Should the Hillsborough County School Board re-open George Washington Junior High School on N. Highland Ave.? Or should the HCSB consider naming a new school George Washington?
Either way, I believe the time is long overdue for this county to recognize and acknowledge the history of George Washington Junior High as a public school in Tampa. George Washington was Tampa's first public middle school opened in 1915 and closed in 1980.
Yet, today, in the year 2006, that the Hillsborough County School Board continues to build and name new schools all over the county after relatively marginal local figures, or lesser political and military officials in preference to naming a school after George Washington -the first great general of the United States' Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. And, the first President of the United States is a quite remarkable and somewhat disrespectful to the legacy's of George Washington and to the communities of VM.Ybor and Tampa Heights and the many alums that went on to the school over the 65 years of the schools existence in Tampa.
Although, the original George Washington building was torn down and a George Washington Junior High Memorial Bus Shelter, now stands in it's place near the site, built from it's ruins. It is not enough! So, are we to believe that the legacy of U.S. President George Washington only warrants a bus stop in Tampa? I believe the Hillsborough County School Board should feel some sort of great shame for such a significant insult!
I am not complaining about the bus shelter. It is a great looking "bus stop", but let's face it, that was the very least they could have done! And, a bus shelter is not quite the tribute that the residents of V.M Ybor and Tampa Heights, two of the oldest communities in Tampa, would have preferred to have seen, I'm sure. But, then again they don't live in the wealthier Hyde Park suburb, near Woodrow Wilson Junior High the other "circa 1915" school.
I believe the city failed miserably to act to save the original building. It was a historic land mark, but it wasn't located in the right neighborhood. But let's face it, if a few slabs of sidewalk on Bayshore Drive start to "tilt" into the bay, the city is all over that one, and milions will be spent to correct it. Because, people have to jog!
The sad irony is, now that the I-275 to I-4 exchange, you know "malfunction junction," has been improved and that Tampa Heights and Ybor City, as well as the Channelside District and Harbour Island are starting to explode in growth and redevelopment, after many years of decline, it won't be too much longer, I imagine, before newly settled residents and families start clamouring for new schools to support the growth in the area.
Every, life long, Tampan knows the George Washington Junior High building at 707 E. Columbus Dr. could have easily been moved, rehabbed, and preserved to help meet the future educational needs of the residents in the area. Remember, the Hurculean effort that was made to move the old hospital building at the corner of Bayshore Drive and Gandy Boulevard, in South Tampa? Yaah!,... it was in the right neighborhood!
I believe it is the ethical and respectful duty of the Hillsborough County School Board to the communities of V.M. Ybor and Tampa Heights to either re-open G.W.J.H. at it's N. Highland Ave. location, at some time in the future when it is needed, and preserve that historic building, regardless, or name the next new public middle school in the vacinty of those two historic neighborhoods as George Washington Middle School.