THIS IS A LETTER FROM ONE OF MARILYN SIROS LEVAAS NIECES
To Those Concerned:
I attended South Park Middle
School from 6-8th grades as did my older brother and sister. I
grew up in the South Park community. My mother and her three
sisters and one brother all graduated from South Park High
School. My grandfather worked as a janitor for South Park High
School for over 20 years. I am aware that I am a far cry from an
unbiased observer. However, I firmly believe my background is
what makes my input valuable to this issue.
* South Park Has a
Valuable History of Changing Lives * I have grown up (I am 29 years old
now). I live in Los Angeles,
California, but South Park in Beaumont, Texas will always be
home base, my starting line. Many things in my life have changed
but I would never have accomplished any of what I am now proud of,
without the foundation I developed in that community. I am an
aerospace engineer for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/) of NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration http:// www.nasa.gov/ ). I am a Maneuver Analyst on the
Cassini Mission to Saturn (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov). I
navigate the Cassini spacecraft through the most complicated orbital
tour of a distant planetary body ever flown. I have a bachelors
of science and a master of science in aerospace engineering
(http://www.ae.utexas.edu) from The University of Texas at Austin
(http://www.utexas.edu). The point I am trying to make is that
the foundations of education built at South Park can take people to
amazing places. I had a challenging start but with inspiring
teachers and a community I felt a connection to, I have done many
things I once dreamed. Everyday I am helping increase our
understanding of the solar system, and rewrite the books that will be
used to teach space science. The idea that no student from my
neighborhood could follow the same path is tragic. Just walking
through the halls of that place I always had sense that many students
had walked that way before and that even when something was
challenging that others had struggled and succeeded within those
walls.
* South Park Needs A Community Middle School * South Park is
more than a run down, poor, old neighborhood. It is a community,
with children who have the potential of bright beautiful futures, if
they can just see it, and if you take away their connection and
decrease the accessibility of education to these kids who need it so
badly, you stack the deck even further against them. When you
come from a poor community education can be a refuge, a place to hide
from the hardships and feel empowered by your own mind. I spent
hours after classes let out or in the mornings before class just
reading in the library or practicing in the orchestra hall or sitting
in the cafeteria finishing assignments. To force the children of
the South Park community to go even further to attend school is not
only insensitive it is simply a bad idea. The children of low
income communities have very little they can cling to with pride and
the South Park Middle School building is an symbol of education.
You take that away and you encourage them to distance themselves from
an ownership and consequently accountability and responsibility to
their school and it's facilities. A child's time is
valuable and best spent learning and participating, both things they
will do far less if they live so far from their school that they can't
engage in any activities that a bus isn't provided for.
* Demolition of
this Building is an Irreversible Mistake * A leaky roof can be fixed, you can
replace a carpet but inspiration, community, accessibility,
confidence; these things are hard to put a price on but can be
embodied in a structure. New is not always better, sometimes it
is impersonal and things that are impersonal are rarely appreciated in
the same way. Like the Lincoln monument inspires contemplation
South Park Middle school is a building that has inspired learning for
generations. It's a reminder that South Park is a community that
is built on strong foundations, good history and even though this time
is far from it's golden age it is worth saving something that can
inspire a community to pride and progress. Sacrificing this
school and this structure is short sighted. Budget restricts are
used as a standard excuses to avoid complexity; "We can't so that
because it is too expensive..." but I find in most of those situations
that with some dedication and creativity there is also an answer
something like "This is what we will have to prioritize and how we'll
have to work together if we're going to make that happen on a limited
budget...". I hope that such a drastic measure has not be
considered without truly appreciating the lives that have been changed
and could be changed in the future at South Park Middle School.
The most educationally inspiring moment I have ever had was walking
into the CalTech Atheneum library where Einstein once studied.
If you replace this beautiful old building with some generic cookie
cutter institutional school you will lose the educational character in
that school. It's old, it needs maintenance as any building
would but it's an icon of that community and destruction of that is a
kind of sacrilege.
* There are other options * There is space
available around the primary structure, it isn't necessary to tear
down the primary building to add facilities. Finally, these
students shouldn't have to go to school in a leaky building with
molding carpets; if the school won't be repaired and newer, superior
facilities are (made) available for these students that is wonderful
and they should take advantage of them but the building is still
valuable. Destruction of a historic landmark is not a desirable
answer. Perhaps use as a YMCA or some other community
organization that offers after-school care or even pre- school/head-start
programs would be an asset to the community.
* This Community Past and
Present Cares about the Future of South Park * This building holds a small
segment of my family history and I will do what I can to save
it. I would gladly give whatever time and effort on my part that
could help. If a reasonable corroborated dollar amount were
placed on saving the building perhaps the community could organize
fund raising efforts to save the structure. We are willing to be
a part of the solution not just a critical
voice.

Sincerely,
Emily M. Gist Jet Propulsion
Laboratory Guidance, Navigation, & Control Flight Path Control Group
(343C) Mail Stop 230-205