the rix mix

This was frontpaged in the Star-Ledger today:

By Dunstan McNichol
Star-Ledger Staff

For almost a century, the facade of Camden High School has towered over the Parkside neighborhood just southeast of the city's downtown, offering inspiration to generations of residents as the community's "Castle on the Hill."

But it is a fading castle.

Emergency scaffolding protects students entering and leaving the school from pieces of plaster and masonry falling off the decaying high school. A new chain-link fence keeps pedestrians clear of other portions of the wall, and broken windows dot the three-story facade.

Now, officials at the state agency in charge of school repair and replacement in Camden are wondering whether the building is worth the $120 million experts have projected it will cost to modernize it.

"There's some concern about the proper uses of limited resources," said Preston Pinkett, a Prudential Financial Services executive who serves on the state Schools Development Authority board. "We should build in a way that makes sense, as opposed to throwing good money after bad."

Pinkett suggested the $120 million the state plans to spend refurbishing the 92-year-old high school building might better be used to build an entirely new school.

Camden officials, however, are adamant the venerable structure should remain, even as the school is upgraded to meet modern educational needs.

"This building is a symbol for the community; it's an icon for the community," said Camden schools spokesman Bart Leff, whose family has deep roots in the Parkside neighborhood. "This community is committed to the symbol of this building and the castle on the hill."

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but outside the Camden city limits this is a no-brainer: Get rid of it. Don't ask the old-timers, the graduates from decades ago, & the honorable neighborhood holdouts. Ask the parents, the students, the teachers.

Hate to remind the folks who consider this school an "icon" but for your fellow Jerseyans the main symbol of Camden is an illegal handgun, recently fired, not a "Castle on the Hill." Taxpayers outside of Camden are footing the bill for whatever you do &, as a wild guess, their opinion probably runs 50% for a new school & 50% for declaring that Camden shall henceforth be part of Philadelphia, & then towing Battleship New Jersey, one of your few attractions, to Bayonne.

Look, a thing doesn't have to exist to be iconic. There's no Diving Horse on the Steel Pier in Atlantic City anymore, they're both gone. The Camden HS website doesn't show a photo of the building on the main page, & the school alma mater, "Purple and Gold," makes no mention of a castle. To be honest, it isn't an architectural work of art. My hometown had a high school with lots of "tradition" & clanky radiators, but my classmates & I were thrilled to attend a brand new one with a much less distinctive exterior. Take the money, construct yourself a nice new castle of learning for the children now in grammar school, include a swimming pool if you can get away with it, & put a picture of the Ye Olde Castle on the school stationary.

Labels: education, in the news, New Jersey