Wednesday, January 24, 2001
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Wednesday, January 24, 2001 |
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School board: No funds for Jenkins Road auditorium By DAVE
HAMRICK With $65 million in construction projects planned for the near future, parents and teachers at the Jenkins Road school complex are disappointed that, once again, an auditorium for the complex has been overlooked. "We've had ten years of fine arts programs that are educational, inspirational and award-winning, but sadly most performances take place off campus, and are not enjoyed by the other two-thirds of the school population," said Millie Turek, choral teacher at Sandy Creek High School, in a presentation to the Board of Education Monday night. She said the complex needs a 600- to 700-seat auditorium for band, choral, theater and dance performances and various school meetings. The complex includes Sandy Creek, Flat Rock Middle School and Burch Elementary School. When performances are conducted in the schools' cafeterias, Turek said, students, parents and teachers have to fold up all the tables, build their sets and backdrops, perform and then return the cafeteria to its original state, all in the space of one performance. And the tables and chairs are often a distraction from the atmosphere needed for a particular play, choral or band performance, she said. School groups have performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall and Spivey Hall, she said, and many of the students plan to go into performing as a profession, yet must deal with decidedly unprofessional conditions when performing for the home folks. "It never ceases to amaze me that despite all of these hardships the show goes on," said Karen Rossert, a parent who backed up Turek's presentation. She said in one recent performance, a platform that dance students were using moved six inches. Another time, she said, the sound system failed and the performance had to be stopped while it was fixed. Rossert also presented statistics showing that students who participate in fine arts have higher test scores and fewer discipline problems than those who don't. About a third of the 3,000 students who attend the complex are involved in fine arts programs, said Turek, "and they deserve a gathering place where they can experience the arts." But they'll have to wait awhile yet. Money for the auditorium was cut from the construction project when the schools were built ten years ago, and it wasn't included in the latest bond issue for new school construction and existing school renovation, approved by voters this past November. The auditorium wasn't the only facility that was left out of the bond, said school Superintendent Dr. John DeCotis. "Several issues came up," he said, adding that the auditorium was included in a proposed sales tax for school construction, but voters rejected the plan. Needs such as the auditorium will be considered as a staff committee sets priorities and looks for funds in a ten-year plan for future construction, he said. "We'll have to fit it into that ten-year plan so we can see how funding will come about," he said. About 20 parents, teachers and students attended the meeting to see what the board had to say on the subject, and silently filed out following the response.
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