My wife and I just got back to Omaha from a visit to Baton Rouge, during which I spent a few hours at Baton Rouge Magnet High taking several rolls of pictures documenting what's become of the place.
By the time I was done shooting in the gym and the boys' locker room, I was near tears. Let me try to explain a bit.
I GRADUATED FROM BRMHS in 1979. Except for my kindergarten year in Catholic school -- my neighborhood public school had no such thing as kindergarten then -- I spent my entire school career within the EBR system.
Until my fourth-grade year, the schools I attended still were legally segregated and all-white. In fourth grade, I got a stern lecture -– from a teacher -- for playing with one of two black students at Red Oaks Elementary.
All this is to say that the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board has been on the cutting edge of backwardness and stupidity for a very long time now.
To get to my roundabout point here, every public school I attended was a dump. That is, until I got to Baton Rouge High the first year of the magnet program.
To me, BRMHS seemed like the Taj Mahal. Hard as it is to believe, the building had just been spruced up and was in great shape. I loved going to BRMHS, particularly in such a grand old building -- if you tried, you almost could see all the generations that preceded you still walking the halls.
AT THAT SCHOOL, in that wonderful old structure, you hardly could escape the realization that you were part of something bigger than yourself. That's an intangible, yes, but some of life's most important things are unambiguously intangible.
And in this age of out-of-control individualism, I can't think of anything more important than coming to the realization we're all part of things bigger than ourselves.
But now, as my visit doubly confirmed, BRMHS now is a dump, too. And it seems that more than a few people there on South Foster Drive want to tear it down . . . and all the intangibles with it. For what?
To build a new school God-knows-where that EBR Schools will let deteriorate into just as big a dump 20 years down the road?
And any new BRMHS will become a dump, too. Visiting the existing building -- and for an old alum like myself, it is a profoundly heartbreaking experience -- makes clear that the place has not been decently maintained since I graduated nearly 30 years ago.
THERE ARE CHUNKS of terra cotta on the facade just about ready to fall on someone's unsuspecting head. Inside, ditto for the ceiling tiles. There are whole sections of classroom walls -- the ones that are exterior walls -- missing gigantic chunks of plaster. Both exterior and interior walls are horribly cracked. Every wall in the entire school, it seems, is peeling paint like a dog sheds fur.
By the time I was done shooting in the gym and the boys' locker room, I was near tears. Let me try to explain a bit.
I GRADUATED FROM BRMHS in 1979. Except for my kindergarten year in Catholic school -- my neighborhood public school had no such thing as kindergarten then -- I spent my entire school career within the EBR system.Until my fourth-grade year, the schools I attended still were legally segregated and all-white. In fourth grade, I got a stern lecture -– from a teacher -- for playing with one of two black students at Red Oaks Elementary.
All this is to say that the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board has been on the cutting edge of backwardness and stupidity for a very long time now.
To get to my roundabout point here, every public school I attended was a dump. That is, until I got to Baton Rouge High the first year of the magnet program.
To me, BRMHS seemed like the Taj Mahal. Hard as it is to believe, the building had just been spruced up and was in great shape. I loved going to BRMHS, particularly in such a grand old building -- if you tried, you almost could see all the generations that preceded you still walking the halls.
AT THAT SCHOOL, in that wonderful old structure, you hardly could escape the realization that you were part of something bigger than yourself. That's an intangible, yes, but some of life's most important things are unambiguously intangible.
And in this age of out-of-control individualism, I can't think of anything more important than coming to the realization we're all part of things bigger than ourselves.
But now, as my visit doubly confirmed, BRMHS now is a dump, too. And it seems that more than a few people there on South Foster Drive want to tear it down . . . and all the intangibles with it. For what?
To build a new school God-knows-where that EBR Schools will let deteriorate into just as big a dump 20 years down the road?
And any new BRMHS will become a dump, too. Visiting the existing building -- and for an old alum like myself, it is a profoundly heartbreaking experience -- makes clear that the place has not been decently maintained since I graduated nearly 30 years ago.THERE ARE CHUNKS of terra cotta on the facade just about ready to fall on someone's unsuspecting head. Inside, ditto for the ceiling tiles. There are whole sections of classroom walls -- the ones that are exterior walls -- missing gigantic chunks of plaster. Both exterior and interior walls are horribly cracked. Every wall in the entire school, it seems, is peeling paint like a dog sheds fur.
The school-board powers that be blame "moisture intrusion," saying that the building can no longer "breathe" since they installed air conditioning in the early '70s.
But the gym -- the structure that's never been air-conditioned, doesn't trap moisture and still "breathes" -- is worse. I don't know how it hasn't been condemned. In Omaha, where people generally care and government generally works, it would be condemned.
