Re: Mold sends alternative school to Starkville armory

[Guest guest]

Okay, now let me get this one straight, there is an alternative school for

children with behavioral problems that is closing because of mold. Did these

children have behavioral problems before they were in that school? Or was

it an alternative school in which the children had behavioral problems?

This one reminds of the one a few months back where it sounded like they

were improperly renovating a moldie building so homeless people, who had been

hospitalized, would have some place 'safe' to recuperate.

Sharon

Mold sends alternative school to Starkville armory

Associated Press

Biloxi Sun Herald - Biloxi,MS

_http://www.sunheralhttp://wwwhttp://wwwhttp://wwhtt_

(http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/16490502.htm)

STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Quad Alternative Center, which serves four

north Mississippi school districts, will meet beginning Monday in a

National Guard armory in Starkville after another location was

closed because of mold.

The alternative school, for students with behavioral problems,

serves the Starkville and Oktibbeha, Noxubee and Lowndes counties

school systems. It is operated by the Starkville School District.

" The National Guard Armory in Starkville is a regional training

facility, and it is divided into individual classrooms which is

conducive to an educational environment,conducive to an educationa

Superintendent Phil Burchfield.

Burchfield said teachers began setting up classrooms on Thursday.

On average, about 70 students attend alternative school classes

every day.

Mold was discovered this past week in a building the school system

leased for the Quad Alternative Center. Tests revealed levels of

mold spores that could be potentially harmful if not reduced or

eliminated, said Burchfield.

Burchfield said the school district is looking for a new location

for the alternative school.

[Guest guest]

I think it probably has to do with the moldy buildings being the oldest,

cheapest ones...

Just like many schools are suffering from disrepair because of disinvestment

in their communities over time.

Its an oxymoron that when schools are first built they are new and

expensive, but as time passes and the 'builders' and shakers desert those

communities, the housing and schools within them become 'cheaper' (and more

relatively available to people with less money to spend.) but also don't

have money for maintenance because much of their money is tied up in things

like pensions and retirement benefits. (The same things happen to countries

on a greater scale as well.)

Also, thats the way we finance public education in this country.

Its based on property taxes which are tied to specific locations. So its not

unusual to have people paying much higher percentage of their property's

value in poorer communities and getting much less money per pupil than in

richer communities because the richer communities property is valued at much

higher values and they have much healthier ratables - so they can charge a

lower tax rate and still remain solvent.