The main part of our building is 100 years old (the incoming 8th graders are the 100th graduating class). Their have been two additions over the years, the newest being added in the 40's. It is a catholic school filled with a lot of old statues and semi-gothic design. I love it.

I remember my own elementary school being very modern and airy--it's still pretty nice, even some 30 years later (oops-am I dating myself?). Where I went to middle school had it's claim to fame--I believe it's one of the oldest two-story brick buildings in New York State! (NO KIDDING!)Even so it was kept up well, and the library was nice. My high-school was fairly modern, and even after all these years they've done a good job keeping it up.

My son's school was built in 1955, and you can tell!! There have been a couple of additions, but to keep that "school district time forgot" theme going they made the additions just as dismal as the rest of the school. I honestly don't think one fixture has been changed since the building was raised, and I have no idea where they find replacement stuff to fix things with--is there a warehouse for those buildings that got off the time-train in a certain decade and never got back on?

For some unknown reason brown :confused: is one of the primary colors in this place, and walking down the halls is like taking a stroll into the outer reaches of purgatory. It's so dark, oppresive and depressing. The only time things get updated is when there's a problem, like the time a good-sized portion of the ceiling in my son's second grade classroom collapsed :eek: .

I know things could be worse--every time I see a piece on the local news about the state NYC schools are in, with some classes being held in hallways, and a bathroom in one case, I count our blassings. But, when I walk through the more affluent schools in my area I want to die--they're so light filled, and have so much room, with nice new desks (I swear we still have some with the holes for the ink-wells), it makes it pleasant to be there. I'm all for tax hikes when I see the payoff, but all I see is my taxes going up, and nothing getting any much better!

Our school district did a building study a few years ago in order to plan for the future and try to save some money. The newest building we had was opened in 1969, the rest were ancient. Some even dated back to the 1800's!! Since we are seeing declining enrollment and some of the buildings were beyond updating, they used a tax option that put an additional 1 cent on the local sales tax and increased property taxes. This money is being used to remodel, demolish and build the new elementary schools. We will be going from seven buildings to four when the project completes in 2006. Our home school population doubled to over 480 students. It has made for some challenges in the PTO programs and you just don't have that "neighborhood" feel anymore. I used to know almost every child in the school, not anymore. It will save the district money because the buildings are more efficient and there will be less transportaion costs. It is stressful on the families though because when all is completed the attendance center lines will be redrawn and some kids will move into other attendance centers. Parents are worried about where their children will end up and how to handle the trauma of leaving friends and the familiarity behind. Lots of stuff to consider in a project like this.

Our school was built in the 60's - it closed down in the late 70's early 80's - was used as the district admin. center - overcrowding forced them to open the back half of the building as a school again in the mid 90's - they remodled it so it is very nice - very small though - this year is the last year our school will be open (they are probably going to turn it into an early childhood center - for special ed) and a new elementary school is being built. The kicker is we don't know yet if we are going to the new school or an existing school -- that was built in the 70's. Either way our district is pretty good about keeping our schools up to par.

Check with your principal. In our county when you purchase a house some of the tax money is set aside for new built school buildings or modernzation.
Our school was built in 1954. and will be having some updateding done during the summer. Good luck.

Our school is K3-8 and different parts of the building were built at different times. K3 and K4 are in a separate building that actually used to be a home--it's fresh and clean looking inside but the facility is inadequate; rooms too small. K5-5th are in a nice building built about 1979; it shows usual wear and tear but all-in-all nice. Grades 6-8 are in a beautiful building that is about 8 years old. This is a private school. Most of the public schools in town are quite old, but have been remodeled.
Shelly