"Although I've lived here only 10 years, the ongoing debate about the future of Charlottesville's Jefferson School, both the body and spirit of it, are very moving to me. It surely is a tough problem, especially in our current, climate of recession, cutbacks and retrenchment, but hopefully one that our community can successfully resolve.

You can see, within a few blocks of this modest, low building tucked into the side of Starr Hill, the pomp and circumstance of the old Lane High School and, just up the hill, the McGuffey School. Remember?

Jefferson housed the city's African-American students. The rule used to be separate and unequal, so it's no wonder that it would take a lot to bring the old building up to snuff.

Some would say, "Tear it down and start over," just like they said to tear down structures on Vinegar Hill. But we've found ways to continue to use to the white folks' old schools for other purposes and they remain in our midst, knitting together the past and the present and providing a welcome sense of continuity and of place. These sorts of values are hard to put a price on, but that doesn't mean they are not important.

The Jefferson Preschool program is almost universally acknowledged to be a very bright spot in our school system, and to give up on it would be to take a giant step backward. The School Board has considered other locations, but there don't seem to be any for keeping the program at one site.

If the board's budget won't permit the refurbishment of the building, the city should help and all the other institutions that use the space should begin to contribute to the upkeep of the place.

Last year I scheduled an event in the Jefferson School auditorium. I visited the premises several times early and late and found the building intensively used, a veritable hive of activity and learning from early in the morning on into the evening. It is a place with a lot of spirit.

It will be well worth the effort and expense to keep it going and not let it get gobbled up in the relentless flow of so-called progress. This is something that as a community we should undertake to do. (Mary MacNeil, Letter to the Editor, Daily Progress, January 14, 2002)