A failing foundation
Military children are stuck in overcrowded, aging schools, despite long-promised fixes
By Kristen Lombardi - iWatch News
Posted : Sunday Jul 3, 2011 17:14:32 EDT
Catie Hunter is 11 years old. Her father, an Army platoon sergeant, has spent five of those years away from her, serving in South Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan.
At her elementary school on Fort Sill, Okla., ceiling tiles are removed so that when a Great Plains storm rumbles in, rain can cascade from the rotting roof into large trash cans underneath. To get to class, Catie must dodge what she calls “Niagara Falls.”
Each day, the fifth-grader walks beneath the tiles, bent and browned, some dangling by threads of glue. Signs of disrepair abound: chipped floors, termite-infested walls, finger-size cracks along brick halls. A bucket, strapped by a bungee cord, hangs over the gym door — another makeshift fix for leaks.
“Sometimes, I wonder if it’s going to fall in,” she said.
Catie’s schoolhouse, built before Gen. Dwight Eisenhower ran for president, is on Fort Sill property, although it is operated and funded by the Lawton Public Schools district.
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A failing foundation
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