Graham says she knows of schools that have run classrooms in basements, closets, and even in bathrooms. Teacher salaries, learning materials, and special ed eat up school budgets faster than a first-grader can count to 20. Administrators would rather not spend any more than they have to on building maintenance. It's just not a top priority. And when it's time to renovate, the bottom line prevails.
Construction needs to be monitored carefully in terms of the types of products they're using.
In fact, the state's inspector general cited Needham for poor management and supervision of the construction at Pollard. Teachers unions are taking the lead in forcing schools to do the right thing. They wanted to have a good project within budget and on time and safe. We wanted to have a safe project with those other things being secondary. Occasionally, they found small problems that were then fixed before becoming major safety hazards.