Fulton’s new high school: Should we be building palaces in this climate?
I have to agree with this reader about the detailed plans for the new Bethany Road High School in Milton. It does look grand. (The plans can be viewed in this Google.doc).
Does this new Fulton County school – or any school — need to be this elaborate when we are cutting teachers and raising class sizes? I have often argued that I would accept a broom closet for my kids’ classroom if a great teacher was leading the class. I think the critical issue is top personnel more than top facilities. That is where I would put my money.
Here is what the reader said:
With all the furloughs, layoffs, budget cuts, shortage of books to take home, elimination of after school programs, art, music, and PE classes, somehow the school boards find the money to build monuments such as the new Bethany Road High School to be built in Milton. The plans give you a perspective of the scope of the structure.
While it is important to provide enough classrooms and other facilities, and to integrate LEED and life cycle costing into the materials used in the public schools, what the h-e-double-l do they need a tower standing 63 above the ground for?
And all the precast material used on the tower and on the building facade will cost 5 to 10 times more than brick. This tower alone will easily cost the taxpayers over $50,000 to construct, and I can see no useful purpose except as a monument to the architect. I guess that is a small amount of money for a monument, considering the budget is an estimated $60 million dollars.
It looks good, along with the expensive precast materials, but are these expensive accents and building materials really necessary to provide the students with a good learning environment? Is there anyone minding the store to see that our property tax dollars are being spent wisely in the economic downturn?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
117 comments Add your comment
bootney farnsworth
April 25th, 2010
3:55 pm
stupid filter
MiltonMan
April 25th, 2010
8:16 pm
@ Milton Man – you are such a dork that you cannot even come up with a creative name. Here are the facts you ignorant azz:
I grew up poor in Alabama on a farm; went into the military to obtain the GI bill. You see silver spoon witch, my parents could not afford to send me to school. I went on and got a BS in engineering along with a MS. I was a big brother/little brother for four years – won an award from the university for this.
I currently have received the president’s award for my volunteer work to include Habitat for Humanity & a science tutor for inner city schools.
Any other ill informed judgments you would like to place upon me idiot?
@ Milton Man
April 25th, 2010
11:10 pm
Your name-calling offends me. Apparently your education did little to expand your vocabulary!
Ole Guy
April 26th, 2010
6:46 am
Milton, one marvels at how easily such an “educated” individual becomes so distracted from the topic of commentary. Your literary demeanor does not speak well of your “achievements”.
On the topic of high school palaces: Have the construction companies, contractors, etc, been investigated for political ties? In this climate of public discord with legislative chicanery, there are many, I am quite certain, who view their days of wine and roses as numbered.
MiltonMan
April 26th, 2010
7:27 am
@ Milton Man is offended by my comments but still feels free to call me names??? Are you bi polar?
believe it!!!
April 26th, 2010
11:35 am
I like the comment about the private sector only building when receiving enough funds from parents, contributions, fund raisers etc. this is soooo true! My children’s school is over 50 years old! They put the money into teacher’s pay, we have teacher’s that have been teaching over 20 plus years average, because they are treated so well and wouldn’t think about going to any of these public schools to teach. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of private schools don’t pay teachers much, but the good ones will pay them alot better to keep them! Thank God they aren’t putting this into building/palaces right now and into our student’s curricula, teacher’s pay were it belongs!!! I have also noticed that most of these palaces private and public, aren’t the schools that produce the high scoring, achieving students.
Molly Smith
April 26th, 2010
2:55 pm
School districts operate from two funding streams: one is for capital expenditures (facilities) and the other is for operations (salaries, maintenance, etc.). The first is generally state or bond funded. If the district doesn’t use the capital monies they lose them. The two funding streams cannot be intermixed or one used for the other. It is actually a smart thing for the district to build this school now while construction costs are low; they will have a school that is beautiful and will serve the district for 50+ years to come. When we build beautiful schools, we tell students, teachers and community how much their educational experience means to us. Thanks for the great forum! Check out our blog at http://www.thinksmartplan.com/wordpress!
Tweets that mention Fulton’s new high school: Should we be building palaces in this climate? | Get Schooled -- Topsy.com
April 26th, 2010
5:55 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Believe Fundraising, MONISE SEWARD. MONISE SEWARD said: Is building a grand high school sensible in this economy? http://ow.ly/1DhHM #FultonCountySchools #CindyLoe #edreform [...]
@ Milton Man & Ole Guy
April 26th, 2010
6:47 pm
Milton Man,
I think I said you were a lousy humanitarian.
