Well, two of my students wrote letters to the editor about the condition of the high school, and I made a guest appearance. I’m reproducing the letter here because the PO usually makes things subscriber-only after the first 30 days. (Here’s the link if you want to see the original.)
Letter to the editor: Students hope for improvements at JB
Public Opinion Online
As students at James Buchanan High School, we read your article and are deeply concerned. It really bothers us that we can’t even feel safe going to school anymore.
As athletes we feel our athletic facilities are also in need of repair/renovation. As you said in your article, the tennis courts are wretched. It looks like a jungle with grass and weeds and many tennis balls are lost.
We understand that our parents’ taxes will be raised, and maybe we should do fund-raisers instead of just raising taxes. We need to do our parts as well as our parents.
Many people have said that school should be a second home, but if this was my home, I wouldn’t feel safe or comfortable living here. Traveling to other schools for away games and seeing how up-to-date their facilities are makes our school look like we are poor, as if no one even attends our school. It is a big issue with our morale and our pride. We don’t need a mansion, just a livable school.
The girls’ restrooms are another issue. In the girls’ locker room, we are forced to have friends hold the doors to the stalls shut. There are only two stalls that (at times) shut.
Our English teacher, Mr. Barner, informed us that his window in his room fell out and the maintenance men didn’t have the right equipment to fix it. How safe is that?
In conclusion, we agree 100 percent with everything you said in your article and more. Thank you for addressing this issue and taking time to read our letter.
Cheryl Keefer
Lindsay Gearhart
9th grade students
James Buchanan High School
They did a pretty good job of it, I think. My students are really interested in the whole issue, largely because they have to deal with it every day. The only thing I would have made a little clearer was that the maintenance men DID have the equipment necessary to fix the window, but it’s old enough that they can’t get the parts anymore. It’s a fiddly little distinction, but I would have made it anyway. In any event, stay tuned for more on the school — my AP English 12 class is doing mass-communication projects on the topic, and I’ll probably share some of what they come up with here.