City Council Delays Marquette School Landmark Status Vote

Vote delayed on landmark status for Marquette school in South Bend

JAMIE LOO Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Common Council members said they were uncomfortable voting on historic landmarking for Marquette School because the school system equated their vote with possibly hurting schoolchildren.

The council still held a public hearing Monday night, but won't vote on the issue until Nov. 12, after the council takes a tour of Marquette with representatives from the Historic Preservation Commission of St. Joseph County and South Bend Community School Corp. at 6 p.m. Oct. 23.

Superintendent Robert Zimmerman told the council during its afternoon zoning and annexation committee meeting that the South Bend Community School Corp. board of trustees had already approved the bond issue for a new building, which includes three other projects. He said a petition drive on the bond issue is currently taking place and asked the council to let the public decide what they want.

"If you make the decision to grant historical status to this building, not only is this project dead but the projects we're hoping to renovate at Monroe, and also the projects that we've started for Washington and Clay," he said.

Although the building may be historic according to historic architects, Zimmerman said, the educational needs of what is best for children haven't been taken into account by HPC.

Zimmerman said the school system will not renovate the current building and that they'll build a new building "hopefully in that neighborhood." He said if that option is taken away, the school board would be forced to build a new school outside of the Marquette neighborhood. Zimmerman said the school has funding to create a Montessori program at the Marquette site, which will help "naturally integrate" the school by bringing in more Caucasian students to a predominantly minority school.

Council President Tim Rouse, D-at large, reminded the council members that their responsibility is only to decide whether the building is historically significant. Although the educational aspects are important, he said, it's not the council's role.

"I was somewhat put off by the way you approached it, like, 'Get out of the way, and let us do our job.' We (council) have a job to do too," Rouse said.

Council member Derek Dieter, D-1st, said he wanted to see hard numbers on renovation costs. The school system has used improved academic performance as a reason for a new school and Dieter said he would like to see academic results, such as ISTEP scores for students who moved from old buildings into new or renovated buildings.

Council member Randy Kelly, D-3rd, said the trustees have put the council's "backs against the wall" by threatening to leave the neighborhood if the council grants landmark status.

The council's night meeting and public hearing was packed with HPC officials, school corporation trustees and officials, and members of the public.

Alicia Nagy said she could've moved to Granger after leaving historic Alexandria, Va., but chose to live in South Bend because it had a "sense of place" and valued history. Nagy, a Montessori teacher and a mother, said she was disappointed to hear that the school system wanted to raze Marquette. She said Montessori is taught all over the world and isn't about having the best buildings. "You don't need to have a state of the art building ... What you need to have is one of her (Mary Montessori) great lessons. The golden thread of history. And we as a community need to stop chopping up that golden thread," she said.

Cheryl Batteast, principal at Marquette, said she was fighting back tears as she told the council about the smell of mildew and mold in the building, and the dirt floor in the basement. She said "it's not a good place to learn," and that it's not fair to the students that most of the other schools have been updated. "Buildings are nice but they're not people," she said. "We should care more about children than a building."

Council member Charlotte Pfeifer, D-2nd, said it's sad that two elected bodies like the school trustees and council didn't communicate on this issue, for the best interests of the community. Pfeifer said she is "disappointed" and "disheartened" that the trustees boxed the council into a corner by deciding there has to be a new building."We should work together, instead of one group making a decision and then forcing the other group to have to either support it or not," she said.

Council member Karen White, D-at large, asked that the council and school trustees meet on a regular basis in the future to discuss issues that affect the entire community.

Staff writer Jamie Loo:jloo@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6337