Guest column: No more delay repairing Worcester's schools
After almost four years, Elm Park Community School is done waiting to have their gym back.
Built in 1972, the gym is the school’s greatest asset for all: physical education and school assemblies, afterschool activities, school sports, rentals to basketball leagues, multicultural soccer leagues and family get-togethers. Rentals mean revenue that can help Elm Park Community School address other needs and still generate a huge sense of community spirit and engagement for the school.
Closing the gym resulted from a long-standing water leak that rendered the floor a hazard. This was in 2019. Following that were numerous stops and starts, partial fixes, reemergence of leaks and then more leaks, installation of a new doorway, installation of the floor, and still the problem persists. After close to a $1 million investment, the gym is still unusable.
Unfortunately, this is a perfect example of Worcester Public Schools “deferred maintenance.”
Deferred maintenance is the postponing of repairs because of other priorities and limited resources.
Ignoring repairs in our schools has been the norm for years. The fact that the majority of the deferred maintenance projects exist mainly in economically challenged neighborhoods is a disgrace. Elm Park Community School is just one example.
Deferred maintenance means there are 10 schools with 40-year-old “temporary” classrooms, students wearing jackets to keep warm due to antiquated HVAC systems, no cafeterias or cafeterias with broken equipment, plastic covered windows, broken or missing floor tiles, broken toilets and sinks, no playgrounds, no libraries. Education is compromised without these essentials. This neglect has an impact on learning, on morale and for current and prospective students, staff and families it is a sign of significant decline and disinvestment.
The City of Worcester allocates $4 million annually in capital improvement to the School District that goes toward taking care of our 60 school buildings. It is not enough.
As every homeowner knows, deferred maintenance comes at a heavy cost as problems become bigger and more expensive over time. If we don't fix what is broken in our school buildings because we imagine replacing them with brand-new buildings, then dream on.
As is mentioned and clarified in a Boston Globe article May 27, as part of its series "The Great Divide," the Massachusetts School Building Authority is not charged with funding the kinds of maintenance projects that our schools desperately need. That work is our responsibility and should be part of Worcester’s economic development plan. Great schools make great neighborhoods.
Superintendent Rachel Monárrez is seeing the need with fresh eyes and has made it a priority of her administration. The situation did not evolve overnight but over many years of neglect and lack of investment. It’s about the quality of education for our children, respect for educators and our kids, and the basic principles of access, public health and well-being.
It is on all of us – Worcester City Councilors, School Committee, city manager and Massachusetts representatives and senators – to commit to a plan that will begin to fix a broken system now.
Mary Stevenson Keefe is state representative for the Worcester 15th District and lives in downtown Worcester.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Mary Keefe column on ending delayed maintenance of Worcester schools
