, with no public discussion about extra acreage, bought 8.85 acres from WVU for about $2.9 million, then bought an additional adjacent 2.5 acres from the Mileground Mobile Home Park for about $800,000, then spent about $1 million to mitigate the mine voids that underlie both properties, anywhere from a dozen to a few dozen feet below the surface. That's nearly $5 million spent on land acquisition and mine mitigation, none of which would have been spent if a new school had been rebuilt on the existing Woodburn schoolgrounds. West Taylor Elementary was built a few years ago by Mon School's architects for $6.6 million. West Taylor's capacity is 300 students, nearly 100 more students that attend Woodburn Elementary, and only about 70 fewer student than attended Woodburn and Easton Elementaries combined, last year. The consolidated Eastwood Elementary on the Mileground is projected to cost $21 million or more, in a colossal mismanagement and waste of funds, at an illicit and potentially lethal site.]
A view of a possible Easton/Woodburn school (450 students) built on revitalized Woodburn grounds:
Even if the school district would sell off the four acre abandoned Woodburn site for a million or more dollars, that still leaves a loss of millions of dollars for land the district does not need and should not use: the screaming loud intersection strip, the congestion, the crash and smash vortex, the vehicle exhaust pollution. Can such an unnecessary transfer of funds even be legal?
There has been talk of local developers driving this 705/Mileground intersection siting, but that could all be secondary piggybacking on the WVU sale. The land sale money would go to WVU, apparently its College of Agriculture. The school district has moved to act in this as if it has money to burn all the while it pleads poverty. The function of WVU taking millions from the school district in this proposed deal is rotten. What a disgrace it would be for the university, and for the school district, a disservice to the community and a danger to the students.
June 14, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Local schools immensely contribute to the physical and academic health of the children and to the community and social health of the neighborhoods. Building the new elementary school on the existing Woodburn lot is to be on the cutting edge of how the nation is moving. Please do not short-change the best interest of our Morgantown children by taking a consolidation approach. Build the new school on the existing Woodburn site.
June 15, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Community schools are a necessity to a city such as Morgantown. As we all know, these schools are the center of life for neighborhoods like Woodburn. To maintain the vibrant nature of these neighborhoods then it is vitally important to keep the schools in them. This begs the question of why city government does not take a greater interest in these issues. Obviously, it is in the city’s best interest to use what influence it possesses to drive the county schools away from consolidation and towards a community model of development. Granted, this influence might only be in the form of a resolution, but still, a resolution in favor of maintaining community schools would be a valuable addition to the public record.
June 17, 2010 at 11:45 am
If we, as a nation, are serious about preventing and reducing childhood obesity and if we, as a nation, are serious about quality, nurturing schools then we will naturally support the neighborhood school. here walking is the norm and the local playground is available for physical activity beyond school hours. here the teachers and parents can more easily have contact and dialogue for the benefit of the student, who is known to the school.
There is also the issue of less driving of cars and buses with the obvious petroleum consumption and exhaust.
Common sense gives the answer for the environment where children thrive. . . neighborhood schools.