Opinion : Letter to the Editor: Vote "Yes" for improvements to CPU School Facilities

To the Editor:

As I begin my 38th year of teaching, I reflect on many years when change was painful, exciting, or long overdue. At Center Point-Urbana School we have done what many smaller schools with a low tax base have had to do for years, make something out of very little. Our resourcefulness has been admirable! However, even though all departments are in need, the fine arts department has received very little when it comes to facility upgrades and improvements in the past 35 years. We are grateful for updated stage lighting, a stage scrim, and new sound system, but those amenities should be housed in a performance arts center, not on a small, dusty stage at the end of a gymnasium.

Our students, both athletes and performers, deserve their own space to showcase their hard work. Auditoriums are designed for this purpose. The addition of an auditorium for our students would bring us up to the level of almost every 3A school in the state of Iowa. It would allow the gymnasium to be used as just that, a gymnasium. Bands, choirs, and actors would only have to share rehearsal time and space with each other, rather than with school and league-sponsored sports. Physical education and sports would also benefit from less interruption in their day if fine arts had their own space.

In addition, the performing arts department could host clinics and competitions of their own. This would bring a tremendous amount of revenue into the school district. At present, our students travel for every competition, taking their concession money with them, paying entry fees to other schools, not to mention the cost of transportation and bus drivers.

The addition of an auditorium for Center Point-Urbana School is an exciting change that is long overdue for our students and community. On November 5, please vote "Yes" for all planned improvements to the Center Point-Urbana facilities.

Thank you.

Sheila Monson, Vocal Music Teacher

Urbana