What happened
The majority of the presentation focused on needs for Byron P. Steele II and Samuel Clemens high schools, including adding marching band towers for both campuses and repaving the parking lot at Clemens. Safe and secure band towers, Bronk said, are vital for band leaders to give feedback to different sections.
“For safe and secure towers ... there’s lots of different designs, but you can see that with those different feedback levels ... these are an expectation at high schools these days,” Bronk said. “Everyone has them, we don’t have them. It’s not really about just trying to have what everyone else has, we can’t see, y’all. We can’t do what we need to do.”
Other needs in the area of safety and security were marching band equipment trailers for the two high schools, storage for equipment and uniforms at Steele, and storage for theater arts equipment.
At the junior high level, Bronk spoke on maximizing participation at J. Frank Dobie and Ray D. Corbett JH campuses via expansions of the band hall, orchestra room and choir room. A requested addition to the two schools is a space for cheerleading and potential future dance classes to practice.
One more thing
Additional enhancements requested also focused on high school campuses, such as theater curtain replacement and auditorium floor refinishing at Steele.
Across the district, instrument replacement was cited as a department need, as well as sound system and lighting LED replacements at junior high and elementary campuses.
Total costs of fine arts projects, Community Impact reported in November, would be roughly $4.66 million, with $1.58 million going toward Clemens and $1.69 going toward Steele. Fine arts needs, along with other district department asks, will be workshopped throughout the SCUCISD community.
“Any decisions that we make regarding identifying needs in a possible bond, (a) community-led group will make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees,” Superintendent Paige Meloni said. “We know that we have to balance the evolving needs of our students with that continued commitment to fiscal responsibility.”
