Parents, school officials split over fate of Oak Cliff's Adamson High 10:41 AM CT

11:45 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 15, 2009

By ROY APPLETON / The Dallas Morning News
rappleton@dallasnews.com They came, spoke and listened as the divide over Adamson High School's future grew sharper.
The scene was the Adamson auditorium, where more than 100 students, parents and alumni gathered Tuesday evening to see and hear about the Dallas school district's plans for the 93-year-old school.
The district has $48 million set aside in a bond program to "replace" the Oak Cliff school. And with a projector displaying renderings and floor plans, and school principal Rawly Sanchez translating to Spanish, architect Eric Horstman explained his proposal for a new Adamson.
He says the school has structural problems because of an insufficient foundation and unstable soil. And he has presented the district with two choices for dealing with the school's oldest structures: Option 1, stabilize and salvage the building's existing facade; or Option 2, take it down and rebuild — the recommended approach.
And Tuesday, he told the audience: "We will incorporate [in the new facade] as many existing elements from this building as we can. … The new school will be built on the rich history of what's here today."
Horstman, who is with Corgan Associates architects, estimated the first option could cost $3 million or more than the suggested reconstruction. And he said attempts to salvage the facade could take longer to complete, forcing students to be relocated to another campus for an undetermined amount of time.
The preferred Option 2 drew repeated applause from the audience and clear support from district leaders such as school board member Jerome Garza and Sanchez, who said his students need and deserve a new school.
"The current infrastructure of this building will not support advanced technology," Sanchez said this morning. "We should be a preparatory institution for higher learning and at this point we're not."
The Adamson Alumni Association agrees the school has problems, needs to upgraded, perhaps rebuilt in places. But it wants the historic facades — everything built before World War II — to be shored up as needed and restored where they stand. The group is seeking to protect the school as a city landmark.
"I'm sure every one of you has a love of a building," John Ruiz, association president, told the audience, asking: "Would that have the same meaning to you if it was torn down?
"You are going to get your new school. The [bond] money has been voted," he said. "But this building will not be the same if it is leveled and reconstructed." Those words brought claps as well.
Garza countered, saying it's the district's way or perhaps no way.
"What was just stated wasn't the complete truth," he said, referring to Ruiz.
"My concern is that if we do not go with Option 2 — I don't know what this budget is. If it escalates too high I can't tell you today if it will happen. I don't know."
Joe Posada, Adamson senior class president last year, told the crowd the new school and Option 2 need to happen.
"By rebuilding this school, we'll make our own history. We can't be living in the past," he said to applause.
Earlier, Juan Torralba, a 2004 Adamson graduate, said education comes down to teachers, not buildings. And after the meeting, he said the school district seemed to be pushing its preference on parents and students.
"They should inform the people about what the options are," he said. "You can't say there is one option here and another that you don't know what it's going to be."
Others talked of the uncertainties with both options, the structural problems with the school, how students suffer in such an environment and how change can be painful.
"I think everybody has the same goal, providing the best possible school for the children," said Marcel Quimby, a preservation architect, who is assisting the alumni group.
Adamson can be upgraded with new equipment, technology and a historically sensitive restoration at roughly the same cost as the preferred option, she said.
"It's not an either-or situation. You can do both."