Blood and coffee at the Dunkin' Donuts

My job is 6.25 miles distant - nasty traffic, but biking distance for certain. Lots of public transit, too, if unreliable.

#1 son's middle school is 2.75 miles away, but on the way to my work so we can bike together. #2 son's elementary school is .75 miles away and we walk most every day, and I bike or take the train. The high school is most easily reached by a <1km hike through the woods.

I found it interesting that lots of older folks were throwing fits about kids not being able to walk when they closed the collapsing neighborhood schools in Medford. The state paid 95% or so for four larger brand new ones with such "frills" as gyms, cafeterias, working heating systems, potable water, libraries, science labs, etc.

I got out my ArcGIS maps, census data, etc. and had a look. I mapped the k-5 age population (based on Y2K) in the city, mapped the school locations, and drew a half mile circle. I did the same for the old school locations.

What most people didn't realize was that the population of kids in the city had shifted so much in the century since those decaying messes had been slapped up that as many or more kids of school age were within walking distance of the four "new" schools than were in walking range of the "old" schools.

While reality and facts alone were not enough to deter those who insisted that night was day, the one-hundred pound plaster chunks that fell and collapsed most of the desks in a second grade classroom (thankfully, on a weekend) ended the "why can't the state just give us the money to renovate the old schools" refrain for good.

Years later, and I can say that fewer, larger, better schools means my kids have a lot better education because they have vastly improved facilities. My son went to the city magnet school for kindergarten and first grade, and the teachers were the same, awesome people they now have at he new schools. With fewer larger schools, these guys are still awesome teachers, but now they have superpowers of instructional assistance. While we walk further than many are willing to walk, I'd much rather they be in these safe, fully equipped, fully accessible buildings than in that less distant but rotting dump without even a play yard or play structure that my older son was originally assigned to - the school that could have killed a room full of second graders if the timing were less auspicious. And if they must break or lacerate legs, as kids will do, I'm so glad there is an elevator and they don't have to stay home with a tutor because three flights of rickety stairs are off limits.

Say what you will, but the park and wildlife area it abuts is awesome. Good-sized bike and roller-blading paths surrounded by a nature preserve, and themselves surrounding soccer fields and play grounds.

Cause and effect...