Grand Junction High School has been around since 1956. In that time, the building has grown in size, but it’s also growing old. With the recent flooding in the boiler room, it has raised several questions about the state of the school and what we are doing to fix it. Back in 2007, a pipe broke resulting in the whole basement flooding and school had to be out for two weeks. Since then, they installed sensors so that doesn’t happen again.

“The boilers are old just like the building and unfortunately, over time, things break,” said Mr. Goldberg. The boiler room issue is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Our old school is in need of many repairs we just can’t afford.

“For everything to meet the current code (expecations), it’ll cost the school $350,760,480. Remodeling the school completely would cost $103 million and replacing it would cost $93 million. It would be cheaper to just replace the school, but we can’t afford it,” said Mr. Goldberg.

Go to your next class and take a look around. Maybe the carpet is stained and worn out. Maybe the ceiling is yellow and has holes in it. Maybe a chair has a piece broken off or a table surface is chipped away at. It isn’t in just one classroom, though. Every classroom has its own issues and the school doesn’t have the money to fix it all. It isn’t just our school that need major repairs, either.

“Tax payers don’t want to pay more to fix the schools, but the school district is planning on going back to voters in a few years to ask for tax increase to upgrade buildings. These issues aren’t just our problem, but they become community issues, too. For me, at the end of the day, the building is old and there’s so many things to replace and I feel like you guys deserve better,” said Mr. Goldberg.