Dependable Erection

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

High schools

Seems i'm not the only one who thinks an Environmental Sciences magnet high school over in West Durham makes sense:
What better place to create a magnet school for environmental studies? Durham Public Schools are already on the cutting edge of delivering topic-based curriculae that go beyond basic NC curriculum requirements and prepare students for future studies and careers that are timely and competitive in this difficult economy. For example, consider Hillside's Technology High School in partnership with Nortel or Southern's School of Engineering in partnership with Duke. Why can't we consider a high school located in our beautiful environment that could serve as a laboratory for the future stewards of what we love so much and where Durham schools can produce leaders in the fight against global warming?

. . .

I'm sure there are many, many other ways that an Environmental Studies magnet could benefit our community and our children. When we look out into the future, they are our only hope for preserving our natural areas and reducing the devastating impacts of global warming. What better way to prepare them for this kind of leadership than to bring them into the heart of what we love so dearly and show them first-hand what it means to all of us, indeed to our whole world?

JoEllen Mason

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2 Comments:

  • >"Why can't we consider a high school located in our beautiful environment"

    Locating the school *in* the beautiful environment will ruin that beautiful environment and lead to sprawl, leading to further environmental degradation.

    Reusing already-developed but crumbling sites such as Lakewood Shopping Center (for example) makes much more sense environmentally, economically, and aesthetically. Bring Green into the city. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 1:35 PM  

  • I was a huge supporter of preserving the Pickett Road tracts as parkland, because i thought it was the best thing for the region, not only the relatively few people who live there.

    There's no reason to consider that building a new high school anywhere has to be done along the same lines as every previous high school ever built in Durham.

    Lakewood may or may not be the best place for this project, but it's certainly not "the inner city" as other folks have suggested. And neither the Lakewood site nor the old Kroger site on 15/501 (which has been brought up on the Erwin-Neighbor listserv) are exactly "pedestrian friendly."

    the end result of the process, however, needs to be what is best for the entire community, not just a handful of its residents. It would be a shame to dismiss a perfectly valid idea just because a small group of residents are unwilling to think outside the box.

    By Blogger Barry, at 2:09 PM  

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