Like The Old Saying Goes....

"If it ain't broke...don't fix it". Elmhurst High School students and parents gathered last night, pleading their case with Dr. Wendy Robinson (FWCS superintendent) NOT to close their high school, citing that there was no need to close the facility and tear it down. With the $600 million price tag FWCS wants to saddle the citizens of Fort Wayne with, it's no surprise that the supporters of keeping Elmhurst open were looking for their own way to cut costs...namely by REPAIRING things at the school (what the FWCS wants to do in the first place). Dr. Robinson says the school is too old (the boiler system is ONLY TWO YEARS OLD), and that the school needs too much work. But by the empassioned pleas from those in attendance, it would seem as if they were willing to perform the work THEMSELVES...they felt THAT strongly about saving their school (and it's traditions). And who can blame them?

Even one member of the Yellow Ribbon Task Force (Kyaw Soe) told the crowd he would rather remodel the school than close it. But the rock quarry adjacent to the property plans to expand, and with that, the noise and dust levels might increase. Would it not be prudent to preserve a fine educational facility than to allow a quarry to impede the educational process?

If there is ANY problem with Elmhurst, scuttlebutt has it that the principal (and not the building) could stand being replaced. Informed sources say she has been OVERLY brusk when dealing with both students staff, AND parents.

Now there are 'interesting" facets to all of this. Wayne High School is under capacity (thanks to it's own expansion), while Elmhurst is at it's limit. The "plan" by FWCS would be to MERGE the two schools (what the hell IS this...SURVIVOR OUTBACK?). People opposed to the merger cite a decline in achievement scores for the (former) Elmhurst student population. The students and parents like the "small school" venue at Elmhurst, and the test scores seem to bear that much out. But Dr. Robinson says that "The size of the school has nothing to do with student achievement" (Gee Wendy, and here all that talk we've heard over the decades about OVERSIZED classrooms being an impediment to learning was just so much BS, right? ). Not to mention what happens to the school "spirit" that once was part of Elmhurst? Does it just gets "assimilated" like so many Borg drones, into some cookie-cutter assembly line scholastic "collective"?

"If Elmhurst goes...the neighborhood goes", stated one person that has lived across the street from the school for 35 years. This person plainly sees what the future holds. Same can be said with many of our inner city neighborhoods (on the south side) when their schools closed. As the schools left...the "neighborhoods" left...at least the spirit that kept them alive and thriving. It's no surprise to see such neighborhoods in the state they find themselves today. This doesn't just apply to Fort Wayne, but to ALL larger cities across America. And in some perverse manner, it was quietly planned this way. Having our kids bussed to the "nether-regions" for schooling took something from our neighborhoods...something we're not soon to recoup.

In the twelve years I attended schools in Philly, I was only bussed to ONE school...and it was quasi-rural in nature. the rest of the time I WALKED...the schools were THAT close together, public AND parochial.

If the parents AND the students feel as strongly as they do about keeping Elmhurst open...and by "saving" Elmhurst from the wrecking ball FWCS can further lower that $600 million pricetag they want to hold the citizens of Fort Wayne hostage with, I say go for it.

If our school system wishes parental & student involvement, well by God (at Elmhurst) they GOT it!

Maybe FWCS ought to be careful what they wish for...'ya think?