Editorial

School board should reconsider 900-seat auditorium

The Sisters School Board is making a mistake by forging ahead with a 900+ seat auditorium at the new high school.

The seats are unneeded for school purposes. A 900-seat facility will be less than half full for almost any school function. This does not enhance a performance.

The primary proponent of the large auditorium is board member Glen Lasken, who seems to have a "build it and they will come" mindset. Yet Lasken has not been able to offer cost or revenue projections on which to base his hopes.

The most likely users of the large room, Starry Nights and the Sisters Folk Festival, have in fact been forthright in statements that such a large auditorium is not needed.

The budget for the new school is limited. A large auditorium means a reduction in the size of the cafeteria, soon forcing a split lunch schedule. This will harm education, increasing schedule conflicts that are already a problem in a small school.

We are building a new high school now because our current high school cannot be expanded, despite assurances by a different school board 10 years ago. We could add classrooms but not "core facilities," including the cafeteria.

It would be terrible to repeat that mistake and build our new school knowing that we are making the cafeteria too small for even the projected student body. We must not sacrifice chairs in a cafeteria used by students every day for seats in an auditorium that might be needed a few times a year.

A 900+ seat auditorium would be wonderful in a community performing arts center. But we are building a high school, and the daily needs of students should be our first priority.

--E.D.