Goshen, Ind — The Goshen High School music department’s current space is inadequate, but choir director Marcia Yost said staff members could live with less than the 30,000 square feet presented to the feasibility study task force last week.
Yost told members that music staff were asked to dream when they met with representatives from Odle McGuire Shook. The result had an estimated $10.7 million price tag.
“Do we think we need everything on that list? I don’t think so,” Yost said. “I wouldn’t stand before you and say we need all that square footage. We have outgrown what we have, plain and simple.”
Yost said new space is needed because rooms are crowded, practice rooms are non-existent and instruments and equipment are stored unsafely.
“Personally I feel like less than an educator when I have 85 kids in my room, shoulder to shoulder, butt to butt, because that’s how have to put them, they can’t be quiet,” she said.
Yost said her choir room is good for a group of 35 students. Next year she will have a choir of 84. The department has gone from delineating the band room and the orchestra room to calling them the large and small rehearsal rooms because the orchestra has outgrown its 2,150 square feet.
In the last nine years, the orchestra has grown from 34 strings to two full-string orchestras, both with 50 members. When the full string and wind orchestra is together, it numbers between 85 and 90 students, Yost said.
The only soundproofing done during the last renovation was having sand poured down inside the cinder blocks. When the percussion ensemble is warming up, “you can’t do anything,” she said.
The entire music department measures less than 10,000 square feet. The option presented to the task force last week included renovating the current space and adding a 21,000-square-foot addition.
Lafayette Jefferson High School is of comparable size and demographic and has slightly more than Goshen with 12,000 square feet, not counting practice rooms, a dance studio and shower/personal areas. School officials opened bids Thursday for renovations that would bring their music department to 27,000 square feet, said Dennis Cahill, vice president of planning for OMS.
“What they are asking for is not totally out in left field,” Cahill said of the Goshen staff’s request. Cahill said he will meet with the music staff before the task force’s final meeting next Thursday to present a list of space priorities.
Local News
Choir director discusses music department space
- Local News
-
-
New school start times, breaks proposed
It looks like some notable changes may be in store for the Goshen Community Schools calendar next year.
-
Homes struck by bullets in drive-by
Goshen police began investigating a drive-by shooting in Twin Pines Mobile Home Park Friday afternoon when suspects shot bullets into two homes there at 3:33 p.m.
-
COLUMN: It’s a new year for all you gardeners
Believe it or not it’s countdown time until spring— maybe I’m stretching it a bit but planting time at all the greenhouses is about to begin. Cuttings will be arriving in just over a month and that means activity.
-
New home may not work for operation
GOSHEN — If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
-
After 27 years, Greencroft's vice president of mission and quality steps down
GOSHEN — Connie Garber, Goshen, who has served as vice president of mission and quality at Greencroft Communities, retired Wednesday after 27 years with the organization.
-
Trolley routes changed after Concord stops paying its share
Concord Township has withdrawn its financial support of the Interurban Trolley, which means routes will be adjusted in the coming months.
-
‘48 Days’ author to speak
The author of the best-selling “48 Days To The Work You Love,” Dan Miller, will be in speaking in Warsaw at 6 p.m. Feb. 12.
-
School employees get first look at clinic
GOSHEN — Employees with Goshen Community Schools got their first look at the corporation’s new on-site Health and Wellness Clinic during a special open house at the facility Thursday afternoon.
-
Community rallies behind Sam Gewe during cancer fight
Randy and Michelle Grewe have happily supported their 13-year-old son, Sam, as he excelled at school, at baseball, basketball and football.
-
Comedian Daniel Tosh coming to the Morris April 18
Will South Bend get a Web redemption?
- More Local News Headlines
-
Killer of Fla. Girl Found in Landfill Gets Life
Army Orders Bradley Manning Court-martial
Cancer Charity Revives Breast-screening Grants
Heavy Snowstorm Hits Colorado On Its Way East
2nd Teacher From LA School Arrested on Sex Claim
Prosecutors Close Armstrong Inquiry, No Charges
Sights and Sounds: Football Fans Pour Into Indy
Unemployment Rate Down to 8.3%
Obama: Still Far Too Many Americans Need Jobs
GOP: Jobs Numbers Welcome, Can Do Better
Fla. Man Adopts Girlfriend in Legal Battle
More Deaths As Egypt Clashes Continue
Raw Video: Prince William in Falklands
Egpyt Protesters Blame Police for Soccer Deaths
'Lucky' 9-Year-Old Receives 6-Organ Transplant
Raw Video: Michelle Vs. Ellen in Pushup Contest
First Person: Will Peyton Manning Stay in Indy?
Egypt Shaken After Deadly Soccer Riot
New Suits, New Starts for New York's Unemployed
Hall of Famer Dorsett Speaks Out on NFL Injuries
