Beginning in 1973 with the construction of what is now Loganville Middle School, not a brick was laid in Monroe for nearly 20 years. In the meantime, Loganville and west Walton saw the construction of Loganville Middle, Loganville Primary, the new Loganville High, Walnut Grove Elementary, Youth Elementary, Youth Middle and Sharon Elementary. The ONLY school building constructed in Monroe during that period was the now-empty Monroe Elementary School, built only because the previous building, the old Monroe High School, burned to the ground back around '78 or '79. The new Carver Middle was built around '91 or so. In the meantime, the old Carver Middle was a rathole that was caving in around the students, the old Monroe Area HS on Bryant Road was neglected to the point of falling apart, and not a new project could be found in or around Monroe for nearly 25 years. How many of you remember the exterior gym wall collapsing at MAHS on Bryant Road? Did the BOE close the building due to safety concerns? Hell no. They braced the wall with timbers and simply replaced the brick facade, using most of the same bricks that had fallen. And I don't even want to THINK about the condition of the old Monroe Elementary School, which despite its relatively recent construction, was falling apart by the time it closed just a few years ago..

Even into the early 90s, you could practically count the number of black students walking the halls at LHS on one hand. In Monroe, the school was laughingly referred to as "Loganville Academy", because the good old boys in the BOE office (in the days of Baker, Cloud, Garrett, et al) LIKED it that way. Only with the population explosion out of Gwinnett bulldozing its way into west Walton did you see an increase in the ethnic diversity in Loganville schools.

It's true that there has been a lot of building in Monroe recently. but why is that? Simple - the Monroe schools were IGNORED for so long that A: the old school buildings became uninhabitable, and B: Population increase finally necessitated the building of new schools. So spare me the "preferential treatment" of the Monroe schools. You have no damned idea what the hell you're talking about.