Moton Elementary might be reopened - Former Superfund site cleared by EPA
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA) - May 3, 2001

Author/Byline: Chris Gray Staff writer
Section: METRO
Page: 02
Readability: 11-12 grade level (Lexile: 1240)
The Orleans Parish School Board is exploring plans to reopen an elementary school built on the site of the once-hazardous Agriculture
Street landfill in time for next school year.
Moton Elementary School on Abundance Street has been shuttered since 1994, when neighborhood outcry forced the School Board to
close the 8-year-old facility. But now that the Environmental Protection Agency has given the school a clean bill of health and the
controversy has died down, it's time to reopen the relatively new building, board members said at a capital projects committee meeting
Wednesday.
"There is so much potential for that school," said board member Ellenese Brooks-Simms, who was principal when Moton opened in 1987.
"It's like a baby Ben Franklin" High School.
Moton was outfitted with the latest technology available when it was built, with a professional-quality stage and a closed-circuit television
system throughout the building. There were also plenty of extras for special education children, such as washers, dryers and showers,
and earphone outlets for children with speech and hearing disorders, Simms said.
For the most part, the school is still in good shape, said Simms, who visited it Wednesday. "There is not a graffiti mark on the wall," she
said.
Chief Administrative Officer Joseph Bekeris said it would take about $175,000 to get the school ready by August. Soil subsidence has
eaten away at the cement, raising some safety issues that need to be addressed, he said. The school system would also have to replace
the building's deteriorated air-conditioning system sometime during the year, which would cost about $500,000, he said.
Some residents of the school's Press Park neighborhood still have lawsuits pending against the federal government, claiming that the
area has not been thoroughly cleaned of hazardous materials. But in June 2000, the EPA took the school off its Superfund cleanup list,
saying no further work is required.
The board hasn't decided whether the school would serve children in the neighborhood or be a magnet school. When Moton closed,
students were sent to a rented building in the Broadmoor neighborhood. Over the years, families have withdrawn their children and
enrolled them closer to home at schools such as Edwards and Lockett, which have become extremely crowded, Simms said. In fact,
some of the third-, fourth- and fifth-graders attending Edwards are housed in a wing at Carver Middle School, she said.
"The previous board was hesitant because of some of the community outcry and wanted to make sure everything was clean before they
reopened it," Simms said. "Now that we have that data, we're going to reopen it."
Added board member Jimmy Fahrenholtz: "That school needs to be occupied as quickly as possible."
Chris Gray can be reached at (504) 826-3378 or cgray@timespicayune.com.
Record: 357659347
Copyright: Copyright, 2001, The Times-Picayune Publishing Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.