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11 Eanes Elementary School parents demonstrated their passion for preserving the campus’ character during a meeting last week on future renovations, and they have good reason to be concerned (see story on front page).
Eanes is the oldest school in the district, and it is one of the community’s precious few sites with historical significance. The first school was housed nearby, and the school district’s oldest still-standing school remains intact on the campus. Built in 1937, the rock school house is still used for educational programs as part of the history curriculum.
In addition, the Eanes-Marshall ranch house, former home to Eanes founding father, Robert Eanes, was moved to the campus and restored a few years ago.
So, nothing would be more tragic than to see the present day school changed drastically. That is part of the reason for the parents working hard to help school district officials make the right decisions.
But parents at the district’s other five elementary schools feel similar passion for preserving the good things about their campuses, and we urge all of them to get involved in any future renovation projects by laying out a similar vision. If school district officials can help make that happen by encouraging input, it would greatly improve the chances of the passage of future bond proposals.
It would be in the best interest of the district to offer proposed changes for each campus, get everyone on board and pledge to do the work in phases over a five-year period, with little or no disruption in school operations. We hope the bond package is one that is fiscally conservative in scope, because anything the scale of previously discussed $100 million-plus proposal is doomed to fail. Confidence in the continued economy’s improvement is simply not there yet.
I just don’t see how the current layout of Eanes can be safe, secure, accessible and modern.
You’re a brave man, Great. Now brace for the attack.
Mr. Allen wrote: Confidence in the continued economy’s improvement is simply not there yet.
Actually confidence in the Eanes ISD leadership is also not there.
The only way you get something that is completely “safe, secure, modern, etc.”, is to build what is in effect, a prison. A cold, boxy, institutional structure. (And I am familiar with commercial structures). Some schools feel like prisons and is THAT a healthy, positive, learning environment? What is ultimately the goal?
I believe LEARNING is.
I’m not saying there should be razor wire and armed guards around the campus.
Learning in today’s world involves technology. A modern campus is needed to do that.
The two most important resources for learning: 1) Teachers (and therefore, small class size) 2) Safe, accessible classrooms. Not more “technology”.
Those of us who went to Eanes elementary as children still recognize it as the same school we attended many years ago. We cannot say the same for WHS which is no longer recognizable as the school we attended and loved, due to the expansion and modernization of it. Hopefully Eanes will be allowed to retain its charm and character.
As someone who remembers the original WHS, I am thoroughly repulsed by the walls and the locked gates. It’s no longer architecturally the friendly and inviting place it once was.
Eanes could be transformed into an amazing outdoor campus. It could be redesigned and salvaged as an example of how an innovative design can allow children to thrive.
Having attended Eanes Elementary, Cedar Creek, HCMS & WHS, can you guess which one feels more like home? Overhanging trees, nearby creek that Mrs. Tull taught us to garden near & covered OUTDOOR walkways between buildings, that’s Eanes Elementary. Home is some place you recognize, it’s a place that invites. This is what’s missing in modern square footage homes and schools. They repel.
Let me remind you that the reason modern schools LOOK like prisons is because they’re designed and built by the same people. What’s safer? Eanes with multiple separate small buildings or the WHS LOCKDOWN, no windows you can crawl out of (much less open) in an emergency design?
Modern school design has an ulterior effect and all that’s lacking is the concertina facing inward. WHS students, trained to be “RIGHT AT HOME” in a cellular world filled with florescent light. “Your I.D. & papers please comrade.”
I can’t help but agree. I first saw WHS in 1974 and saw it expand over the years. Today? It reminds me more of a prison than a school. Security is great, but I don’t think that the gates and walls do anything but make it look like Gardner Betts (the juvenile detention facility in Travis County). It cost a lot for that cold feeling.