Plainfield 2021 and the Plainfield Public Schools: A Must, Not a Choice

The Plainfield public schools district has been allowed to wither for who knows how long.  I use "wither" because a school district is very much like soil:  you work it, you feed and amend it and you get beautiful results; you leave it unattended and who knows what you will find when you return to it. 

Thanks to Dan Damon's post on the school reconfiguration proposal by the Plainfield schools' superintendent you know that the proposal is just a band-aid to not only eliminate crowding at the elementary schools but to bring the district to compliance when it comes to class size. 

We were also told that the district will talk about their plans to begin the review of the district's Long Range Facilities Plan, this, if done right and not in a rush, could be a good sign.

But before we even start thinking about school district construction, and the expense of it, few things need to be clarified by the district:

1--Did the state approve the BOE's proposed construction for Barlow and Woodland?

2--Has the district approached SDA and propose to negotiate the National Starch Building?

The answer to number one is a must as it will talk about whether the district will count with more space and how that space will be utilized.  If the proposed new construction for Barlow and Woodland was not approved we also need to know why not as knowing the reasons will allow for the district to plan ahead a better proposal. 

The answer of two is a tad more complicated.  The Schools Development Authority has the ownership of the National Starch Building (1700 West Front Street) and it leased the building to the Plainfield school district for $1 a year.  The lease seems to be expired and the lease also talks of the property being leased to the district as long as SDA has school construction going on.  The lease limits the building to be occupied for school instruction purposes.  (SDA/Plainfield BOE Lease Document HERE)

SDA has no construction going on and who knows when it will re-take school construction here in Plainfield as the Long Range Facilities Plan needs to be updated first, approved by the state, then by the SDA board, and then lobbied by locals so it can become reality this time around. 

But there is a missing piece, which is really not missing, to the National Starch Building situation.  The building currently houses Jefferson Elementary (K-6), PAAAS, and a pre-school.

The plans for the 2012-13 school year are to return Jefferson school from K-6 to K-5 and for PAAAS to take over the entire outside building, which is the one that seems to be shared with the pre-school.  Nothing was said about the fate of the pre-school.  But here is the thing: 

Jefferson students have their own building at Myrtle Avenue.  The Myrtle Avenue location, the real Jefferson school, is now occupied by central office administrators and the Barack Obama Academy students. 

The move of administrators to Myrtle Avenue's Jefferson school was done under the Gallon administration.  If I remember well, the purpose was to have all administrators under one roof.

The move of students to Myrtle Avenue's Jefferson School's basement was done under the current interim superintendent, Mrs. Belin-Pyles.  If I remember well, the purpose was to provide students with Gym and cafeteria space as the space at the old Lincoln school (E. 2nd Street and Berckman) was deemed inappropriate by the new and current administration and school board.  (Ironically the building was rented to a charter school that serves high school students).

So, just how much space and how many students can the real Jefferson school, at Myrtle Avenue, house?

According to data, which has remained the same since 2002, the Myrtle Avenue school has the capacity to house 429 students.  Jefferson school, at its current W. Front location and current K-6 model, has 417 students.  The district's projections for next year's enrollment, with a K-5 model, calls for 493 students, obviously the old Jefferson school, if projections were to come reality, would not accommodate all of the 493 students.  So, what to do?

This is where the puzzle comes in.  The district's administration body displaced Jefferson students into a rented space.  The rented space might offer a temporary solution to student growth, but there are still few questions that would need to be answered before the puzzle starts taking a clear shape:

How much does it cost to bus Jefferson school students to the rented space?  There is a cost for busing students and for what I have read the cost is not cheap.

How many administrative offices need to be under one roof?  How many of these offices need to be centrally located to provide easy access to parents?

Will the district be willing to invite SDA to enter negotiations regarding their failure to deliver school construction here in Plainfield and the National Starch Building? 

What will be the cost of returning the Jefferson school building into its former self, a school setting?  After all, the building still has the capacity to house 429 students.  (How much did it cost to make it into its current shape????)

Anyway.  Here is the $64 question: 

Plainfield is getting developed by mainly one single contractor, Frank Cretella, from Landmark Developers.  Landmark Developers are bringing, for what I understand, tons of new apartments.  Not my cup of tea nor my vision, but it is what it is.  Here is the thing, the city has decided that Landmark Developers is the right developer for the city, the city needs school space, and it will need it more than ever after Landmark is finished with its multiple apartment buildings.  So, why not enter the school needs situation into the conversation of developing the right infra-structure for all the new incoming development?

Let's say the city doesn't ask for a new school from Landmark, or any other possible developer, but what about office space for all, or most, of the school district's administrative office? 

Freeing Jefferson school of administrative offices and making it again into a school might be cheaper than building a new school.  It will return a school site to the residents of the area which only would be the fair thing to do and provide the district and its families with 429 additional student spaces.

Sounds wild, right?  But we need to get creative, create space where there is none and be willing to enter into real negotiations with those who desire a piece of Plainfield so the needs of Plainfield also get satisfied.  School space is not a choice, it is a must that is growing and growing even more stronger as our young families find Plainfield not such a bad place to live in and raise a family.

I am just providing a small seed *here with the idea of approaching school space by looking into what can be negotiated with incoming developers, your are more than welcome to take it and nurture it.  Let's see where it sprouts and how it grows.  What do you think?

P.S.  Sorry, I forgot all about the SDA/National Starch building role!  If the district was to enter into negotiations to get the ownership of the National Starch Building it would solve few things: 

One is that the building would not be at the mercy of SDA and politics.

Two is that the building will provide much needed school space to our district and city in a permanent manner.

Three:  Think of the possibilities this building has to offer:  PAAAS on the top floors with its own performing center downstairs that could then be open to the community for free or a fee, think what something like this would do for the West End.  Or a combined PAAAS with some other kind of Magnet school, think what this would mean for our students.  And you, what are your ideas for this building if it was to belong to the district and we could get city developers to provide the district, for free or for a very moderate price, with administrative offices somewhere amid their development plans?  Dare to dream! 

*The idea was proposed to the school district at the last Special Meeting to what the superintendent responded that they were looking into all possibilities.