| Author |
Message |
    
marie
Citizen
Username: Marie
Post Number: 1256
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 8:31 pm: | 
|
The bathrooms at CHS are in the toilet - We need your help repairing them and here's how you can bring them back from the brink of exstinktion:
· Paint walls
· Paint/hang art work
· Repair doors
· Repair casing on the pipes
· Fix faucets
· Replace labels (girls/boys) on the door
· Replace toilet paper holders
PL me if interested - Especially if you're GeorgeB 
|
Albatross
Citizen
Username: Albatross
Post Number: 508
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 10:27 pm: |
|
Not to say that it wouldn't be a worthy project for the community, not to mention one that brought it closer to the high school, but why doesn't this sort of work fall under normal maintenence performed by the district?
Granted, in the four years I was at CHS, there was virtually no improvement in bathroom conditions. |
mjc
Citizen
Username: Mjc
Post Number: 254
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 9:24 am: |
|
Marie, I know there's one senior at CHS who's been trying to put together a group of students to work on this. If you're interested, I'll ask him to contact you. |
marie
Citizen
Username: Marie
Post Number: 1258
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 10:42 am: |
|
The district is responsible for these repairs. Unfortunately they aren't high on the list of priority repairs, so the Beautification Committee has decided to assist wherever possible. Some of the work may have to be done by the district because of union issues, but a large part of it can be completed by volunteers.
mjc - The Art Department will be helping with the Art Work. I'm not sure if there are any insurance issues with students working on the other projects, but I will find out. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5575
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 5:10 pm: |
|
I think it's a wonderful thing that people are volunteering to do this. It's an awful thing that it is necessary. Those two things don't quite conflict.
But take heart. While the schools don't, the military has enough money to buy what it needs. Don't you feel better now? |
marie
Citizen
Username: Marie
Post Number: 1259
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 5:32 pm: |
|
"Bathrooms a reflection of school's climate"
http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20000228bathrooms2.asp
|
Reflective
Citizen
Username: Reflective
Post Number: 736
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 6:55 pm: |
|
Tom R
You miss the whole point of give back to the community. Volunteerism.
You actually disappoint me with your comment. You are now in the "I expect the government and others to do it for me and everyone else".
The military doesn't have money to buy everything it needs ( a really glib comment) and neither do our schools.
This volunteer initiative not awful at all but a re-affirmation of the globally unique AMERICAN, can do, attitude.
If we left improvement up to you, .........?
( last - are you really a couch potato?)
Just couldn't resist that. Looking forward to your response. |
mjc
Citizen
Username: Mjc
Post Number: 263
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 7:13 pm: |
|
Reflective, I think there really are two parts to this. Yes, the students who use the facilities bear some responsibility for the condition of the bathrooms (esp. at the high school), and certainly it's not a bad thing for community members to pitch in and help spruce up.
BUT, it's also true that many school bathrooms in this district are in very poor repair (therefore also difficult to keep clean) and chronically lacking needed supplies including soap and paper goods. Shouldn't this maintenance be the responsibility of the district?
These comments are based on direct personal experience at Marshall, Jefferson, SOMS and CHS (plus the fact that I don't think my kids ever used the school bathrooms once past Marshall). |
Reflective
Citizen
Username: Reflective
Post Number: 738
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 9:20 pm: |
|
mjc - you are exactly right in your statement.
I would add that the BOE, the Administration and the Union are all culpable. And if Maplewood's so-called activist health inspector had any gumption, he would be citing and fining the BOE and the Admin for health infractions. Oh yes, they won't let him, as well as the police and other responsible leaders/observers past the front door to observe these conditions!
The maintenance is the reponsibility of the district, but pls remember that super H won't let even the BOE members have access to observe. And the BOE is subservient to his whims.
Last, I went back and looked at my New Year's resolution to be more civil on the MOL board and I may have been a little harsh on Tom R. I am constantly working on this resolution. It's harder then giving up smoking.
But when our children are getting the short end because of elected, egotistical, agenda driven, short-sighted, free-spending wide-eyed .... well - you get the idea.
I do get upset. |
Dave
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 5326
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 11:16 pm: |
|
I suggest we follow Mcdonald's lead here:
http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=46 |
marie
Citizen
Username: Marie
Post Number: 1260
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 1:00 am: |
|
Mjc,
It's pretty darn infuriating that parents have to pay for toilet paper holders and door hinges! However, I see this as an opportunity to begin changing things for the better at CHS. I am absolutely confident that things WILL change for the better and I'm willing to help bring about that change by helping to create a safer environment for our kids.
The restrooms are just the beginning!
|
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 4634
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 11:50 am: |
|
At the very least this bozo superintendent should stop wasting his time and our taxes on imposing music bans, dropping courses and mismanaging our money, and make sure the kids have a clean school.
It's insane. |
suzanneng
Citizen
Username: Suzanneng
Post Number: 274
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 12:16 pm: |
|
In my Bergen County public HS (back in the late 80's), we had "matrons" in the girls restrooms. They were usually members of the custodial staff (sometimes senior citizens from the community who were paid to sit and monitor the bathrooms) who would rotate among the bathrooms. All bathrooms were not kept unlocked throughout the day. (i.e. the ones closest to the cafeteria were only unlocked during lunchtime). Definitely kept down the grafitti, vandalism and smoking. I always wondered why the boys room didn't also have these monitors.
