Demand a better BUILDING plan for new thurston
Reject the District's plan to teach kids next to a construction site for 3-4 years while destroying most of the green spaces!
What is wrong with the AAPS District's Plan for Thurston?
No Space During Construction
From the moment construction begins, much of the current grounds will be completely unavailable to the Thurston community for recess, soccer, and recreation. For the next 2 years in the current school, recess will be squeezed into a tiny footprint filled with temporary play structures. For the following year or 2, classes will be in the new building, but most of the play space will still be restricted as the geothermal system is installed and grounds are re-finished, which took 2+ years at Clague despite being planned for just 6 months. The current plan substantially restricts play and recess space for this duration and leads to a host of negative circumstances for the students and teachers.
Poor Learning Environment
For 3-4 years, children will be expected to learn and teachers to teach with the distraction, noise, and debris of construction less than the length of a school bus away. Roughly half of the classrooms face the construction site from the current school, where distraction will be ever-present. Construction fencing and the promise of doing the heaviest work when school is not in session will help, but the first year of this will still be very intrusive as the exterior of the new building is constructed. Similarly, the period of geothermal installation can also be pretty disruptive as scores of 100+ foot holes are drilled in what will become the field.
The whole process of construction and geothermal installation can be very interesting and serve as a great learning experience in the context of a field trip, but having to learn and teach through it all day, every day is a different story. Construction will last for the majority of the time that a new student would be attending Thurston!
Compromised Future Facilities
It’s important that we protect what is best about the Thurston site for future generations. This includes the preservation of the expansive green spaces, access to nature, and child centered playgrounds. Although the AAPS Capital and Bond teams have worked with the Thurston Nature Center and community feedback to vastly improve the site plan over what was shown initially in September, the result is still compromised by having to build the new school while the current building is occupied. The result is much less space for daily lunch recess of >500 children away from car infrastructure. which is currently used for special school events such as the annual Field Day, Fall Carnival, and International Night as well as enjoyed by the wider NE Ann Arbor community.
Where to go from here?
Explore a better plan
The current plan would force our kids to learn and teachers to teach next to an active construction site for 3-4 years, permanently remove playgrounds and much of the recess space and fields, and squeeze the one remaining field between a driveline and a parking lot. There's a better way, and we found it.
Get the full story
It all started way back in 2019 when Ann Arbor voters approved a record-setting bond for $1 Billion to improve Ann Arbor pubic schools. But then COVID hit, the district discovered a $25M budget shortfall, a builder was brought in under the radar, and things started getting really interesting...
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About Let Thurston Play
Who are we?
What do we want?
What do we want?
We are group of Thurston parents, school staff, and neighbors who are opposed to the current construction plans for a new Thurston Elementary. We are in favor of a new school building, but believe that the current construction plans are poorly conceived and not reflective of the unique considerations and features of the Thurston site and community.
What do we want?
What do we want?
What do we want?
We demand that the AAPS Board of Education re-evaluate the plan for Thurston and consider alternative options that balance both short- and long-term priorities, while upholding their commitment to community engagement and environmental stewardship.
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