National Trust Urges Saving Historic Schools

By Alan Richard

Washington

Historic neighborhood schools should be renovated and savored, not closed or replaced by edge-of-town schools that have little character, members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation said last week.The nonprofit group is beginning a campaign for policies to preserve older schools and hopes to persuade districts, cities, states, and the federal government to create incentives to save historic schools.

"For decades, the neighborhood school has been a strong and much-loved symbol of American community life," said Richard Moe, the president of the Washington-based organization. "But instead of being cherished, these schools are being abandoned,demolished, and replaced with factory-like mega-schools in isolated locations."

In a report based on more than 100 interviews, the trust highlights success stories in which older schools have been renovated in Detroit, Evansville, Ind., and Boise, Idaho. Only one-eighth of American children live within walking distance of their schools,...