By: Becky Tescher Robison
The Huntley Project School Board needs to revisit this week’s decision on the size of the new high school gym.
While the board doesn’t need to be micro-managed on this new school building, the high school gym issue needs more public input. Few knew about the vote at Tuesday night’s meeting and now the issue has been decided
without a lot of public input.
At issue is that the school could build a larger gym for a bargain price. The current gym is set to hold a crowd of 1,555.
However, the district could expand this gym to go out 14 feet to the south and run 110 feet east and west. The addition would put another 420 seats into the gym.
It’s reasonable to assume with a gym of this size we could host district and divisional tournaments and over the course of maybe 30 tournaments – at a very reasonable admission price of $5 per seat, the gym would pay for
itself. That doesn’t include increased profits from concessions. Now, if that’s a stretch, what about the additional space for when Shepherd and Huntley play basketball? Last year, the game was held in Laurel, a gym with a seating capacity of over 2,000 and the crowd was standing room only. And, what about graduation? A class of over 60 like 2010s can invite an
additional seven people each. And folks might come if they knew the gym was big enough to hold them.
Finally, this is a business decision that rings clear. First, the high school is coming in under budget. The money is there. Let’s not make the mistake they made 40 years ago and build it too small with only 800 seats.
There was a option to expand that gym but it never got done.
Second, bringing tournaments into this area helps every business on the
Project. Existing businesses and potential new businesses will benefit and
thrive. More business means easing tax burdens for residents.
Finally, a point made at the meeting is that few kids will become professional athletes. True enough, but many Huntley Project students walk out of here with college athletic scholarships. Consider the payback to the
community from that and you will realize this is a wise use of tax dollars. The board needs to revisit the issue, hear from the public and expand the gym at the new Huntley Project High school. Those voting against the idea
are Mark Fox, Mark Jones, and Larry Peabody.
Give them a call and see if you can persuade them to host a public meeting
and reconsider their vote for a larger gym.
