Vote 'yes' to improve schools

January 28, 2007

Mobile Register - Mobile,AL

Sunday, January 28, 2007

By ANGIE SWIGER

Special to the Press-Register

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City school boards are in place in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, and

we have asked for the March 13 referendum on creating a separate

school district because we feel that our children are not getting

the same opportunities as children in other parts of Alabama.

As many people know, Hoover has one of the top public school systems

in the state. We have used Hoover to some degree as a model for what

we would like our schools to look like on Pleasure Island.

First, though, I would like to list some of the basic issues we deal

with daily:

--Mold in classrooms.

This is so common in our schools that there is a term for it: " sick

room, " meaning that black mold grows on the walls of the classroom.

Mold remediation companies take many precautions when dealing with

the removal of mold. Masks are worn so that mold spores are not

inhaled into the lungs, causing respiratory illness. The walls are

checked and rechecked, and Sheetrock is torn out and replaced.

Not in our " sick rooms. " The surface of the walls is wiped down with

bleach and repainted, and classes resume until the mold returns --

and it does, year after year.

--Roof leaks.

During a storm, teachers strategically place buckets around the

middle school cafeteria to catch the rainwater. The roof has been

leaking for seven years, not just in the cafeteria but also in the

library and in several classrooms.

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