Wednesday November 12, 2008
“I’m a kid and the future. Not a piece of furniture easily moved,” Gerald Green, 6, a first grader at Blodgett School slowly read his sign aloud. Men, women and children holding signs handed out by members of Abundant Life Christian Center tried to convince the Syracuse Board of Education tonight to renovate Blodgett instead of closing it.
Since 2000, the board of education had proposed the Blodgett school renovation. Now the project manager, Gilbane Construction has cut it from the list because it would be too expensive.
“I can speak for a lot of kids who want to keep it open, because I want to keep it open,” sixth grader Yoonaybe Fermin told the board. Board President Laurie Menkin recognized Fermin as the guide who pointed out the hole in the gym ceiling during her recent tour.
After the meeting, Commissioner Kim Rohadfox-Ceaser told reporters there’s still uncertainty about what will happen.
“It was never our intention to abandon the Blodgett community,” she said, “but we try to do the best we can with the money available.”
Reverend Joe Coudriet is Director of Outreach Programs at Abundant Life Christian Center in East Syracuse. The church is an advocate for Blodgett. In 2002, it helped construct a new library for the school.
“Today I hear the kind of thing that I think the community wants to hear out of the board of education, that the answers aren’t there yet,” he told board members.
By the end of the night, supporters gained some hope, but the question on one supporter’s sign remains, “How many times will we be forgotten?”
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