From: Gregory P. Kelley
RE: J. W. Sexton vs. Eastern
Note: The community needs a win – win
Disclosure: I’m an Everett High School graduate and a Lansing resident.
Ok, now what’s the rush?
Lansing School District parents and community residents need to calm down, slow down the decision train and expand their thinking with regard to closing a high school.
The decision at hand, which high school to close J. W. Sexton or Eastern, has been brewing for many years. Everyone should take a deep breath and take another look at the problem facing the Lansing School District due to the declining student population. The district must not be held hostage by the Eastern International Baccalaureate Magnet Program. That’s a good program, but it must not be even a primary determining factor in the decision. The tail, no matter how attractive, should not wag the dog.
That one program, no matter how prestigious or attractive, is not enough to dictate the direction and decisions of change for the entire school district. Those who feel as though it’s that important and its loss will doom the district can take their kids and go back to the suburbs. We can then look again at that box. The Quaker and Big Red are proud traditional symbols that lead the charge in a very old and very intense academic competition and sports rivalry between the two oldest city schools. However, both buildings are ancient and outdated. Eastern opened in 1928 and Sexton in 1943. Neither needs to be worshiped. Yes, many Lansing citizens had a great time growing up in those neighborhoods and attending those schools. Many have fond and warm memories of times spent in those education plants.
But both are physical dinosaurs and should be replaced. That’s the real solution. Sell Eastern and use the money as the first installment on the construction of a modern new school. The Sexton site has enough room for a new, modern facility of appropriate size. The Sexton facility is large enough to house the students from both schools while a new state of the art high school is being built.
The Eastern property could be sold to the Flint, based McLaren Medical Center or purchased by the Sparrow Medical Group. Both groups have expressed interest. The money from the sale must be placed in a hands-off new high school construction account. The move to consolidate the staffs and students would reduce expenses, and the savings would also be applied to the construction of the new high school. The new joint high school would have a new name that will mark a fresh start.
Why should Lansing students, parents and citizens settle for anything less? The old high school buildings in the competing suburban districts are not being retro-fitted and returned to service as high schools. The bedroom communities have been investing in new school facilities that are technically state of the art. Their facilities are consistently being up graded.
Eastern has a strong lobby, and The Sexton folks are gearing up. What is clearly apparent, however, is that many of the people speaking on behalf of keeping each school do not currently live in the district or have students in attendance. These loyalists are entitled to express their opinions, but the Lansing School board must weigh those opinions differently from the opinions of district parents and residents. When participants speak at meetings or communicate their opinions in writing, the Board must determine if they have a vote. When people speak at meetings, the Board must have them indicate whether or not they are Lansing School District residents or parents. The Board and public needs to know if the people who are at the lectern trying to influence the decisions of the Lansing Board of Education have any skin in the game.
Eastern and Sexton alumni, parents and students and community members will continue to voice their opinions, and the Board has the power to make the decision, but one thing is for certain, whatever the outcome, whatever the Lansing School Board decision(s), Lansing residents are the ones who are going to foot the bill.
