Letter to save the Fieldhouse and protect Water's ecology program
From GreenWiki
Please email Pete Leki if you will sign on to this letter. Pete's email address is peteleki@yahoo.com and his phone number is 773 463-8968
To All Concerned,
The undersigned members of our community want to let you know how important the Waters School Gardens and Fieldhouse are to us. The gardens are a recognized treasure. But, the Fieldhouse is, maybe, less appreciated. For us the Fieldhouse is a place to meet, to plan, to take refuge, to create, to learn, to wash our hands and go to the bathroom. It has, for the past years, been home to the Waters School arts and ecology programs. It is in the integration of these and other disciplines of learning, that the Fieldhouse represents the best in progressive education. The Fieldhouse is the out building, the place of welcome to the community when the main building is closed. It has been lovingly occupied during these past years. It has also been neglected by the Board of Education. BOE representatives have repeatedly called for the demolition of the building. It seems that they don’t want to spend money to fix it up. We think that they don’t realize its importance to our community and how well and intensively it is used. In the past the Fieldhouse has hosted:
- hundreds of meetings of parents as they discuss issues of education and governance. philosophy and art,
- scores of Parent Project workshops, pioneered by Waters School, and acclaimed by the Clinton presidency as one of the 6 best parent education projects in the country,
- scores of musical gatherings, choirs, drumming and dancing classes, guitar and recorder workshops,
- endless numbers of integrated arts projects, from the latest environmental, concrete sculptures, to weaving classes led by parents,
- scores of vital evening gatherings of community members to debate and discuss issues of equality, water pollution, riverbank restorations, bats, organic gardening, affordable housing and cooperatives,
- Dia de los Muertos altars in homage to our deceased relatives,
- after school ecology programs to inventory the biodiversity of our gardens,
- astronomy sessions where children had their first real peek at the planets through a telescope,
- language classes, both Spanish and English,
- weddings
- birthdays,
- Boy Scout gatherings
- classes in food preparation
- hosting a theatre ensemble for six weeks of public performances,
- candidate forums before elections,
- summer ecology camp
- Spring and Fall Garden Festivals
And on and on and on…..
We want to propose that the Fieldhouse be preserved and that a team of architects, designers, engineers and other tradespeople and volunteers be convened to come up with a plan to renovate and restore the Fieldhouse. We would like this building to not only come up to code, but to far surpass code in every way. In particular, we would like the building to be a model of “green” conversion, using the best in green technology to save energy and employ healthy and sustainable building materials. We are anxious everytime we hear reports that the Board of Education wants to destroy this very special place. We would like to be reassured that the history and spirit of this place is maintained and built upon.
Please email Pete Leki if you will sign on to this letter. Pete's email address is peteleki@yahoo.com and his phone number is 773 463-8968
