In today’s newspaper details of the single high school concept in Decatur were revealed. I had heard rumors and suggestions of this before but this is the first detailed pitch we’ve been presented with. The Decatur Public School Board has suggested merging Decatur’s two remaining high schools, MacArthur and Eisenhower, into one campus. A sales tax is being proposed to fund the project – how much of an increase is needed is yet to be determined. The proposed location is in Decatur’s “central core” near the Wabash Crossing development.
There’s a lot of pros and cons to such a plan:
PROS:
- A state-of-the-art building that could provide more educational opportunities in different subject areas.
- Inner city revitalization – This is an area of town that needs redevelopment.
- Community Pride – One thing that I’ve always noticed about small towns is the commitment and pride they feel for their schools. If you attend a sporting event in a small community, practically the whole town is there cheering on the kids. Decatur is divided in its’ loyalties and I think since Stephen Decatur High School closed, a lot of the pride has diminished for a lot of people – closing Stephen Decatur was a real kick in the gut to all us Stephen Decatur graduates who are now parents and grandparents living in Decatur! It feels traitorous to go to Eisenhower or MacArthur and cheer on the enemy!
I say name the school Stephen Decatur High School and you got a winner! - College Prep – I don’t know if this is part of the plan but I’d love to see more college prep classes and even classes that count towards college be made available; possibly a deal with Richland Community College and Millikin University could get kids on the right path towards college in their Junior and Senior years. If a kid could graduate with a high school diploma, and a considerable amount of transferable college credits, that would be a great incentive for them to continue their education.
CONS:
- Cost – Will Decatur residents be willing to pay a higher sales tax in a weakening economy?
- Eisenhower and MacArthur’s buildings would be vacant. What would we do with those buildings? Are they marketable?
- School Size – As a parent of a 5th grader, I would assume my daughter (and son) would be attending this high school, if it is built, and I’m concerned of the size of the school. Would it be overwhelming and a place where kids feel totally lost?
These are just some initial thought floating around in my brain after reading today’s article. I’m sure other pros and cons will be brought up in the community over the next several months!
Here’s a link to the Herald & Review article if you haven’t read it.
I would be more than willing to pay the taxes if this school is built but not in the area of town that they want it to be in. It is a stones throw away from the main artery of Decatur’s railroad system, too much traffic, run down old buildings and a new neighborhood in which people are not taking care of. Stephen Decatur would have been a perfect choice a couple years ago when this was talked about but some board members did not want their children switching schools. The land is already there to add on to a pre existing building (saving the city and tax payers a lot of money not having to build a whole new building), it is air conditioned, and still plenty of land left over to build nicer state of the art playing fields to get kids interested in playing sports again in Decatur.
I know Im tired of hearing about how bad Decatur sports teams have been the past decade w/ the exception of a few sports.
Really interesting thoughts! I just read this article too and it caught my attention. In fact I posted the link on Blogdecatur. I’m like you if we go that way let’s name it Stephen Decatur. I’m not sure where I stand but I have to say I am really pleased that the city is taking an interest in this and that the focus is revitializing innercity. It certainly is an idea worth discussing. The discussion needs to be with open ears to all sides
On another note do you know what is up with the Nelson Park Pool? I’m really concerned that that on the east side of town kids will have no where to swim this summer without a ride… At the price of gas that may cut few out all together.
The Stephen Decatur building is a good idea to toss out there. It’s already set up for a high school, since of course, that’s what it was. It has a good football field, a driver’s ed course, a large gym, a very nice auditorium and it’s air conditioned. There is plenty of land to add new classrooms. It would probably be much cheaper than constructing an entirely new building. The only problem is, it would be quite a drive for people who live on the south side of town.
I suppose MacArthur or Eisenhower could be converted into a new middle school.
I’d like to see the area in town that they’re talking about improved and this may be a good way of doing it but the concerns you brought up are valid ones. I’d like to see the plans before I made any decision on it.
No taxes. When will the citizens say stop? Add ‘em up…8% sales tax, IDR, IRS, County, parks, etc.
Sue, the Nelson Park swimming pool is going to be closed all summer because it needs expensive repairs. The Park District didn’t think it would be worthwhile to fix it because of low attendance – if I’m remembering correctly. That is going to stink for southside residents.
