MELTON STUDENTS WAITING FOR NEW SCHOOL TO OPEN
POST-TRIBUNE
BY: SHARLONDA WATERHOUSE

Cramped in Melton Elementary School, students await opening of the new Glen Park Academy for Excellence.

Melton, with its rusted frames and splintered wood doors, bears the marks of a site worn down.

In contrast, a sprawling tan brick and green-tinted windowed structure at 5002 Madison St. sits empty — six months after the start of the school year. Furnishings and textbooks are inside, but no students.

Many had expected Melton students to transfer to the new school in late fall, allowing Melton to shutter its doors.

One of three new sites constructed in a $57 million facilities facelift, the Glen Park Academy was slated to open Oct. 31, then in January.

Now school leaders, who contend those prior opening dates weren't official, say it could open after the April spring break — but that's not certain.

Blame the large fenced-in excavation out front. That hole is a retention pond. School officials don't want it.

School Board trustees Michael Scott and Jesse Morris said they are worried about children's safety.

“It's too deep,” Morris said, adding that he didn't want students to try and swim in it.

Also, Scott, head of the district's finance committee which recently heard details of $38,819 worth of change orders, said it's unsightly: “I have concerns about the safety and the aesthetics. To have a big hole like that in front of the building is just asinine ” Scott said.

Morris agrees: “We want it to look nice, to have a park-like atmosphere where the community can come in.”

The school, built under oversight of Castle Construction, is built on clay land which doesn't readily absorb groundwater. A system of drainage is necessary.

Although the pond is there, Scott said the administration would now prefer underground storage tanks.

Morris said the plan is to “put the tanks in that hole and then cover it with sod.”

Beyond that, Scott said there is no other problem. He blames a former building and grounds employee for putting out wrong opening dates and allowing the retention pond design to stand.

That employee, who declined to speak against the district, said the retention pond has been noted in plans brought before the board on several occasions.

Scott says only the building corporation knew: “The board didn't know the retention pond was going out there. We didn't want it. The board was bypassed for a year,” Scott said, adding that it was not the contractor's fault, but the building representative's fault.

News articles have previewed the pond since 2004. Scott said the board and superintendent “have always known the school would open later than Oct. 31. We were targeting January, but unfortunately didn't meet that either.”

He said for 13 years since former superintendent James Hawkins promised his son and other Pittman Square kindergartners a new school, he's been waiting for such a Glen Park campus to open.

“I'm extremely disappointed. I would like for the sixth graders at Melton and Pittman Square to put a foot in the new school before they graduate. It is 99 percent complete and I'm hoping they can have at least one day in the new school.”

Delays have fueled rumors that the school was built backwards, is sinking, is flooding or all of the above.

Scott chuckles at the whispers, saying none are true. He said the recent change orders were not for major problems, but for shelving, bookcases, more tile, restriping of the gym floor, etc.

He said the construction company gave the district a $5,000 credit adjustment.

Principal Alicia Skinner-Kelley said she's been inside the building and it looks wonderful: “It's much more modern. The attention to detail will make the academic and social components blend together.”

Parent assistant Donna Hill said there have been no parent complaints and “children aren't thinking about the new building.”

Teacher Jeanette Holmes said Melton “feels like home,” but she's looking forward to the eventual move. Despite the drainage change, which the district is expected to pay for, Scott says the cost for the trio of schools is below the $2 million projected budget and expects it to remain so.