Actually, the two names currently in the running for the new high school here on the Planet Ann Arbor are Northcrest and Skyline. I don’t know what happened to Salamander, I kind of liked that one. Ann Arbor Is Overrated, where I occasionally lurk, recently posted about this, it’s the second Nov. 17 entry. The comments to that entry contain many creative name and mascot suggestions that Planetarians past and present should enjoy.

I was against this new high school from the get-go. Although I’m not alone in that opinion, it is marginally more “dangerous” for me to express it because my kids went to Commie High. People have varying misconceptions about Commie, one of the most ridiculous being that the kids who go there must all be wealthy because they eat lunch at the neighboring Zingerman’s Deli every day. Say what? A whole ‘nother entry, I guess.

I’m against the new high school for many of the typical reasons. The axe that I personally grind is that a big chunk of woods was clear-cut to build it. I dunno how many, if any, members of endangered species died in the interest of no child left behind. But haven’t we already decimated enough trees and other elements of habitat in this area? When does it end? I hate developers worse than I hate politicians and I always cringe when I see them at work with their grown-up tinker toys and Tonka trucks. I think it was someone on AAIO who suggested razing Maple Village and building the high school there. And why not? It already has a huge parking lot and who needs KMart anyway?

What really bothers me is that I don’t think we *need* a new high school. Here’s where being a former Commie Moom gets really dangerous. “Well, that’s fine for *you* to say. *Your* kids didn’t go to an overcrowded school!” An arguable point that would require a*nother* whole ‘nother entry. I know that Pioneer and Huron are overcrowded but I think the district failed to prove that demographic projections show huge increases over the coming years.

Even if the school population does increase, how about some creative solutions to the problem? Why under the sun do we need to jam several thousand teenagers into one building for the same six hours every day of the school year. Open up the campus, fer kee-reist! Increase the number of hours the school is open and offer classes at more times. Facilitate (hey, district admin: that means make it *easy*) more opportunities for advanced students to take college classes. At the colleges. Offer more on-line classes. Yeah, I know. They are far from perfect now. But we’re still in the wild wild west and they’ll improve. And to all you Internet-phobes, I didn’t suggest that *everyone* take *all* of their classes on-line. I think that would be awful! So y’all put down your hands and get that look of terror off your faces. I just think that offering some choices may eventually help un-crowd the schools.

We’re getting the new school whether I want it or not. It won’t much affect me except when I want to drive down to the river and fling my kayak into it. In the short term, it’ll alleviate crowding at PiHi and Huron. That *is* a problem. But let’s come up with some creative long-term solutions to overcrowding. If I *have* to choose between Northcrest and Skyline, I choose Skyline. Northcrest sounds like some ridiculous subdivision chockfull of McMansions. Come to think of it, given the subdivisions that have already been built in the area of the school, maybe Northcrest is the appropriate choice. 😐

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 26th, 2006 at 8:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.