Our Views: Keeping up appearances

When it comes to public facilities, it seems like the standard in Louisiana is “almost anything will do.” Drab and drabber, anything will do.

Yet in the new era of competition in public education, Lafayette Parish leaders are showing an understanding of what real estate agents call curb appeal.

Painters, custodians and others spent the summer preparing school buildings for what one principal called “an entire climate change.” Floors and hallways and restrooms — “200 percent better,” said Paul Breaux Middle School’s principal — have been given a makeover.

Sure, it’s not the giant facilities improvement such as that down the road in Baton Rouge: The iconic facade of Baton Rouge High was preserved, and a shining new facility was built within it. It was expensive but preservation of the historic structure was worth it.

Yet if such a new facility is good for morale at an elite magnet school, the Lafayette fix-up is much lower-tech but can improve the appearance of schools dramatically.

New superintendent Pat Cooper in his first school year on the Lafayette job pushed custodial staff to work later in the day — initially at 11 schools — so more work would not disrupt students’ class time. The district also hired a consultant to help train custodians on new cleaning equipment and techniques.

While summer school cleaning typically involved cleaning floors and other routine preparations, painting was not always a priority before classes started, principals said Monday.

We would argue that much basic maintenance is neglected in many public facilities, and it shows to the customers.

Not all schools were painted in time for the start of classes, Cooper said, but they will be painted this school year. “All of them are getting the clean-up treatment throughout the school,” he said.

This is the only sensible response to an environment in which state leaders are pushing an era of “choice” in education. That means that traditional public schools cannot rest on the assumption that their customers — schoolchildren and their parents — have nowhere else to go.

A coat of paint can’t solve deep-rooted problems, of course. But it’s an outward and visible sign of seriousness of purpose.

Comments

1) Comment by LSUinVail - 14/08/2012

It's just a shame that Louisiana's prioritie are so backward. Public schools have been in physical shambles for DECADES! Has anyone been in any of the myriad new government complexes? That are replete with the finest of materials like mahogany, marble, granite just for example. There was no expense spared in these many opulent structures. Now the public is kissing the feet of the politicians for allowing them to repaint. You have got to be kidding me! The complacency of Louisiana's voting public is what drove me away from Louisiana years ago. Shame, because otherwise I love Louisiana.

2) Comment by [e-mail] - 11/08/2012

If no pride is taken in the outside of a school, what conclusion then, are we to draw concerning the pride inside the school?

3) Comment by Cousin Dave - 11/08/2012

Funny to see a newspaper calling for a whitewash, but that's the Advocate for you. Where's your stinking transparency now?

4) Comment by Cousin Dave - 11/08/2012

Baton Rouge High was a gross waste of money that would have been better spent educating students. It ain't the building, but what goes on inside that makes it a school.