Termite damage. Water dripping through ceiling lights. Flooding toilets. Daylight streaming in through a crack in the wall.
These are all concerns parents at Childs Elementary have raised about their children’s school building. The school’s population was recently thrust into the spotlight after a plan to consolidate Childs and nearby Templeton Elementary, but parents at the school have been trying to get attention about a different issue: the building’s infrastructure.
According to a 2017 facilities review put together for the board by local architects and land surveyors, there were 19 areas at Childs where “significant renovation or improvement may be needed,” ranging from mechanical systems to nearly all types of classrooms. Two areas needed “major renovation or replacement”— student common space and conference rooms. The only Monroe County Community School Corporation school with more renovations recommended or required was Tri-North Middle School, which was completely rebuilt for 2021.
Childs parent Bethan Roberts said she knew about some issues but wasn’t aware of their full extent until recently. When the merger discussion started, Roberts said she spoke about building issues at a parent-teacher organization meeting. Parents and faculty alike started sending her photos and videos of building issues. Roberts emailed the board and posted the text of the sent email, with the photos, on Facebook.
“It occurred to me that at the very least, Templeton parents had a right to know what they were getting,” Roberts said.
Childs is scheduled to receive “interior upgrades and repairs” starting June 1, 2025, according to last year’s budget. It’s not yet clear what that plan will look like, according to board president April Hennessey. The board is also planning to do a facilities study of both Templeton and Childs to help make a new redistricting plan, she said, but they’re waiting for the interim superintendent to transition in.
MCCSC policy dictates that the superintendent must develop a “regular program of facilities repair and conditioning.” The MCCSC was unable to provide information on when Childs was most recently renovated as of this article’s publication. However, records on appropriated funds appear to show that the roof was last replaced in 2016 and masonry walls were repaired in 2008. The records show building conditions since 2000; there’s no mention of plumbing repairs or renovations. The building was originally occupied in 1967.
“There's constant, constant, constant plumbing issues, and we're dealing with young kids here, right,” Childs parent Nicole Freeman said. “There’s always a clog. There’s always stalls that are out of order.”
Multiple parents reported a bathroom flooding a fifth and sixth-grade section of the building last year, leading to an evacuation of the classrooms. Bathroom conditions were the first building issue many parents learned about: Roberts said her family had a rule banning “stories about toilets overflowing or that won't stop flushing” when parents asked about their kids’ days.
Parents also raised concerns about potential mold in the building. In a post regarding the issue on Facebook, multiple parent and staff commenters noted roof leaks. Freeman said she’d heard faculty and staff complain about a wall filling part way with water and “bowing out” when it rains.
Daylight can be seen through a crack in the Childs Elementary art room wall in Bloomington. Students joked about being able to see outside in the art room.
Most schools are made of iron, steel and block walls, which don’t lend themselves to mold growth, according to Ron Clark, an industrial hygienist for Indiana’s Indoor Air Quality Program. However, if areas like ceiling tiles, carpets and drywall remain wet for over 48 hours, there’s the potential for mold.
A Childs parent reported a complaint to the Indoor Air Quality Program on April 22, and the school was inspected earlier this week. The report will be available on Childs’ website and in a public place in the school.
Another issue is compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Every category related to the ADA in the 2017 report needed renovation or improvement, from building and site accessibility to restroom and sink access. Childs parent Sarah Moon Stamey recalled struggling to get a stroller into the building due to stairs, hills and a broken chair lift.
“I remember thinking ‘oh, what do people do if they don't have the option of just picking up a stroller and walking it downstairs,’” Stamey said.
Other issues include rusted metal and a missing slide on playground equipment and cracks in walls and floors, including a major crack in the school’s art room wall wide enough students say they can see outside the building.
The IDS attempted to confirm these reports with the MCCSC, but a representative stated they wouldn’t have the information available by publication.
Some Childs parents said they feel the board isn’t paying attention to their concerns about the building because Childs is a wealthier school. It has the lowest range of free and reduced lunch qualification, the measure the district has been using in its efforts to balance socioeconomic status, out of all MCCSC schools.
Hennessey said she thought these issues were brought up in response to the merger with Templeton. She said that to her knowledge, no board members had received any emails about Childs. If these building issues have existed for years, she said, she feels it’s suspicious that they’re coming up alongside the merger.
“Certainly, if there are big issues with buildings or infrastructure, we should address them," Hennessey said. "But I don't think they're related to the merger, and whether or not we merge or redistrict. I think they're two separate issues that are handled through two different streams.”
Roberts has a different perspective. The original merger plan, proposed Dec. 12, 2023, would have sent all pre-K through second grade students currently at Childs and Templeton to the Childs building. The district isn’t using that plan and it doesn’t have a set plan for the merger yet, but Roberts thinks these infrastructure issues show that the building isn’t ready for larger groups of young children, she said — especially the bathrooms.
Freeman said she wants the board members to visit the Childs building, she said. She hopes they’ll see the issues students are facing, and they’ll be quicker to address it.
“Right now, it's kind of out of sight, out of mind,” Freeman said. “It does need to be addressed, despite the socioeconomic demographic in this area, despite the test scores. The kids really deserve better.”
