My Letter to the Board of Ed

Hello,
I am writing about the state of our school. I don't know if you remember me, but I was the treasurer of the UES PTA for the last 2 years, and we spoke at the Urbana Fire Hall during their candidates open house.

I am very concerned about our schools in Urbana, specifically, Centerville and Urbana Elementary. Combined, there are 26 portables in those two elementary schools this year. That is enough for a school! New houses are still being built, and planned, and nothing is being done to alleviate our schools. Our population will not stop growing. We had 13 new classes of kindergartners this year between both schools. And Centerville is brand new!

Urbana, however, is not new. We just celebrated our 50th year anniversary, and not much has changed since 1960 except for the number of students. Students are crammed into open classrooms.  Classrooms are placed wherever there is room, often creating the need for students and teachers to walk through one classroom to get to another.  How does this foster an ideal learning environment.

We do not have a lot of interior walls.  In the case of a tornado (like the one that was nearby last year). Our children would be in serious danger. The only interior walls with no windows are in our one hallway, which cannot fit the 700+ students we currently cram into the school.

We have a pest problem, not to do the lack of cleanliness of the school, but simply its age. Last year, I learned the students had an informal class pet. It was a cockroach.  This is not okay with me,

We are slated for renovation in 2017. That is simply not soon enough.
We have an active PTA and awesome faculty. That is not enough. We need a building that is not harmful to our students.
I really don't think that is too much to ask.

Thanks,
Becca Clark