Is this happening in your town too?

[techristian]

Is this happening in your town too?

2 more schools sold or flattened in Windsor Ontario in the past few months....without any "FOR SALE" signs posted. I have been watching this happen for the past 10 years, at least 10 schools bought by "developers", obviously insiders because no signs are ever posted. These properties are usually flattened and 20 housing LOTS are put in their place. These usually go for $200,000 or less. I think that it is a crime that these are never turned into music schools or other useful things...just torn down and replaced with housing developments for profit$ .

 

We also recently had a few beautiful churches up for sale. One became a funeral home and the other , some sort of entertainment complex, which, at least is making use of the great acoustics, rather than flattening.

 

Dan

[1001gear]

My town is too busy climbing itself.

[MikeRivers]

A couple of years ago, a large multi-story office building just up the hill from me that formerly was leased to the county department of housing and urban development went vacant when the HUD office moved to new space in the county office complex about 15 miles away. The building was vacant for nearly a year, the owner couldn't lease or sell it, and they were about to go bankrupt.

 

The county made them an offer to buy the building that they couldn't refuse, and over the course of about a year, turned it into a reallly spiffy school for 3rd through 6th grades to take the overflow from the school that was formerly 1st through 6th grades. They gave us a tour before it opened and you should see the video production studio they have there for the kids to use. But they haven't built a traditional playground yet.

[nat whilk II]

Nothing like that in Austin. The school district does close schools from time to time, but the buildings always get re-purposed as Admin or a charter school or something like that. It's typically schools that have proven impossible to "fix" through personnel changes or policy changes, etc., that get closed. Busts up bad, entrenched patterns of school culture, I guess.

 

Can I say a real geezerly thing here and now? I attended public schools in Texas (Midland and Houston), in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Evansville, Indiana. I don't remember one - not one single time - when I ever saw a kid being openly defiant to a teacher or other staffer. Oh, lots of sneaky misbehavior, sure - stupid kid stuff like farting in class or passing notes or whispering or unnecessary trips to the bathroom (unless smoking is considered a need.) The schools weren't perfect by any stretch, so it was no golden era of fantastic education - but at least the adults were not locked in this never-ending standoff with disrespectful and overtly defiant or even potentially violent kids.

 

Interesting item, at least to locals here, is that the Austin ISD has started advertising (!!!). Why in heaven's name would a public school system need or want to advertise?

 

Answer is - students are leaving the public school system for private and charter schools in numbers large enough to hurt the "per student" funding the public school system receives. Even in a city that has been in growth mode for some 40 years straight, the public system is losing students to the charter schools particularly. The charter school people actually send out door-to-door "salespeople" to convince locals to send their kids to the new charter schools. "We have after-school care for free!" and so on - and it's working.

 

Are charter schools the new technique of white flight? Yes and no, I hear. There are tons of anecdotes about minority kids getting a new chance to shine in charter schools that are not neighborhood-oriented. Away from the cliques and gangs and so on that the public schools get stuck with. Time will tell, I guess, whether this is just a new twist to inequality or a breath of fresh opportunity for kids across the racial and economic boards.

 

nat whilk ii

[Mikeo]

Nothing like that in Austin. The school district does close schools from time to time, but the buildings always get re-purposed as Admin or a charter school or something like that. It's typically schools that have proven impossible to "fix" through personnel changes or policy changes, etc., that get closed. Busts up bad, entrenched patterns of school culture, I guess.

 

Can I say a real geezerly thing here and now? I attended public schools in Texas (Midland and Houston), in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Evansville, Indiana. I don't remember one - not one single time - when I ever saw a kid being openly defiant to a teacher or other staffer. Oh, lots of sneaky misbehavior, sure - stupid kid stuff like farting in class or passing notes or whispering or unnecessary trips to the bathroom (unless smoking is considered a need.) The schools weren't perfect by any stretch, so it was no golden era of fantastic education - but at least the adults were not locked in this never-ending standoff with disrespectful and overtly defiant or even potentially violent kids.

 

Interesting item, at least to locals here, is that the Austin ISD has started advertising (!!!). Why in heaven's name would a public school system need or want to advertise?

 

Answer is - students are leaving the public school system for private and charter schools in numbers large enough to hurt the "per student" funding the public school system receives. Even in a city that has been in growth mode for some 40 years straight, the public system is losing students to the charter schools particularly. The charter school people actually send out door-to-door "salespeople" to convince locals to send their kids to the new charter schools. "We have after-school care for free!" and so on - and it's working.

 

Are charter schools the new technique of white flight? Yes and no, I hear. There are tons of anecdotes about minority kids getting a new chance to shine in charter schools that are not neighborhood-oriented. Away from the cliques and gangs and so on that the public schools get stuck with. Time will tell, I guess, whether this is just a new twist to inequality or a breath of fresh opportunity for kids across the racial and economic boards.

 

nat whilk ii

 

I live in a small area and there's one charter school. There's good and bad about charter schools. The thing about them is you need to apply and they can cherry pick. This keeps out the really bad students. It also leaves public schools with less students, and less students means less money. I'm not even sure you need to be certified to teach at one. Charter schools have a longer school day and much more wiggle time for the extra curricular activities.

 

In a public school teachers need to be certified in there content area. Here in MA you have 5 years to get your masters degree in education. There's is an extension you can apply for too.

 

Public schools have to take what ever comes there way.

 

Unions hate Charter schools, but many teachers do need to go. Not only do they suck at teaching, they suck as human beings. Not all true, but I have seen it too many times folks can have advanced degrees and really should be working at Wal Mart and not teaching. Lazy is what they are. They don't do anything outside what is required, and the Unions are there to back them up. On the other hand there are many very good public school teachers.