Ditto!
Ole Guy,
You are intelligent. I like you! (I’m also “Big Deal Mom!)
La Profesroa
April 26th, 2010
9:52 pm
I teach at a North Fulton high school, and the achievement gap that exists between north and south fulton is based on one common element: The presence of meddling and bullying by north fulton parents regarding their child’s grades and the lack of meddling and bullying by south fulton parents.
The north fulton students are not any smarter or more capable than the south fulton students, they just have parents that know how to manipulate and “work” the system in their favor by threatening to sue for everything.
congrats!
April 27th, 2010
12:07 am
WOW! You would think that would work at a private school wouldn’t ya?? We went in the other day to talk with one of my son’s teachers about his grade and he told me that we should be happy with the 89 my son received. He started off with a 97. The teacher explained that the topic is now more in-depth and that the 89 was great and that we should’nt put so much stress on our son. He has been teacher at this school for over 25 years. We sure didn’t get his great inflated. At least we know our child is truly learning and college will see that he didn’t go to one of these grade inflated factories or we just wasted our money for our child not to get a perfect 4.0 but will be able to get through college because he learned something in high school. I don’t know any more!!!!
La Profesroa
April 27th, 2010
7:09 am
@Congrats….Congratulations to that teacher having the backbone to stand her ground without getting in trouble with her administrator?????? And for the record, get your facts straight, it doesn’t occur in private schools, and Fulton County is the only county that has a Recovery Policy. For those that don’t know what that is: Students can retake the test that negative impacted their GPA. If that isn’t grade inflation then I don’t know what that is. Talk about not preparing them for the harsh reality of college grades.
MiltonMan
April 27th, 2010
9:24 am
La Profesroa you, lkie most teachers, are clueless. My kids attend North Fulton schools and are straight A students who are active in clubs, sports & the older son holds down a job. The only time I “meddled” in the school was in 2003 when his social studies teacher had them write a letter to none other than Max Cleland. The problem was that Max Clelnad was voted out in 2002. I sent an email to the teacher & got no response. I went to talk to the prinicipal who was very apologetic.
What a wonderful job you teachers do when you do not even know who is in office.
Congrats!
April 27th, 2010
10:59 am
Yes, I am aware about the recovery policy, however I am sure it is for almost all public schools in Georgia. A lot of public schools in Cherokee have what they call, freshman academy. This allows students to take an hour lunch. If a student receives anything lower than a c on a test they go during lunch time and get to study and retake the test until they make at least a B. This is why so many public school students are all on the honor roll. They get to college with their HOPE and lose it the first semester. My child us to be a straight A student too until we started attending a private school in Cobb. Maybe we should go back so he can too graduate at the top of his class and look like a shinning star. Just kidding! I want him to be able to make it all the way through college. At least he’s learning. How amazing that parents don’t have a clue about what is truly going on in these schools.
Ole Guy
April 27th, 2010
12:32 pm
Big Deal, I am truly humbled by your comment, however, there are those in other communities of endeavor who will vehemently dispute that descriptive. Through your descriptions of your son, and his achievements, I believe he is far-more deserving of this honor…THANKS!
La Profesroa
April 27th, 2010
9:48 pm
@MiltonMan..Kudos to your children’s achievements! But, for the record, I do know who is in office despite the fact that I teach a foreign language…it’s a shame that a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch when it comes to us teachers.@Congrats..I am so happy to know that a parent is aware of the problem with the Hope scholarships recipients, and their inflated high school grades. Over 50% of these kids lose Hope within the first year at college, thanks to the “extra credit” opportunities and the retaking of tests, not to mention, we cannot have a certain amount of students failing without being scrutinized or reprimanded….I am so tired of parents like Milton Man who consistently criticize and attack public school teachers’ credibility and instructional ability. If you think we are so clueless, then why don’t you send your children to private schools. But wait, that would mean that the child will have to work and compete harder for their grades. Now IMAGINE THAT.
La Profesroa
April 27th, 2010
10:06 pm
@Milton Man…it’s easier to attack and criticize teachers, but the real fault and influence comes from on top, and if you ask me, board members, superintendents, and our lawmakers are the true CLUELESS ONES. We are at the bottom of the list when compared to other states, and we teachers have absolutely no say in Georgia in regards to curriculum objectives, grading rules, testing, and all of the above. Go vent to your area superintendent and board members about us “clueless teachers”, if you know who they are, that is.