Elkhardt school to close for good
Jeremy M. Lazarus | 2/24/2015, 4:14 p.m.
Elkhardt Middle School may be converted to apartments or offices one day.
But the building is finished providing classroom space for public school students.
The end came Feb. 12 when the final bell sounded dismissal.
With help from 50 volunteers, teachers packed up the next day, beginning the move of students to Clark Springs Elementary School to finish the year. Clark Springs will open as the new Elkhardt as soon as the snow emergency passes.
Leaky steam pipes have allowed health-threatening mold to infest the Elkhardt building. But the cost of making the building usable again is too great,space use.
Closing Elkhardt does not solve the real problem the school system faces — getting enough money from Mayor Dwight C. Jones and City Council to keep other aging buildings usable. At least 40 other buildings are operating with worn-out heating or cooling systems, leaky roofs and other problems.
A new report is to be issued Monday that will once again spell out the problems and put the mayor and council on the hot seat to find the money to upgrade and improve existing buildings.
Meanwhile, Tichi Pinkney Eppes, the 9th District School Board member whose district includes Elkhardt Middle School, said she would urge her colleagues to seek $40 million from the city to build a new middle school to replace Elkhardt and Thompson Middle, which also is in poor condition.
