Yikes! JHS is "crumbling crypt"

This letter appeared in the Echo:
To the editor:
I see eye to eye with the people who oppose the construction of a new high school. I am in agreement that a new school will raise the amount of taxes for our community, yet the benefits of this matter will outweigh the financial burden of taxes.
However, it is imperative for this society to improve the education conditions for Alexandria’s youth. At this moment, Jefferson High School is in shambles. The ceilings are filling with asbestos, the stone foundation is crumbling and the intercoms are shorting out.
Both teachers and students agree that the aged hallways are too diminutive for 992 students on a daily basis. One student commented on the situation, “It’s hard for over 900 people to navigate these hallways, and sometimes impossible!” Many of the classrooms are over-crowded with, in some cases, over 30 high school students, not including the teachers and paraprofessionals.
Over the years, the ballot for a new school has been turned down. The longer it takes to pass the referendum, the worse the condition of the school gets. Jefferson is a crumbling crypt, as some students put it. After time, the walls rot away and critters start to creep inside.
Do we want our community to be represented by a lackluster school? It is time for the public to step up and vote “Yes” for the high school referendum. If not for yourself, then vote for the thriving young minds that will run this city someday.
Jesse Hacker
Alexandria, MN
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[Send donations, before it is too late, to Bobby Watson, New School Chair.]