Daily Breeze Coverage

Some highlights from the Daily Breeze article from over the weekend:

Some elementary and middle schools in Torrance might have to close and be sold to raise funds to fix aging campuses if voters don't pass two November bond measures.

Warnings about such a worst-case scenario have spread throughout the city as part of a yearlong campaign that has rallied district leaders, city officials and parent groups.

....

For Torrance High School Principal John O'Brien, a bond measure would mean new paint for peeling walls, new concrete for crumbling pillars and new pipes for rusted-out toilets.

"It's starting to scare me, actually," said O'Brien, standing under hall lights held up by electrical wire.

The article discusses the TUSD's 2007 report titled "Torrance Schools: An Urgent Wake-up Call" warning that school facilities are dilapidated and in dire need of repair and modernization.

The report, based on a study by a Torrance Unified School District facilities committee, cited safety concerns such as large cracks in playgrounds, toilets that back up because of old plumbing, a lack of outdoor lighting in hallways and walkways, potholes in playing fields and rotting stadium bleachers.

"Schoolchildren and staff shiver in unheated classrooms when antiquated boiler heaters frequently break down," the report stated.

Specifically, the report cited bursting pipes at South High School that flooded rooms in two buildings, showers that don't work at one Torrance High locker room, heat that can't be turned off in some West High rooms and a science room at North High where there's no electrical power to the area where microscopes and other equipment are housed.

There are a bunch of pictures in the article of the deteriorated conditions at the schools. If I knew that my kids school would look in that shape, I think it might affect my decision to move to the area. Having schools run down like this sends the wrong message that we don't value our schools. The teachers and administrators are doing a good job -- the performance of the students shows that; it's time for Torrance residents to provide school children with decent facilities to go along with the great teaching that they are getting.