We are parents of children at Thurston Elementary School writing in response to reporting on the recent lawsuits filed to stop construction of our neighborhood school. Simply put, we don’t think the lawsuits speak for our community.  

As we tell our kids: two things can be true.  We support building the new Thurston, and we also want to protect the Thurston Nature Center.  Our excitement for the new school and our love of the Nature Center is part of our commitment to the future we want for our children and this community. 

Indeed, the plan for new Thurston is a good one. It is the result of two years of work, including stakeholder input, environmental and groundwater studies, and expert architectural and construction planning. It has also been significantly modified four times to not simply protect the Nature Center but preserve it.  Mature oak trees have already been relocated and preserved. The oak savanna and monarch gardens will be restored. The build schedule accommodates migratory patterns of native animals. Just as importantly, the stormwater infrastructure will finally be brought up to modern standards, rain gardens will be added, and so will 175 new trees. Overall, children will have more green space than before, and a valuable opportunity to help improve and maintain the Nature Center - continuing to build on its long legacy as a community and student-created outdoor environmental education hub.  

In the meantime, our kids desperately need a new school.  Ann Arbor Public Schools has identified Thurston as the highest priority for rebuilding due to its poor condition, and  we are fortunate that the new school can be built on the same property so our children will not be bussed to another neighborhood in the interim, saving taxpayers millions in additional costs. Best of all, our kids will have what so many others also deserve: a brand new school with air conditioning, state-of-the art security, adequately sized classrooms with natural light and play spaces, and the space teachers and staff need to do their jobs.   

We would not support a new school that destroyed the Nature Center. We also would not support any student staying in a dilapidated building longer than necessary. We are grateful that the new Thurston Elementary school honors both of those commitments.    

Signed, 

Elizabeth McBrearty

Michael Oswalt

Taylor Morgan

Jillian Morgan

Nathaniel Steiner

Gabrielle Steiner

Sarah Kempke

Phillip Szepietowski

Justin Joque

Robyn Anspach

Becky Kato

Sofia Gaudioso 

Ryan Hobbs 

Libby Benton

Rob Goodspeed

J. Bruce Fields

Deshawn Madha

Chris Ernt

Jamie Lawler

On behalf of Thurston Parents for Progress