So we went on a tour of a school today in Bayonne - the school was 92 years old and looked every bit of it. It was really kind of crazy, falling apart, in disrepair, leaks when it rains. It holds about 600 kids from pre-k to 8th grade. I went into the bathroom - it was clean but paint was peeling and it looked like it did almost 100 years ago. The urinals are probably bigger than most of the kids that use them. Anyway, the state of the bathroom was pretty sad so I made some images while I was in there. I know what you're thinking, creepy that I was in a elementary school bathroom taking pictures with my camera - just stop it right now! I had the vice principal with me - silly blog readers. Anyway, the image up above is of the toilet doors that just kind of look cool because they are so old. The image below is a little more serious... five of the eight urinals are boarded up - can't be fixed because the school doesn't have the money and the piping is so old they don't make the fixtures anymore to fix them (you can click on the image to make it larger).
I'm amazed at all the people that don't want to put money into the schools. It's always the parents that don't have any idea how bad some of the schools are out there, nor do they care. This isn't even one of worse.
Hey Tim,
ReplyDeleteIt’s not that we don’t want to put money into schools . . . It’s that in New Jersey we know that the money never gets to the schools.
Need I remind you of the 6 BILLION DOLLARS that was pissed away (pun intended) instead of going to rebuild the state’s schools? And then they have the gall to ask for more! Might as well throw the taxpayer’s hard earned money down the toilet.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind Poll released today said two-thirds of N.J. voters support the economic stimulus package passed by Congress. However, few -- only 4 percent -- are very confident that New Jersey will use its $17 billion wisely.
Being an old building doesn’t mean it’s a bad building. I’ve been in a lot of old school buildings (mostly private schools and colleges) that have a wonderful feel to them because of their age. And everything works. The trick is that the administrators and building managers take care of them with regular maintenance.
With all the layers of administration typically found in New Jersey School districts, drowning the taxpayer, no one in the Bayonne School District could have figured out how to properly maintain the building over the years? Perhaps a better question would be how much of the money set aside for school building maintenance went directly into the pockets of government officials and their cronies instead of into school maintenance and repair.
Don’t make the taxpayers out to be the bad guy on this one Tim. State and local government has sucked us dry, and we have seen little in the way of results. And you are amazed why we don't want to put more money into the schools?
Martin G.
Oh Martin G. - always the cynic (but I'm glad you're reading my blog!). I have to say that I don't like wasting taxpayer money and neither does your Governor - the 'pissing' away that you are talking about was done by the Schools Construction Corp. (SCC). Back in 2007, Gov. Jon Corzine signed legislation that immediately dissolved the much-maligned New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. (SCC), which had gained a reputation for waste and fraud during its five-year, multibillion dollar effort to build schools across the state. "The reorganization of the SCC is testimony to the commitment of this administration to implement reforms that put an end to the waste and mismanagement of the past," Corzine said. "We now have a more streamlined entity with the proper controls in place. This will ensure more efficient delivery of quality schools which are greatly needed across the state."
ReplyDeleteMaybe I misspoke - I'm not amazed that people don't want to put money into school construction - I'm amazed that people don't care about the children who have to go to school's which are in deplorable condition.
Wow, your kids don't have to go to this school? I hope!!!! I can't imagine anyone around here letting their kids go into a building like that everyday for years. Maybe because I have never lived in a large city since I had kids, but that s***t wouldn't float in this neck of the woods. We may be small town and a bit backwards by urban standards but the fathers and mothers of the kids attending would be in there donating time and labor and fund raising.
ReplyDeleteBut it makes for great photos, eh?