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\ \ \ TANKSHOTS (8) \ \ \

2013 April 28
by dan bertolet

Washington_Middle_School_courtyard

No, this isn’t a minimum security prison, it’s the courtyard at Washington Middle School in Seattle’s Central Area. I asked my daughter if anyone ever goes out there and she said, “I don’t think we’re allowed to.”  Sigh.

Dismal, neglected  spaces like this send a message to our young people that we don’t care about the time they spend in school. And that’s just one particular instance of an overall lack of quality in the public schools that sends a message to parents that they should look to the burbs for something better.

The people who run diverse urban schools like Washington have a Herculean task just to keep things up and running, so this is no diss on them. But seriously folks, can’t we as a community do better than this?

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Photo by the author.  This post is part of a series.