There are plenty of schools in Baltimore City that have been in need of maintenance for awhile. For example, Morrell Park Elementary/Middle School #220 was inspected a couple of years ago and there were numerous issues that really can't be addressed without the school being dedicated to serious renovation. Someone donated new floor tiles to the school and they've gone untouched for literally years. Who knows if they're still there?

The condition of the physical plant of a school goes a long way toward the overall climate of the building. Another school I've worked with was generally dirty and not especially well-lit. I hated going to that building. This year there's a new principal and, it appears, a new chief custodian. The building is brighter, it's certainly cleaner and a generally more pleasant place to visit.

Hi Claude,
Thank you for your comments. That's amazing that someone donated tiles and even still they didn't get installed. Examples like that could also discourage people from donating equipment to schools.

What I still don't understand regarding Woodlawn is how, after it was determined LAST YEAR that they had ordered the wrong hot water heater, somehow no one took steps to get the right one ordered. From what I've heard, the wrong hot water heater sat idle until Miko Baldwin began asking questions. Only then did someone acknowledge that they knew they had the wrong heater, and finally someone got around to getting the right one installed. For all we know, that hot water heater that was wrong for Woodlawn might've been needed at another school. It makes me wonder how many other pieces of unused equipment are sitting around in schools. We're talking taxpayer money being used to buy expensive equipment that ends up not being used.

I work at Thurgood Marshall High School. During the Fall of 2006 a teacher was absent from school one day. Several students were caught kicking the door to the point that the classroom door was broken so badly the wood split and the door knob was completely destroyed. The latch was missing. Students were not disciplined for destruction of school property even though a teacher witnessed the incident and it was reported to the administration.

It has been over a year now and despite facility request upon facility request the door is still broken. Maintenance workers have looked at the door countless times, yet the door has never been fixed or replaced. There is no idea when this will occur.

Because of the broken door, the teacher is unable to secure personal or school property. The teacher has lost almost $1000 worth of personal belongings and school supplies due to the broken door.

This is not the only door broken at TMHS. There are several doors throughout the building that do not function properly. Male teachers do not have a bathroom to use on the 9th grade floor because the door locks from the inside. If you shut the door all the way, you are locked inside the bathroom. There are also multiple other doors broken around the building.

Broken doors are only one example of the problems relating to the condition of the building at TMHS. The 9th grade floor doesn’t have working drinking fountains and there are no water dispensing machines on the floor, there are missing ceiling tiles in at least 1 stairwell. This means that students have to hunt for water in other parts of the building.

Cameras that were newly- installed last year have never functioned properly and are in some cases, broken/missing.

We did get new, attractive windows installed last year. However, they are impractical in our setting and have made sweltering conditions inferno – like because of the poor ventilation allowed by their design. Believe me, not much learning went on this fall in our classrooms where the temperatures hovered in the upper 80s well into October!

Teaching and learning in Baltimore City is challenging to begin with. When the physical environment is neglected it sends a message to students, teachers and the community that ‘the system’ just doesn’t care.