Currents in Education
Meeting of the minds: Town, school officials discuss YHS Arts Wing
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - The future of the York High School Arts Wing remains to be seen, but the lines of communication have been opened between the local officials who will ultimately determine whether there is a second chance for such a project.At a special meeting held on Thursday, Sept. 28, the majority of the School Committee, Budget Committee and Board of Selectmen gathered at the York High School auditorium to talk about the May vote that ended this year's hope for a renovation and expansion project to meet the curriculum needs of the school's music, theatre and art students.
While there were many different views on the subject, there was a consensus on several points including honoring the will of the voters who defeated the $5.8 million proposal by a margin of about 400 votes.
That, however, did not mean abandoning the project, many of those in attendance agreed, as the need has not gone away. Instead, members of each of the boards that would ultimately have the task of recommending such a plan to the voters in the future spoke alternately of waiting to allow for town needs and of proposing solutions to address the deficiencies in the current building in the near future.
The comments were as diverse as those in attendance from each board.
School Committee Chairwoman Patty Hymanson led the meeting, which was attended by Vice Chairwoman Marilyn Zotos and School Committee member Mary-Jane Merrill as well as York High School Principal Bob Stevens, Superintendent Dr. Henry Scipione and Assistant Superintendent Jim Amoroso.
Budget Committee Chairman Windol Weaver was joined by Nancy Eaton, Greg Filias, Rudy Freitag, Dave Lincoln and Lin Napier of that board.
The Board of Selectmen was represented by Chairman Dave Marshall, Vice Chairman Dwight Bardwell and Selectman Len Dorrian, and Town Manager Rob Yandow was also in attendance.
"Our common interest … is to do what's best for the town of York," Hymanson said, reviewing what the vast majority of the board members who spoke indicated was, in fact, a demonstrated need for a new arts wing - with band and chorus outgrowing the space entirely, an antiquated theatre, lack of academic classroom and performance space and other issues.
Just one week after the Mother's Day flood, it was a 411-vote margin that defeated the project, Hymanson said.
"Here we are with that history, and we're trying to figure out really how to move with this," she said.
Speaking from his perspective as chairman of the Budget Committee, Weaver said there is no doubt about the need, and that his issue with the project has always been about the cost.
"Please, please do not send the same plan back to the voters," he said, adding later, "… If it comes back reasonable, I would have no problem supporting it."
Dorrian had a different perspective.
"The taxpayers can also tolerate so much … it's a finite number," he said, referencing the Taxpayer Bill of Rights set to be on the November ballot. "I think TABOR's a bad idea, not because it sets a limit, but because it takes away local control."
He said the schools and town must prioritize such needs as new municipal buildings, the estimated $38.8 million drainage fix and school needs.
"We have to figure out what the priorities are," Marshall agreed, prompting Hymanson to acknowledge the $38.8 million drainage remediation estimate as the "elephant in the room."
Zotos pointed out that, in moving forward, there are no funds for a new design. She urged those selectmen and Budget Committee members who voted against the arts wing to provide input as to what they would need support it.
As one of the newest members of the Budget Committee, Filias was not on hand to cast a preference vote for the project back in the spring, but spoke ardently in favor of it at Thursday's meeting.
"We're all supposed to be charged by the voters for looking out for the welfare of the voters … and their children and their children's children," he said, adding, "I'm all for the project … We do have a need here. We have a substandard facility, and it is not meeting the curriculum needs of the high school and of our children. And that's more of a priority than anything."
Education, he said, should come first.
"The future of the community does not lie with the fixed-income retirees - pardon me if I'm offending anyone - but it lies with the children, because the children are going to go on," he said. "… We have a responsibility to our children to prepare them for anything."
He questioned any priorities that put education on the back burner, citing the nation's standing academically against other nations across the globe.
"Do we need a new police station over educating our children better? I don't think so. We need a new Town Hall over educating our children better? I don't think so. We need to understand what the priorities are for the future," he said. "It's our job to make sure we can afford it and make it happen."
Filias said he sympathizes with the concerns of voters over climbing taxes and rising prices, but pointed out that labor and materials costs for a project like this will only continue to climb as well.
"It's our duty to fix this," Freitag agreed.
Napier, meanwhile, said she understood the need but could not get beyond the expense, speaking of long-term York residents who are struggling to afford to continue to live in town.
"I would like to stay here," she said.
Bardwell, too, said the cost was the issue.
"I had tremendous feedback from members of the community," he said. "… What needs to come out of this meeting, as I see it, is we must come together."
With just a small placeholder in capital planning for the arts wing, the $5.8 million price was too high, he said.
"You can't have that kind of a spike in the capital plan and not have it affect everyone else," he said, agreeing with Dorrian's suggestion of a target number for such projects that would be amenable to the voters.
Lincoln agreed that the town's bonding levels must be controlled.
"I have all sorts of appreciation for the arts, but it's a 'want' situation," he said. "… The town is looking at needs instead of wants."
Stevens pointed out that arts education is not a "want" but a requirement, from the state of Maine, for graduation. Music, theatre and the arts are core curriculum subjects, he said, just like math, science or English. With the current facility, however, there is not room to accommodate those academic classes or rehearsal times.
"Both our band director and our choral director split their work schedule so they work both days and nights," he said.
Bardwell suggested a fundraising campaign in the future, and Marshall reiterated that whatever comes forward as a proposal must be different from the current plan to honor the will of the approximately 2,000 local residents who voted against the project back in May.
Following the meeting, Scipione said he was pleased with the turnout and the discussions.
"It was very respectful. It was very honest," he said of the meeting. "It provided great feedback for the School Committee."
Hymanson agreed.
"I was thankful that this group of people who care a lot about York came to the York HIgh School auditorium to talk about the building and the project," she commented after the meeting. "There was a consensus that the auditorium and performing arts wing project would benefit our school and community, but it was voted down because of the cost. We are considering our options and will continue the discussion at our next School Committee meeting Oct. 4."
That meeting will begin at 7 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, at the York Public Library.
