New Grissom High School - West side of South Parkway (Huntsville: 2013, houses)

[macwell]

Grissom High School relocation may move forward at new site | al.com

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Plans to relocate Grissom High School to a site off of Weatherly Road are moving forward, but with a twist.

The school district has been contemplating rebuilding the school on a 60-acre site owned by Hylis Inc., a company owned by James and John Hays. The relocation of the school hit a roadblock, however, when Alabama's state archaeologist and a local group, Tennessee Valley Archaeological Research (TVAR), stated that the property was part of a tract including up to five ancient Native American archaeological sites, at least one of which contains human remains.

On Thursday, the board learned that the Hays family has offered the district a new, larger piece of land just south of the previous location - at no additional cost.

[Reactionary]

Children will die.

[BMW Dave]

Oh, Reactionary!

[Reactionary]

Children will die - that's what opponents of building the new Lee HS next to a busy railroad track said - and a child was hit by a train and died just months after the school opened.

Most children who are zoned for Grissom live on the east side of the Parkway - some of those children walk to school (I've heard 10%). None of those kids can walk to the proposed site. I wouldn't recommend that anyone try to walk across the Parkway, much less a child (crossing Bailey Cove is bad enough). There aren't many children who live west of the Parkway who could walk (maybe English Village).

Driving across the Parkway presents challenges for teens as well. I know several Grissom students who drive to school and their parents didn't allow them to drive on the Parkway until they had a year or so of practice.

If, as proponents say, the current Grissom site is too small, then the schools could buy the half-dozen or so adjacent houses on Blevins Gap for construction.

"Children will die" may sound like hyperbole - but one doesn't have to live on Cassandra Drive to know it will happen.

[writerwife]

Well.. its staying on the same side of the parkway that it has always been on.. just a bit more southerly apparently.
It has to be on one side or the other.
When we first moved here, Haysland square was booming and there was a game room where kids would hang for a while. My youngest brother tried crossing the parkway to get to it (this was before all the traffic that exists now) and got hit by a car. Got flung a good ways and hospitalized, but thankfully, he made it. We had never seen an area before that had so many residents nearby and no crossing area. Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be much to entice kids to cross the parkway these days (at least in that area).
But anywayz...the article reads like it's staying on the same side that it has been on.

[JakeWilliams]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

Children will die - that's what opponents of building the new Lee HS next to a busy railroad track said - and a child was hit by a train and died just months after the school opened.

Wasn't that the kid who they believe was wearing headphones and did not hear the train whistle?

[zenjenn]

Anyone know if any private schools are toying with the idea of buying the existing Grissom campus?

[Reactionary]

writerwife - Grissom is several miles east of the parkway. The new proposed site is west of the parkway near Haysland Square (and close to the old proposed site which was unsuitable because of archeological concerns). The proposed sites are on the same (west) side of the parkway.

Another part of this proposed move has really angered me - the school system describes the Haysland site as 'the Weatherley site', which confused people who thought the school system meant some unknown site on Weatherley Road as we know it (east of the parkway) - not the Weatherley extension through the shopping center on the west side of the parkway. The Huntsville Times has been complicit in this fiction, providing insufficient and misleading descriptions of the properties.

JakeWilliams - yes - kids will be kids.

zenjenn - the school system stated that they would keep the Grissom property and move some administrative offices and support there (motor pool, facilities maintenance). Their plan is to close the Admin Annex on Bob Wallace (near HSV High) and relocate to Grissom.

I don't know if a private school is interested in buying the campus. Why would they be? Grissom has been popularly regarded as a failed building since the doors opened - the architect and school board at the time were sold on the 'fad' idea of pods, plus the building has leaks, mold, and other problems.

[writerwife]

Ok then.. like you said.. when I saw "Weatherly"... I figured East of the pkwy.. didn't know they considered the entrance to Haysland as Weatherly. When someone ran into my dad's car there years ago.. they called that "private property". Not the parking area....but the entrance there.
So..if it's close to Haysland...is it actually on the pkwy?

[Reactionary]

The site is back behind Haysland - like Sam's. But it will have "visibility" from the parkway - as if that is an important consideration for a school.

The confusion over the 'Weatherley' site bothers me - when the schools (with the newspaper's help) have to mislead people into supporting something there is a problem. I thought more of the Superintendent, but I haven't spoken with him about it yet - I have talked to my school board representative.