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Grade 5 team tells committee Brownstone is unsafe for younger elementary students
Summary
A Grade 5 team representative urged the committee not to keep Brownstone as an elementary school, citing dangerous parking-lot circulation at recess, three floors students must navigate, structural and air-quality problems and insufficient age-appropriate outdoor space.
A Grade 5 team representative told the School Facilities Committee the historic Brownstone building is not appropriate for younger elementary students and urged the committee to prioritize student safety over preserving an auditorium or historic square footage. The speaker said the building’s recess area forces students to cross an active parking lot through a blind corner and described watching vehicles—cars, vans and buses—travel through that space, sometimes running over cones the staff placed to block traffic.
The comments came during the public-comment period, where the representative spoke on behalf of the Grade 5 instructional team and named colleagues who would remain at Brownstone if the district chose to keep it open. The representative said Brownstone was built originally as a high school, is three stories tall and requires children to make long walks to the nurse, cafeteria and gym, which staff called developmentally inappropriate for younger students.
The committee heard the speaker summarize daily operational problems—“Extreme temperatures, poor air quality, significant structural issues, and ongoing safety concerns”—and noted that an adjacent new business under construction could increase traffic and make the parking-lot crossing more hazardous. The representative urged the committee to weigh these operational safety risks against the value of preserving an auditorium that staff said they rarely use.
“We cannot imagine even asking younger students, eight and nine-year-olds, to cross that same lot safely. It is simply not acceptable,” the representative said. She and her colleagues said they would accept smaller classrooms in another elementary building if that meant students would be in a safer, age-appropriate environment.
Committee members did not take formal action during the public-comment period. The committee later moved into an extended discussion of educational specifications, test-fit plans and capital options for Valley View and other schools; that discussion included questions about swing space and how best to house programs while any renovation or construction proceeds.