 

I work in a higher ed facility in science and I have a dislike for STEM. The pump a lot of money in administration and ideas. I told one instructor the problem with 8th grade science is nobody had don it in 40 years. Instead of spending money in equipment and longer programs , money gets channels to equipment borrowed from our place. 10 people trying to come up with ideas and 3 hours or less of instruction. It's similar if you wanted to play baseball and drove somewhere to try the equipment for a few hours. The ones who make the money is the bus company. People get go at what they do, if you only see it once, you really are not gonna master much. You as a musicians know the deal about practice practice practice. Don't think the Charter schools have sports programs either. Ours doesn't.

 

After 3pm Public schools run a few programs, sports, maybe band practice. The other kids go home, but to what. In many ways the longer day of a charter school has taken the place of parenting back some 40 years ago.With 2 parents working these days and many single parents, it actually nice to have a place for kids to go till the work day ends.

 

On that note while we speak they are putting the wrecking ball one of the catholic churches here in town. My wife and I though about buying the Episcopalian church in the town over. Many of the churches, but not all have gone up for sale. Consolidation in a dying small industrial community. You can't heat them and they are a money pit, and super high maintenance.

 

One of our saving graces here is the old Sprague capacitor plant is now a major contemporary art museum. It been going for 25 years and growing. I guess after this phase of the project it will be the largest in the USA.

 

One thing about buildings like schools and churches is you can not just abandon them and not heat them, especially in colder climates. With in a few years they deteriorate. and deteriorate rather quickly. Without the backing with some state money and a lot of work don't by many the old Sprague building could have easily been a parking lot or a field.

 

It's home of the Solid Sound Fest/ Wilco Fest and another festival called Fresh Grass.

 

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

One of the elementary schools I went to is now owned by a private school, but the others are all still there and still being used by the school districts.

 

A lot of schools needed to be built to handle all the baby boomers, and there is probably a surplus in some areas of the country. I'm all for re-purposing them as needed to fit the needs of the local communities. The art museum above being a excellent example.

[nice keetee]

We went to a 1 room schoolhouse where we lernt the 3 r's..

 

 

 

 

 

riffing, recording and rewind

[Ernest Buckley]

Here in NYC, most schools are overcrowded. Catholic schools which are closing left and right are being leased out to the city which desperately needs more space.

 

The housing market in Brooklyn is insane. Honestly, if you`re not making at least $200k a year, don`t even bother living here because you`ll be miserable....

 

What you`re seeing in Canada with the old schools is what we`re seeing here with any sort of residence. Developers are putting up 3-4 units where 1 used to stand. So they`ll buy a 30 x 100 property between $500-$750k, tear it down, then put up 5-6 two bedroom condos for $750k each. Buyers are tripping over each other to get into these properties....

 

As a lifelong Brooklynite... I am sad by this because neighborhoods all look the same now. Gentrification is "nice" at first because properties are improved, new businesses bring in more life to an area, and that neighborhood becomes the "place to be" until it reaches a certain point and then the old timers start to sell and their properties are torn down, crappy lego block buildings are put up in their place and suddenly you`ve got a bunch of 30 hipsters occupying a space where an old couple lived for 50 years and raised their 3 kids and grandchildren.

 

I`m not being sentimental but the roots of who we are a being replaced with trends... and trends come and go so the character of a neighborhood is gone. I could write a book on the subject but you get the picture.

[WRGKMC]

If they do build a fence, the number of illegals packing our schools here in Houston might begin to drop. I actually wouldn't mind that because its the local citizens who pay the school taxes here, not the Feds. School taxes have climbed ever year since I've lived here and I don't even have kids living with me.

 

The percentage of illegal Hispanics in these schools is extremely high and often times the families of these children report no income because they are illegally contracted to jobs and pay no taxes at all. This is unfair to anyone who owns property or rents. Its the property owners who pay all the taxes which is highly unfair. People who rent are affected too because the increased property taxes simply get passed on to the renters.

 

I lived in NJ for 33 years before moving down here. The most you had to deal with there were carpet baggers who moved out of the big cities and bought the real estate out from under the locals who grew up in the suburbs.

 

Unless you live in a southern boarder state and actually experience the issues first hand you wont have the sympathy needed to understand the problem no less fix it. There are no people more compassionate then those who live in these boarder states either. Illegal immigration has been an issues in these states for a couple of hundred years and people understand the issues involved.

 

Because the issue has become Political instead of domestic, both parties have completely lost their minds. The normal legal citizens and the illegals are forced to suffer. We are being held hostage by both parties so they can hold onto political power. In the meantime the local citizens have to foot the bill supporting these illegals.

 

This state could maintain a status quo if the existing laws were simply enforced, but they don't even want that. I never imagined our government would use poor people like they are now as political pawns. I've read about it happening in other countries but here in the US?

 

I used to visit all the schools in my area as a field service tech. The schools here are busting at the seams. Many schools have had to add trailers on back of the properties to house more students as a temporary fix. They cant afford to build bigger schools because the districts don't bring in enough tax money in to finance them. Some districts have borrowed bond money to expand which often winds up bankrupting the towns. These children often have parents with low income jobs earning money under the table so schools have to make due using temporary school rooms.

 

The worst part is you have all these people in the media who think they have all the answers. All they are doing is making the problem worse by attracting more people to break into our country and rob the resources of the local citizens. They make colorful excuses for this saying we need to be more compassionate and make them citizens. Or they say we need to shut down the boarder. In the meantime nothing gets done and our schools continue to overflow and neighborhoods that cant handle the over population depreciates into ghettos.