Syracuse, NY - Blodgett School sixth-graders are getting a lesson in government and public relations. They are writing letters and speaking out about the need to renovate their school. Genesis M. DeJesus wrote a letter to the mayor of Syracuse that says the paint is peeling from the classroom walls and the ceiling is leaking. “As a child I...
Cristian Arroyo, 11, a sixth-grader at Blodgett School, looks to the board to see a math problem during a quiz. Behind him, from left, are Joel Cirino, 12, and Equayjah Brooks, 11. Arroyo and Cirino were among a group of Blodgett students who wrote letters asking city officials to repair their school.
Syracuse, NY - Blodgett School sixth-graders are getting a lesson in government and public relations. They are writing letters and speaking out about the need to renovate their school.
Genesis M. DeJesus wrote a letter to the mayor of Syracuse that says the paint is peeling from the classroom walls and the ceiling is leaking.
“As a child I should be in a school with clean walls and a sturdy ceiling,” DeJesus wrote about the building in the Syracuse City School District.
Hildaliz Medina wrote that the walls, bathroom and auditorium need to be fixed.
“We need the whole school done,” she concluded in her letter to whom it may concern.
Blodgett was supposed to be renovated several years ago as part of a broader construction project, but a lack of money bumped the school off that list. The renovation is on hold and the school’s fate is up in the air.
Blodgett staff, pupils and parents have weighed in about the renovation over the years and children are doing so again, encouraged by school staff and the Near Westside Initiative, a nonprofit organization working to revitalize the neighborhood around the school at 312 Oswego St.
Pupils in several sixth-grade classes wrote letters to make a case for saving and renovating their school, and Michael Short, initiative associate director, plans to get them to city hall.
Cristian Arroyo, 11, says he got the idea to write his letter from his teacher, Laura Bronchetti. He said he simply asked the people who renovate schools to please do Blodgett.
“Like everything is falling apart. In the gym, the roof is coming down,” Arroyo said.
Short said the initiative recently arranged for a small group of students to tour a couple of renovated city schools as part of the Say Yes to Education after-school program, and that inspired more student comment.
Leslie Rosario, 12, said she came back from the school tour wondering why other schools can get renovated and Blodgett can’t.
“I feel that it wasn’t fair, to tell you the truth,” she said.
That trip prompted Rosario and fellow sixth-grader Alicia Stowe, 12, to ask Principal Melissa Evans if they could read speeches about the renovations at a recent concert. She said yes, and the girls said the audience was on their side.
Rosario said she asked people to stand if they thought the school should be renovated, and everyone did.
The city is holding off on a decision about Blodgett until the completion of a study of the school district’s projected enrollment and how much space it needs.
Contact Maureen Nolan 470-2185 or mnolan@syracuse.com