Jackson LaMar — News Writer
On Farnham Ave., right across from the commuter lost, students may have noticed the still on going construction of the Barack H. Obama magnet school.
The school has been under construction for over a year now and still is despite being said to be open by now.
George Olshen, a special education professor, talked about the importance of having an on campus school.
“I think it’s a great idea to have a campus school” Olshen said “Many universities that have schools of education have a campus school”
Olshen also said that the school will be finished “shortly” but there still isn’t kids attending the school and education students teaching yet.
The $45 million magnet school will be located at 69 Farnham Ave. When completed the school will be 64,000-square-feet and will replace the
Strong School.
The late construction brings up a lot of plenty of concerns to a project that already had plenty of concerns to start with.
“Well for one you’re gonna have a geographic dislocation and of course that takes adjusting,issues with parking” Olshen said “Then the kids have to get used to being on a college campus.”
Olshen is a special education professor that has been teaching for over 50 years.
He alsohas been working with the board of education in New Haven.
“Part of my role was to help develop with the University and the university and the specialeducation department, generate grants” said Olshen “We did get grants for training personal.”
Of course one of the main uses for the school in Southerns view is putting education students to student teach. Sophomore Esther Gonzalez, an exploratory major who works in the school of education office says its important to get the school finished.
“I feel like if there’s a set timeline, there’s supposed to be a contract with construction people,” Gonzalez said. “If it’s not done yet then that’s an issue and that’s a lot of money”
Gonzalez also brings up another problem that hits New Haven kids.
I know that a lot of New Haven schools are overpopulated,” Gonzalez said. “It would definitely help the students get a good quality education and they can’t have that if their school is still being built.”
Some students think the construction is to blame. One student is sophomore James Morton,a business major.
“They probably should of realized that it would of taken a little longer” Morton said “It shouldn’t be taking one year, with all the snow days in winter were they just weren’t working on it.”
The school is named after the 44th United
States President, Barack Obama. According to an article in the New Haven Register, written a year ago, the school was named after Obama because he was “truly an education president.”
The Obama Administration founded the My Brothers Keeper Alliance in 2014, initiated the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 and enacted the Preschool for All proposal in 2016.
Obama once said that “In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity – it is a prerequisite.”
