Скачать или смотреть Community rallies to save cherished school tradition

Julie Rotoli, a mother of three, is fighting to preserve a piece of Spencerport Central School District history.

"This hallway is filled with painted bricks of all the fifth graders who have gone through the school for at least the past 20 years," she said. "And everyone is individual. They're beautiful. They're little pieces of art.”

Rotoli said the hallway at Terry Taylor Elementary School is set for sizable improvements by the district. With that, she fears the bricks will be taken apart or painted over.

"There are some bricks there of kids who are no longer with us," she said.

"The parents are angry and sad about it," she added. "The kids are very sad."

Rotoli said it's a Spencerport tradition to walk back through the hall for people to look at what their fifth-grade selves created. Her plea is gaining steam.

"We have a petition that has almost 1,000 signatures saying, to 'Save our bricks,'" she said.

The district said voters chose a capital project in 2024 that includes construction of new library centers and STEM labs across the district, and district leaders were clear that hallways and corridors would be included.

The district said it doesn't know the design impact yet for the brick hallway at Taylor, but there will be an impact given the age of the buildings. The district said it's working on a legacy plan to honor the existing bricks.

"I just don't know why they're doing it," Rotoli said. "I feel like the money could be better used elsewhere."

The district noted the improvement project has no definite timeline yet and is still in the design process. Any formal plans would then need to go to the New York State Education Department for approval. The district is anticipating the project would not begin until late 2027, and Taylor would be sometime after that.

READ MORE: https://13wham.com/news/local/communi...
_______________
Stay up to date with our social media:

13 WHAM on Facebook:   / 13wham  
13 WHAM on Twitter:   / 13wham  
13WHAM on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/13whamtv/?h...
13WHAM on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@13wham?lang=en

13 WHAM Daily Local News Digest:    • 13WHAM Local News Digest  

For more information, visit https://13wham.com/

Have a news tip? Send it directly to us:

Email us: [email protected]
Call the Newsroom: (585) 334-8700

WHAM is a NY based station and a ABC Television affiliate owned and operated by Deerfield Media, Inc and receives certain services from an affiliation of Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country today.

#13WHAM #News #Rochester #NewYork