Letters: Focus on education, not fancy buildings

Glancing at a construction photo of the new Jackson Creek Elementary School (“New school to blend with neighborhood, offer nature-friendly look,” March 4), I mistook it for a new downtown hotel. The story told me it was an elementary school with “architecture reminiscent of Andrew Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house … designed so students can engage each other by the warm light of a fireplace.”

One recent study ranked our state 37th the the quality of education. Buildings are a small factor in a student’s educational outcome. We should provide sufficient space for teaching academic skills that one day will translate into a successful career. I don’t know any jobs requiring a fireside chat.

Our children need a safe, caring environment with well-educated teachers, adequate supplies and up-to-date technology. Fireplaces, glass walls and waterfalls have nothing to do with quality education. Money spent on remedial, intervention and tutorial programs for struggling students or salaries to attract more excellent teachers to our school systems does. The National Education Association says teacher pay in South Carolina declined an average of 6.7 percent in 2015.

Many adults attended school in old, well-maintained buildings. School districts weren’t concerned with the facade. We went to school because our parents valued a good education.

Let’s get back to basics and focus on what’s important. Shame on Richland District 2 for being so wasteful and forgetting which standards really make a difference.

This story was originally published March 19, 2017 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Letters: Focus on education, not fancy buildings."