Waverly Elementary the way it looked on June 26. Roofing work was going on.
On a leisurely ride I went past Waverly School on Columbus Street this week because I had seen the school mentioned in the “planning projects under review” by the Albany Planning Division. So what’s being planned?
An expansion of the school, that’s what. But the decision to expand it has not been made.
On Tuesday Travis North, one of the planners at City Hall, posted a notice online. It said the planning division had received an application for a conditional use permit to place a modular building at Waverly School.
Owners within 300 feet were being notified and have until July 7 to submit written comments if they have any.
The modular building would hold three classrooms. It would be situated on the north side of the school facing Fourth Avenue S.E.
The school district also is proposing to expand, by six spaces, the parking lot on the west side off Columbus Street, where the front door is.
You can find a site plan of the proposed additions with the online notice on the city’s website here.
Whether Greater Albany Public Schools actually go through with this plan has not been decided, though.
“This is still in the concept phase, keeping open the option of moving the existing modular from Clover Ridge to Waverly,” Russ Allen told me by email. He’s the GAPS director of business and is listed as the applicant for the conditional use permit.
The project, he said, has not yet gone to the school board for review and approval. “It might be on the July agenda,” he added.
This would not be one of the projects in the districtwide expansion and repair program launched with the bond issue approved in 2017.
At Waverly now, you can see workers busy on the roof. Replacing or repairing the roof — now that is part of the many bond projects at Albany schools. (hh)
Lemme get this straight. More class room expansion! Aren’t we going thru a pandemic where by kids are taught at home via computer?? So, why not just continue the system via computer which the kids are accustomed to already & do away with school expansion! The Albany School system is so “dumbed down” now it doesn’t rate as a Mario Bros game.
Waverly kids get prefab modules and roofing, and spent $$ removing lead and asbestos while wealthy suburban kids in North Albany get a fancy new school, rewarding those citizens who decided to move away from the city with more services. What a disgrace. We are all subsidizing their lifestyle with our taxes, reverse Robin Hood.
Hey, wait a minute. Aren’t we dealing with a pandemic & dealt with closed schools for the last three months of the school year. The internet was used to get them brats educated. I say for the future, keep’em at home, educate via the internet which wouldn’t need buildings, wouldn’t need buses, etc… If I can get a college degree thru the internet why can’t those kids be educated the same way?? Everybody’s got the internet!
“””Everybody’s got the internet!”””
Yeah, but some people have it much better and cheaper than others. No problem in urban America; big problem in many rural (red) areas. If you can fight your way through the klutzy map (next link), you can find what is alleged to be available almost anywhere. If you see nothing but “satellite” and “wireless,” you might as well say “forget it.”
https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov
“””Democrats are offering President Donald Trump’s rural supporters a reason to turn against him in 2020 — his failure to bring them the high-speed internet he promised. “””
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/17/rural-digital-divide-democratic-candidates-1655290
I say stay at home and go to school. Some parents might not be able to teach their own children. Hire their own teacher or pick their own School. The government should not be involved in how we teach our children to read. It’s the parent’s obligation not the government. Since the government takes all this money from everyone to teach them, they ought to give it back. Let the people do as they please with teaching their children.