Leave No School Behind

Governor Richardson has committed to getting funding for new Albuquerque West Mesa High Schools and Middle Schools. This is good news for those areas and it is the right thing to do since so many people are moving there under our current sprawl development policies. This is a cost to us taxpayers but one that must be met. Let's hope the developers are doing their share too. At the same time, one can only wonder what is happening to investment in the existing schools within the core areas of Albuquerque. Certainly, some of them are under enrolled and they have available space, but they suffer from age and inferior infrastructure when compared to the new modern schools that are being constructed these days. We need to be thinking about updating and improving those existing schools and perhaps wholesale rebuilding of some of them. I am not naive and realize there will always be sprawl to some extent. However, the students in these older schools should not be left behind either.

Whatever happens, lets don't let the powers that be design these new schools to look like prisons, which most new schools resemble. Some windows would be nice. They are good for students to stare out of and daydream! I remember doing a lot of that myself.