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Just Saying…
More on the building of the Magee Elementary….
A topographical map study is to be done of the “in town” area to see if an elementary school can be added to the existing “in town” area. The board already approved traffic studies for both “in town” area and Chris Lane property.
Dr. Welch, of the Mississippi Department of Education, agreed to the building of a two story building in the elementary area.
Boring in the area, where the present practice field is located, will begin shortly.
The school board approved earlier in the month to spend up to $20,000 to study the feasibility of building Magee Elementary in town near the high school and middle school.
The big red brick building located across from the gym has been condemned and is unusable. The building is the oldest building located on the ” in town” Magee Campus. The cost to remove that building has been estimated at $200,000.
Ok, I’m just saying…I’ve always liked the idea of building in town…but I also realize there are problems that might cannot be resolved….but I have a request…if the old red brick building is destroyed, please save the the “top” that is over the main entrance door (located on opposite side of gym). Talking about history…we can’t loose that piece of history. I hate the building is not salvageable…but apparently it is not…but the “topper” is a saver…we must band together to be sure that front is used somewhere in the new building or at least given to the City of Magee museum. Let’s don’t let everything from our past just be bulldozed down…I’m ready to fight that fight.
Parking is already a problem and this problem will go away and by building the new elementary school campus will be nothing except a traffic nightmare and parking problems will continue to exist. Where will the kids have a playground at? I do not understand why anybody on that school board wants to build a new elementary campus in flood zone and that one does not make any sense at all. The school will eventually move on out to the highway to have more room for growth and this will be better than building new school in flood zone and I am one rather see the practice football and the track be the only thing in that flood zone area. This area of the city is already cramped and get cramped by putting the elementary school in the same area. There will be no room for growth.
did he mention that nearly thirty thousand dollars has already been spent on the Lane property just figuring out if it could be used? And now they want to do that again on another property ( which happens to be in a flood zone)? Has anyone brought up the fact that the traffic is already terrible during school time, and adding more kids ( who are mostly car riders) is only going to compound the problem? Also, who in their right mind expects a small child to carry books up and down stairs daily? Is the city prepared for that lawsuit? Where will the play ground go? How will parents of young children feel about their five year olds interacting with 18 year olds? What will happen to the grounds when it rains? How much more money are the tax payers willing to shell out to scout out yet another property and bring it up to code? Just curious.
JUST SAYING- IF SCHOOL DIST. HAS SOME DONATED LAND WITH STANDING TIMBER – LOOK AT SELLING TIMBER TO HELP COST OF “RENOVATING” ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FACILITIES – UNTIL SUCH FUTURE DATE AS: COMMUNITY CAN AGREE UPON A NEW SCHOOL BUILDING AT SOME AGREEABLE LOCATION AT SOME AGREEABLE INCREASED PUBLIC SCHOOL TAX RATE. “RENOVATING” THE SCHOOL MAY NOT BE A FIRST CHOICE – BUT, IT MAY SERVE THE STUDENTS SUFFICIENTLY UNTIL THE CITIZENS GET A MAJORITY TO AGREE UPON NEW FACILITIES AND UNTIL SUCH TIME AS LOCAL ECONOMY BLOOMS TO MAKE TAX MONEY MORE ACCESSIBLE WITHOUT EXCESSIVE TAX PAYER PAIN.
Renovating the schools will not work since some schools buildings are beyond repair and some of the buildings are portable buildings and the kids and facility need new schools in a better area not leaving the kids in a bad part of Magee. If South Simpson County had their own school district Magee would already have new schools for our children and the school district is playing politics when it comes to doing a study to see if the land will work. If I was on the school district I would never have built Mendenhall any new facilities until Magee schools have finished. Magee could start their own and district and let the people in the south part of the county to send their kids to that school and If I was on the school board I would insists that Magee either 16 land or buy enough land to put the lower elementary school campus right across the street from the upper elementary school and have enough playground area, parking for staff, enough parking for visitors and have enough room for expansion of the lower elementary school campus by adding k-3 and k-4 classes. We need better schools but our school board is not committed to buildings the school like we need and the school board only wants to building the school in a area that floods and Magee High School will have to have a new campus in the near future and I see a day when Magee High School will move outside of the current downtown area and the elementary school will better looking for land either inside or outside of the city limits where the kids will have new campus that people can be proud of. The Middle school campus will use the old high school campus in the future and band hall and the gymnasium will have to be eventually replace and the only schools in the near future that will be in downtown Magee will be Magee middle school but they will be the last school to move out of Magee downtown area. New schools equals more economic development and we have more places to shop, more places to eat out, and more entertainment places then Magee has today. The schools will move eventually out Magee downtown over the next 20 years.