http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/speak_up__should_south_park_middle_school_be_saved_.html



Comments: minnie wrote:
they bus high scholl kids across bus the middle school kids too they took neighbor schools away years ago there plenty of land behind to build a school on so that is where they could go to schooll at save south park dont destory historoy not destroying the buidling might save money but all carroll can do is spend tax money i pay tax money just llike every one else
07/03/2009 11:13 PM CDT

Lab Rat wrote:
BISD doesn't want a solution to the problem. They want the lingering problem and the right to say "got cha last". It's political. Nothing more. Communication is two way. BISD has become the proverbial one way charlie........it's their way or the highway. And, they say bullies in school should be confronted. What about a bully school district? Who can help us stand up against them? Perhaps the courts of law that attached BISD to SPISD long years ago could intervene again and stop the madness?
07/02/2009 09:31 PM CDT

legaleagle wrote:
Lab Rat, Actually, what BISD was supppsed to do was have a cost analysis done on rennovating the SP building versus the cost of bulldozing it and building a new one. THEY NEVER PERFORMED THE COST ANALYSIS. They did have an engineering study performed which concluded that the building was structurally sound and had sone "general" comments about how it can possibly cost more to rennovate then to start from a clean slate, but no actual cost analysis was done. Look at Crockett Street. A whole city block of dilapidated, old buildings was beutifully restored for less than 20 million dollars. BISD has set aside 27.5 MILLION dollars for the "new" South Park School IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE THAT BELIEVES THAT YOU COULD NOT PRESERVE THE EXTERIOR WALLS AND BRING THIS BUILDING UP TO CODE AND PUT INTO PRISTINE CONDITION FOR 27.5 MILLION DOLLARS??? ( I have been told by a commercial contractor that for 10 million dollars, he could turn it into a show case, the most beautiiful school building in Beaumont). WHY NOT LET SOME PEOPLE THAT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING IN THE FIELD OF HISTORIC RENNOVATION TAKE A LOOK AT IT???
07/02/2009 05:59 PM CDT

Greenie48 wrote: We have been lied to by the bond issue proponents and the school board by the false promises of no demolition. Now they want to waste our hard earned-tax money on inferior new buildings, when a high quality edifice is available at much less cost that demolition and new structure construction. This high-handed destruction of a much loved building is wrong on three counts--moral (lying), economic (waste)and political (unresponsiveness to public feeling). By the way, the third choice in the above poll shows how biased the newspaper really is. Totally unnecessary--not funny.
07/02/2009 07:52 AM CDT

lookintothis wrote:
And sometimes "most cost effective" isn't the only measure by which decisions should be made. Obviously it would be "most cost effective" to just not have any schools at all, but we have them in this country because some things are more important than short-term dollar signs.
07/02/2009 07:22 AM CDT

Lab Rat wrote:
That argument has been discussed long ago cjh0210. BISD agreed by approval of the bond issue NOT to tear down the building anyway. So we are beyond that juncture at this point.
07/01/2009 10:29 PM CDT

cjh0210 wrote:
I understand that South Park is a state historical landmark and appreciate the history, however, no one has considered what is most cost effective for the district. Which option would cost less: Tearing down or renovating it?
07/01/2009 09:56 PM CDT

shirley q wrote:
I have long since left the area, but visit regularly and stay in touch with important matters. It's been increasingly clear for years that the BISD school board and their extravagantly paid overlord are out of touch with the reality of a district with declining enrollment. A shiny new building won't translate into anything with a commitment to affect change. And, again, as they've shown so many times, history and pride in tradition mean nothing. Who cares that there was once a French or Charlton-Pollard or Beaumont HS? Let's just steamroll forward, shall we? On the practical side, I dispute the claims that a new building would cost less than retrofitting the South Park building. At the outset, that may be the case, but you would have an inferior McStructure with no distinguishing features that would decay much quicker. This district is leaderless and gutless. Their continued reign will only accelerate the downward spiral of BISD -- and, by extension, the city of Beaumont. Hopefully, the South Park cause can be used as a rallying cry to begin to turn the battleship around. That begins with ousting the school board and installing reasonable, community-minded people.
07/01/2009 04:45 PM CDT

EPN wrote:
BISD owns OTHER properties in the South Park area that they could build a new school on. They DO NOT NEED to tear down the old Lamar College/SP school in order to get a new school. It is a very unique building and should be preserved.
07/01/2009 04:24 PM CDT

bowd wrote:
The "citizens' must not be the same people who send their childrent to school there. They had the chance to speak up at the townhall meeting and only 3 people showed up. The idea of Lamar purchasing the buidling had already been put on the table and as you can see Lamar is investing all its money into the football program. Even if you made an attempt to use it as a library the building is in bad shape and is a health hazard just ask the people that work there every school year...so who is going to pay to have it fixed. Where you those children to go to school at if you didnt tear it down and rebuild it?
07/01/2009 03:06 PM CDT

GREENIE 1969 wrote:
South Park "GREENIES" are not the only ones that say "SAVE SOUTH PARK". THE BEAUMONT CITIZENS ARE SAYING THAT .TOO
07/01/2009 12:09 PM CDT

Beckers19 wrote:
Perhaps Lamar could purchase it and make it an extension of the campus. . . I also like June's library idea. You can never have too many of those.
07/01/2009 09:29 AM CDT

juneamy wrote:

Save this historical landmark. Use it, not as a school, but as a part of Beaumont's history. Like the old library, downtown, it has historic value. 07/01/2009 08:57 AM CDT

Sneeky wrote:
This city and the school folks have torn down every thing that amounts to "old" or "history" - I think they all should be fired. Beaumont was always rich in old homes, the beauty of them - and now the city just wants new brick or mortar - they don't care about history - nor what someone else may want or own. This city is all about bringing tax dollars in and fed dollars in to pay for the freebies they give out.
07/01/2009 08:20 AM CDT

Lab Rat wrote:
Save South Park High School's main building. Save a Beaumont landmark. Save local history. Teach today's generation of school kids that history is meaningful. Teach respect for others who have come and gone before us. Teach respect in the process.
07/01/2009 03:13 AM CDT

EEP wrote:
I went to Pietzsch and South Park in the 80s and both buildings were in good repair at the time. South Park Middle School is a wonderful building that has tons of character, unlike the new cookie cutter school buildings that are so institutional. We were proud of the buildings that we went to school in. That pride is gone now because the building is no longer the one that I grew up with, due to poor maintenance. Maybe what really needs to be addressed is the fact that we are spending gobs of taxpayer money building all these new schools that are going to quickly fall into disrepair because Beaumont ISD does not have, and never has had, an adequate plan for maintenance of existing buildings. Do we want to have to repeat this same process in 30-40 years, replacing all the schools that have been neglected? If the proper care had been taken with the property that the school district currently has and BISD was being a good steward of the taxpayers' money, we would not need such an obscene amount of money for a bond issue for new school buildings. Maybe someone at BISD can enlighten us all and let the public know what steps are going to be taken to ensure that all of this is not in vain.
06/30/2009 08:37 PM CDT