Date: 4/19/2010
At a recent Longmeadow School Building Committee forum, two speakers claimed that only a spanking new building would provide the requisite facilities that would enable our young people to compete in the new world economy. They spoke scornfully about schools in the area that have been refurbished as still "feeling old." They eagerly advocated that the citizens of Longmeadow trade yesterday's long lived masonry building, terrazzo floors, welded door frames and structural glazed tile interior for today's steel studs, Styrofoam and drywall. Quoting a retired Longmeadow High School teacher, "give me a barn with a good teacher and I will turn out excellent students."