“We have never been able to provide 3-year-old programming for children in Rome City Schools in a school across the board like this,” said Cooper. “You start well and you finish well.”
Numerous houses have already been demolished on the school site, set between East Main Street and Pennington Avenue in South Rome. The board is still working on deeds to a few more homes but most have already been evacuated, according to Cooper.
The city will soon close Wimpy Street, which runs through the middle of the planned school. The site’s demolition began on the east side of the plot near Mount Olive Baptist Church, which will remain intact and serve as a neighbor to the new school.
In other actions:
Twelve new teachers were approved for certified employment, one for support employment and four were approved for certified re-employment for the 2012-2013 school year.
Cooper’s retirement from the position of superintendent is set for Dec. 1. He said it was hard to walk away from the system but he was confident the board would carry through with its goals for future progress.
“I love this system and will miss everyone,” said Cooper.
When they started the work on South Broad, the new lighting, the crosswalks, and everything else BEFORE the school was torn down; they already knew that the school would be placed at the new site.
How else would the street crossings and traffic lights already be in place? I thought it was mighty odd to have a traffic light that came down the side of the torn down Watkins Auto. There has NEVER been heavy traffic there; that would cause for a traffic light coming off that hill.
Then all of a SUDDEN this is the site that became available for the school! I feel it was long ago already planned. The school board just had to go through the process of letting the people know what the issues were and come up with a plan of what to do; when in fact they already had a plan in progress. It's mighty strange to me how people homes and businesses were moved or torn down in such a speedy manner and you got houses that has been abandoned or burned due to fire (in South Rome) and nothing has been done about them. I guess if the city can't use the property for anything it's no concern for them.
My main point is, this COULDN'T have just happened and start falling in place... this was way too easy. Just 3 months ago Anna K Davie demolition began; with NO idea where the new school would be........ and within that time all this progress was made acquiring the new properties and just so happen the cross walks and traffic lights just so happen to fall where the school will need them....just seems like this whole situation been a plan. The Board of Education had to follow a process I guess. Let the public know what they plan on doing, give us a semi- legit reason for having the school torn down from it's HISTORIC spot... let the public rant and rave. Have the meetings, let the public voice their opinion and then move on with what they already had planned. NOW.... this might not be how it was, but this is what it looks like to me.