Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
Carrboro High School could have a cultural arts wing as soon as 2010-11, two years sooner than previously anticipated, but the project remains unfunded.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education voted unanimously on Thursday to approve the district’s 2009-19 Capital Investment Plan, which outlines projects like new elementary schools, additions to schools and facility upgrades. Included in the plans is the $8.8 million Carrboro High arts wing project, with an auditorium, five classrooms and a black box theater. Unfunded new school and facilities projects in the plan total about $143 million.
The arts wing project was previously slated for completion in 2012-13, but board members moved up the timeline after Carrboro High students and parents argued that the school needed a cultural arts wing not only to accommodate and serve students but also to be equal to its peer high schools. Both
East Chapel Hill High and Chapel Hill High have auditoriums and arts facilities. However, both schools were built without auditoriums, which were added later as funding became available.
“It’s not unprecedented in our district that we have had to pen a high school without all of the facilities,†Superintendent Neil Pedersen said.
Carrboro High School was initially designed with an arts wing, but the design was modified.
“When we designed the school, we certainly designed it with a cultural arts wing,†Pedersen said. “I hope no one thinks that we designed a school without an auditorium and a cultural arts wing.â€
Pedersen explained that right before Carrboro High was built, construction costs escalated rapidly, which left administrators without funds for the project.
Susana Dancy, a parent of two Carrboro High students, asked the board to consider prioritizing the CHS arts wing over the district’s 11th elementary school, which is scheduled to open in May 2008. The board approved funding for the elementary school in May.
“An arts wing is just as necessary as a library for a high school,†Dancy said. “It is no more appropriate to teach orchestra without a music room or drama without a stage than it is to teach P.E. without a gym.â€
Several Carrboro High students told board members how they have had to rehearse plays in the hallway because of the lack of rehearsal space and how it was difficult to get excited about a play without their own stage on which to perform.
Board members discussed limiting the arts wing project to an auditorium and three classrooms. The black box theater and the other two classrooms, which were not included in the original arts wing plans, would cost about $2 million of the $8.8 million project.
Board member Lisa Stuckey said she would not support building more arts classrooms at Carrboro than at East Chapel Hill, because Carrboro was designed to have a smaller capacity than East Chapel Hill.
“We don’t have any money right now,†Stuckey said.
The board also voted to draft a letter to the Orange County Board of Commissioners regarding the need for funding for the arts wing. The board presented the CIP to the commissioners earlier last week.