The best memories I have as a kid is going to the Holiday Swimming Pool north of Brettwood Village and being a total brat! I practically lived there from June – August except for the two weeks my family spent in Wisconsin every year. It used to be such a plus to the neighborhood and I can’t imagine what mischief I would have up to without it. I really was an ornery kid, believe or not
. Once most of the kids grew up in the neighborhood, the pool really started going downhill and of course with the threat of lawsuits and sky high insurance costs – it was doomed!
There just isn’t much kids can do anymore in town without having to have their parents drive them from one edge of town to the other to get to it.
Haywired, In reading the newspaper, it sounds like the school board has a travel plan set for the school if it is built in the Wabash area. Im sure it would be just as easy for them to do the same @ SDHS.
You do bring up a goodpoint though as far as Mac and Ike being middle schools. TJ is too far east and Ike takes care of that and SD is too far north and Mac takes care of that.
I think our school board just likes to spend money they dont have and put themselves in as much debt as they can. How many schools have they closed and torn down in the past 10 years and yet still continue to be worse off then before they started?
Sue,
Nelson suffered a drain leak under the pool which required the pool to be dug up in the deep end to get to it. Funny thing is this was caught back in the middle of March if I am not mistaken. Plenty of time to do the repairs. My sons went there all last year and there were plenty of people there swimming. So the Park District cant use that as an excuse. Im guessing the money the park district has wrapped up in all the golf courses is why it wasnt repaired but I’ll bet they wont say that.
Todd,
There’s definitely a lot to think over before anyone jumps on the bandwagon and goes ahead with any plan. Many, MANY citizens protested the closing of Stephen Decatur High School because it didn’t make any sense to close the newest high school building – especially a school with such deep meaning to Decatur’s history. However at that time we didn’t know the “master plan” was to close Mound School too and turn that area into a retail center.
I just hope the communication channels are open and honest this time around and people’s questions and concerns are addressed. I remember my parents and many in their neighborhood attended meetings hoping to stop the Target deal and their pleas fell on deaf ears.
According to DPS 2007 stats there were about 1,200 students enrolled at both Mac and Eisenhower for a total of around 2,500. If I remember correctly, when my brother graduated from SD in 1982, they had well over 2,000 students just at Stephen Decatur – so the current building can accommodate quite a few students. Something to think about…
Here’s the link to the DPS #61 website with details for each high school (Just click on the report cards for each school):
http://www.dps61.org/154410109154919827/site/default.asp
Thats just the thing…It seems the school district likes keeping the public out of the “master plan”. I’ve been emailing back and forth w/ a writer for the Herald & Review to get the times and dates for board meetings. The writer did say that they are posted in the paper but I always read over them.
If its ok to hold the Turkey Tournament @ Stephen Decatur then it should be ok to have Stephen Decatur as our one high school.
Too many public gov bodies like leaving the public out of the “master plans” I have real problem with that. In my opinion their “boss” IS the public – that is who is paying their salaries.
closing the pool at Nelson is moving the wrong direction in my book. It needs to be repaired and reopened.
I agree that the Nelson pool should be repaired and reopened. Do they never plan to fix it? The longer it sits – the worse shape it’s going to get.
Good luck on returning the name to Stephen Decatur High. As long as you still have the Decatur board members on the board now that won’t happen. They closed the perfect school down so they could keep open their favorite schools open. Eisenhower should have been closed long time ago. Its a hazard. It would be more sensible I agree to reopen Stephen Decatur back to SDHS with new additions, but consider that would be easy for them to figure out. The drop out rate is rising there in Decatur and they better think of ways to keep our kids in school not wanting to spend more on a useless building that will be shut down in 20 years.
I have a feeling they’d probably name it Wabash High!
I can see the benefits of locating the school downtown. It’s a central location and it would help revitalize an area that desperately needs it, however, the most cost effective approach would be to use the current Stephen Decatur building. I just wonder if we invest the money into a new building in the Wabash Crossing area will this investment spill over into other things? Will it encourage new development in the downtown area and/or along Eldorado? If so, then maybe it’s not such a bad idea.
Of course, my real concern is, would people want to send their kids to the new school? Would people actually prefer the new campus and programs over, say, St. T or nearby smaller communities? Decatur’s public schools lose so many bright kids and supportive parents to private schools; as a strong supporter of the public school system, I’d like to see the hemorrhaging stop.