Quote Originally Posted by DC48080 View Post
It is really sad to lose so many architectually beautiful buildings. Many suburban schools are as old as these and are still functional. In Grosse Pointe most of the school buildings are over 80 years old and still in great shape.

Of course I realize Detroit hasn't had sufficient funds for maintenance and upkeep for many years now. And their students are perhaps a bit more abusive toward the facilities. Still it is sad to see the loss of beautiful buildings like these that can never be duplicated.
The main problem with these schools in Detroit is not how the students treated them, the main problem is not enough students. The biggest problem with how the buildings are treated comes with their abandonment, and the scrappers who inevitably follow. Of course, there's also the plain fact that DPS must have better ways to use their meager resources than to try to maintain old schools with no students, and none coming for the foreseeable future.

Funny thing is, I'm just old enough to remember when the "new" Scripps school was built back in the 1960s. A few of my friends went there. It was badly needed at the time to relieve the extreme overcrowding of the old Scripps school [[which my grandmother had attended). Hard to believe now...