THERE ARE POTHOLE-SIZED craters in the gymnasium floor, thanks to the leaky roof. The "guest" restrooms -- I photographed both, with Abbey Gauthier of the alumni association running girls' room interference for me -- are not for those with weak stomachs.
A coach told me a school-board maintenance crew once "fixed" the leaky roof with duct tape. Duct tape! Duct tape is an amazing product, but it isn't going to do a thing for a leaky roof.
”Moisture intrusion” hasn’t been solely a function of air conditioning a 1920s structure. It’s largely been a byproduct of nonexistent maintenance on a world-class structure.
If the boys' locker room were a kennel -– for that matter, if the whole school were a kennel -- you wouldn't let your dog stay there for a minute. But that's what the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board thinks is acceptable for children, because it is the school board’s decades-long neglect that has left those students in abject squalor today.
THE SCHOOL I LOVE now is unfit for dogs; it's unfit for convicted murderers; it's certainly unfit for the parish's "best and brightest." But there you are.
But the gym -- the structure that's never been air-conditioned, doesn't trap moisture and still "breathes" -- is worse. I don't know how it hasn't been condemned. In Omaha, where people generally care and government generally works, it would be condemned.
THERE ARE POTHOLE-SIZED craters in the gymnasium floor, thanks to the leaky roof. The "guest" restrooms -- I photographed both, with Abbey Gauthier of the alumni association running girls' room interference for me -- are not for those with weak stomachs.
A coach told me a school-board maintenance crew once "fixed" the leaky roof with duct tape. Duct tape! Duct tape is an amazing product, but it isn't going to do a thing for a leaky roof.
”Moisture intrusion” hasn’t been solely a function of air conditioning a 1920s structure. It’s largely been a byproduct of nonexistent maintenance on a world-class structure.
If the boys' locker room were a kennel -– for that matter, if the whole school were a kennel -- you wouldn't let your dog stay there for a minute. But that's what the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board thinks is acceptable for children, because it is the school board’s decades-long neglect that has left those students in abject squalor today.
THE SCHOOL I LOVE now is unfit for dogs; it's unfit for convicted murderers; it's certainly unfit for the parish's "best and brightest." But there you are. Baton Rougeans apparently are OK with that, because it's been going on parishwide for generations. And they wonder why there's a "brain drain" in Louisiana.
The school board doesn't care, and neither does the electorate. If they did, the children of Baton Rougeans wouldn't be attending classes in a neglected dung heap. That the neglected dung heap is a beautiful, historical landmark only makes the outrageous even worse . . . if that's possible.
In Omaha, inner-city schools just as old as Baton Rouge High -– or, in one case, decades older -- are comparative palaces. Suburban schools are newer palaces.
In Baton Rouge, citizens have no frame of reference for what it looks like when a community cares about its kids. In Omaha, those who don't hail from places like Baton Rouge have no frame of reference for what I beheld when I went back home . . . to Baton Rouge High.
5 comments:
I am a 1998 graduate of BRHS, and must say that the school has been in poor condition for a good while now. I saw a lot of similar damage back in my days from 94 to 98, but I assume it's probably gotten worse. We had cracked plaster, leaks and falling ceiling tiles then. It's a real shame. It's such a wonderful structure, and it would be a shame to tear down a building with as much history as Baton Rouge High.
You should contact Byrd High School's Alumni Association in Shreveport. Byrd faced many of the same physical problems in the 1980s and was slated to be closed because of its decay. I believe it is around the same age as BRHS. The Byrd alumni came together and stopped the plans to close its doors. Today, it has been extensively refurbished and is one of the best public schools in the state. Byrd could serve as a model for BRHS.
The EBRPSB has but one goal in mind and that is to close and do away with any and all connections with the past deseg situation. The alums could offer to rebuild the entire school and the morons on the board would still vote to close the school. With over 60% black students in the system nothing associated with the past is allowed. No wonder three systems have broken out of EBRPSS and doing well, except for Baker.
your school is indicative of the whole state. i left for a year after katrina and tried to come back. no way in hell was that happening-- ii just spent a year in America-- not louisiana.
the amount of decay is from border to border in every direction and stops at the louisiana line always. pack your memeories and your bags or you will be crying everyday.
i lasted 7-8 months and would have left sooner. to bad b/c i really don't think it will ever be nice. not to my standards at least.
i will go visit but never again make that state my residence-- life is short and don't plan on having my future stolen and plunder by the dumb asses in power.
sorry to hear aout your school-- go look at my city-- nola.
they have let an entire city sink worst than that school. it's all too late in my book.
I am sure you know by now, thanks to the major efforts of the alumni, they have spent the last two years completely renovating the school campus to restore it to its original condition. The grand re-opening is scheduled in August. You would be very proud at what they have done to our alma mater. Let's just hope they don't destroy it so quickly this time.
Post a Comment