Township Resident: Taxpayers Will Shoulder Cost of New School Theater for 20 Years

The following letter was submitted to Chatham Patch by a Township resident. The letter follows four other submissions discussing a proposal to spend $14 million to build a new 975-seat theater at Chatham Middle School. Read the first letter here, the second letter here, the third letter here, and the fourth letter here. Another resident also submitted a letter discussing splitting the $22 million bond referendum at large. Click here to read that letter.

Dear Editor,

This is in response to the letter by Andrew Clarke dated February 23, 2015, that was written in support of the $22 million bond referendum, which includes $14 million dollars to build a Performing Arts Center.

Clarke writes that he is against splitting the referendum, because he says that some items are contingent upon others for them to pass. There is an easy solution to that.

Since the part of the referendum that is being hotly debated is the $10.4 million PAC, then why can’t that item be posed as one question, while the remaining five be bundled into a second question? Considering that the remaining five questions, almost equal the entire dollar amount of the first question, the matter of cost alone is reason enough to do this.

He also goes on to suggest that people might make choices based on their own personal needs, rather than the community as a whole. I take exception to that. My experience with the Chatham taxpayer is that when it comes to our schools, we are quite a generous bunch.

Senior citizens have generously come out to vote yes on our budgets, even after their kids have been long out of the system, and most parents do support programs that don’t benefit their kids directly with the understanding that a well-rounded education is what makes our district one of the finest. I, personally, have supported the upgrades to fields even though neither of my children have ever set foot on them.

While my children are way past Kindergarten, I see the need and would support a full-day program, because it does serve the overall mission of a good education.

“What we are opposing is a building, not a program. A very costly that building that the taxpayer will shoulder for the next 20 years, and that will have no material impact on the development of our children.”

There are other things I would like to see, but have lived without, like a cafeteria in the High School that can accommodate all the kids, so that students don’t have to eat in the halls and on the floors during lunch; or an elimination of the $100 per year, per child cost for them to participate in a sport, but I understand, that not all of these desires can be accommodated.

Lastly, there seems to be this widespread thought that those who don’t support the construction of the PAC, do not support the Performing Arts programs. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Everyone who values education, knows that exposure to the arts is critical to developing the whole student. If the board was proposing adding more instruction in the arts, such as dance, voice, acting and playwriting, you can be sure that the referendum would pass without incident. What we are opposing is a building, not a program. A very costly that building that the taxpayer will shoulder for the next 20 years, and that will have no material impact on the development of our children.

Sincerely,

Susan O’Brien

Chatham Township

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