As a district employee (and this comment is a personal one -not a district comment), I have to say the students bear some responsibility to keep the bathrooms in usable condition. When you have elementary school aged children who are not doing their business in the proper location, or who do not flush, or who stuff papers in the sinks and turn the sinks on full blast, or who hang from the stall doors, etc., it gets frustrating! We constantly remind the students to use the bathroom for its intended purpose, no fooling around etc, but it goes in one ear and out the other. |
extuscan
Citizen
Username: Extuscan
Post Number: 434
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 12:56 pm: |
|
If the bathrooms looked like they were respected by the school, the students would respect the bathrooms.
Imagine your house was built in 1926... heck it might have been... and the bathrooms were never fully renovated, but periodically altered. So, a door was moved. Your house had urinals for some reason The floor to midchest height urinals were removed and modern urinals installed, but the floor was patched with non matching tile and the walls (which were subway tile) were sorta bumped out with square tile to hide the pipes. Oh and by your toilet, there is a little rectangular air vent just rotting and rusting and pouring crap out. There were partitions in your bathroom, they were removed and replaced, but the rust stains from the old ones are still on the floor. Oh, and for some reason, they painted over the glass of your only window. This is what the CHS bathrooms look like. Is this what your home bathroom looks like?
Marie is a great person if my memory serves me correctly. (Imight be thinking of someone else who I met...) I'd be hands on with this if I hadn't moved back to NH this summer. I wish you the best of luck.
John |
peteglider
Citizen
Username: Peteglider
Post Number: 948
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 10:15 pm: |
|
lets be clear, it isnt just CHS -- seen the first floor bathrooms in South Mountain school?
pathetic --
/P |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5589
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 7:12 pm: |
|
It seems I didn't convey my feelings adequately, which is why my
comments disappointed you. I gave an equal number of words to what a
great service this effort is as I did to what a shame the necessity
is. I should have spent more time on the former.
Selfless volunteering meets a need, no matter why the need has arisen.
It doesn't need to speak much, if at all, about what should be done to
prevent this need from arising again, nor does it speak about what went
wrong to let the situation get to what it is. It is a generous
offering, straight from the hearts of those giving of themselves,
without expectation of a selfish gain.
This effort has a chance of blossoming and snowballing (to mix
metaphors) into an unstoppable momentum. If the improvements affect
morale enough, the students will treat their facilities better, which
will leave them in better shape, further improving morale. And it might
even leak into attitudes of the school district workers.
I have sent Marie an email, asking how I can help. I hope I'm able.
Reflective, I don't think you've said anything out of line. A
miscommunication takes two. Either you didn't understand me, or I
didn't express my point well enough. Or both. It turned into an
opportunity to restate it, and I hope I've done a better job now.
Let's hope we get enough volunteers to do a good job. And let's hope it
has the effect everyone is aiming for.
We can talk some other time about why the volunteer effort is
necessary.
|
Southorangemom
Citizen
Username: Southorangemom
Post Number: 169
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 9:35 pm: |
|
Perhaps one of the reasons, Tom, is that the custodial services have been outsourced. This is another of the BOE's "brilliant" ideas for saving money.
I understand that the management put in place by the outsourced company doesn't even give the staff adequate supplies to clean the rooms. Perhaps money is being saved, but at what price?
SouthOrangeMom |
extuscan
Citizen
Username: Extuscan
Post Number: 435
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 10:58 pm: |
|
"is that the custodial services have been outsourced."
Perhaps one cog in the system... but if you ever enter a CHS bathroom I think you'll soon realize that no amount of soap will make it shine. These bathrooms are, while modified, largely unrenovated since 1926. I really don't think B and D wing bathrooms are ever unlocked, are they? They weren't when I went there, but if they unlock them now they are much much newer (although still 33 years old).
John |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 1139
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 7:51 am: |
|
Anyone know how infrastructure projects are budgeted around here? Do we have the "bond" situation where, say, could have a plan for upgrading all schools bathrooms, roofs and so on? Or is it done differently.
I do find the bathrooms disgraceful and unsanitary in most of the schools I've entered. But, I don't know how such things handled (beyond ordinary operations).
I think it's great that Marie, Tom and others are volunteering in this way. We all spend enough time on talk here, and -- er -- that's cheap. |
Bklyn1969
Citizen
Username: Bklyn1969
Post Number: 18
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 10:31 am: |
|
As a new resident and someone new to the high level of property taxes in SO and MW, I find it alarming that the situation exists and has been allowed to deteriorate to the point that this request is being made and that the proposed remedy is a volunteer, do-it-yourself approach. I admire the "can-doism" but these are institutional buildings with hundreds/thousands using these facilities. The materials and workmanship should be appropriate for the setting. And, yes, this should be incorporated in the budgeting process for infrastructure projects, which should be fundamental to the overall budget. These schools are an investment that we all share and should be well maintained.
So much in education is challenging because choosing the right solution is subjective - choosing an approach to language arts, addressing the needs of students with learning disabilities, trading off between keeping French or music, etc., etc. This is easy. It is just dollars and cents and having the discipline to insist on maintaining the infrastructure.
Finally, please do not move this thread to the Education section. If I'd seen it there before I moved here, it may have scared me away and it could have the same effect on others. |
Bklyn1969
Citizen
Username: Bklyn1969
Post Number: 19
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 10:51 am: |
|
ps I see now that I followed a link from "Please Help" into "Education." So this topic is here for all coming to learn "are the schools okay?" to see. Apparently the answer depends on how often you need to use the restroom. I say let's get budgeting or bonding to fix this asap. |
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page