Knox Elementary School deserves a real solution

You’ll notice there’s been no sentimental outcry about saving Knox Middle School’s buildings. That’s because anyone who has visited Knox in the past 20 years knows what bad shape the school is in.

Knox supporters are deeply disappointed that the school board has decided to replace only the classroom structures on the outdated open campus. That leaves other buildings students use every day — the gym, cafeteria, auditorium/media center and offices, built in 1958 — to be “renovated.”

Instead of the completely new facility the Knox community dearly needs and wants, the school board is settling for a half-measure that could well cost the system more in the long run.

The result will be a facility that falls far short of making Knox cohesive and secure.

The majority voted for this plan because a $26 million half-measure seemed better than no action at all. The alternative was to further delay Knox improvements until more money was available, perhaps for a $50 million K-8 school.

There must be other possibilities with lower price tags. The school board and county commissioners should tour Knox and consider what is happening under their watch. Knox and its 600-plus students deserve a real solution, not half of one.

— Elizabeth Cook

Salisbury

Editor’s note: Elizabeth Cook is former editor of the Salisbury Post.