Mitchell High School was built and ready for students by the start of school back in 1962. Some corners had to be cut before voters would agree to pass the bond issue to replace the old high school, more on that anon.
I started teaching at Mitchell High in the fall of 1982. At that time a small addition was about to be opened for use by faculty and students. It is what is now the East Teacher’s Lounge (in 1982 it was the counseling offices) and the Business Wing. Later more rooms would be added on to the east side of the building; those included the Special Ed and English rooms in the back hall of the first floor (those English rooms are largely just storage now) as well as the Math and Science rooms on the second floor. I don’t know what all that added up to in dollars but certainly more than if it had been included in the original design and built back in 1962 in the first place.
Why didn’t school leaders and Mitchell’s citizens plan for our future in 1962? There were two primary reasons; cost and a lack of clairvoyance. I directed plays and musicals at MHS for 34 of my 36 years there. The auditorium was adequate as a public hall, a place for listening to speeches and holding pep assemblies but it was an abysmal space for theater. The old timers told me that’s where the budget hawks got their cuts during the multiple 1960’s bond issue fights over building a new high school. I forget now (I’m an old timer myself these days) whether there were two or three rounds of cuts and trims and votes on bond issues prior to a bond issue ultimately passing but it was mainly and always the auditorium that experienced the pain of downsizing prior to final passage of the successful bond issue.
The School Board is once again faced with a decision about what to do for the future of Mitchell education as it relates to a new high school. Past school boards have already made one major mistake; hopefully this new Board will avoid any more as they deliberate on what the new high school will look like.
Let me say that I’ll believe a new high school when I actually see it. I had been in Mitchell about twenty years (the high school was then 40 years old) when I heard the first talks of a “…new high school in five years…” It was like the old Soviet Five Year Plan, lots of talk but nothing ever happened. The conventional thought then was a school should be replaced after fifty years or so. The idea was that new technologies would emerge over time that would have to be incorporated in a building’s design (think of Governor Janklow’s wiring the schools for Internet project of the 1990’s as an example) and since kids are the ones occupying the structure, poor facilities that would endanger their health (for example, asbestos was removed from MHS in the 1980’s) or perhaps even fall down should be avoided. That’s not an idle concern, there have been aged schools in South Dakota that have collapsed and even blown up. Thank Heaven so far that’s happened when school wasn’t in session in those locales.
The first mistake in this saga of constructing a new high school was erecting the Performing Arts Center and connecting it to the MCTEA building. The PAC cost $15 million or so to build and will probably cost $18 million or more once all the interest costs are factored in over the life of the financing. I agree that MHS auditorium was not fit for purpose but we didn’t need a stand alone Taj Mahal to replace it. The PAC is both too big and too small. It is too big for high school and community performances and too small for many other events. For example, it can’t compete with the Washington Pavilion for traveling professional theatrical shows and doesn’t even try anymore. The price of the PAC is a approximately a third of what an entire new high school would cost and all we got for our money is a fancy auditorium.
The second mistake, one which the current School Board is contemplating compounding, is making the MCTEA an integral part of any new high school design or complex. The high school was opened in 1962. The Mitchell Vocational School later rebranded as Mitchell Tech and now called the MCTEA was opened in 1968 while the Mitchell Middle School opened in 1969. A few years ago a significant amount of money went into refurbishing the MCTEA building to no avail really; it still has all the perpetual problems of an aging building.
The MCTEA building’s windows leak, as do the roof drains. They freeze then plug up and subsequently leak causing damage. The plumbing is so old that if something breaks repairs are impossible because replacement parts are unavailable so everything must be purchased new and then may or may not be compatible with what’s already there. There are HVAC issues; there is no consistent heating or cooling. There are gas smells that emanate from the old kitchen facilities from time to time. There is no communication/intercom system connecting the school and like most older buildings, there are issues with bats. This is the facility that the Board plans, at least so far, to join to a new multi-million dollar high school.
The Board should consider the distant future and not just the current dollar when making their decisions. Jefferson High School in Sioux Falls cost north of $80 million, pricey but built to endure and serve for years to come. Mitchell doesn’t need a Jefferson but it does need a new facility fit for purpose and one that can last for decades upon decades. The Mitchell School Board should consider building a new high school that could also accommodate some middle school students as a future stopgap measure. That’s because the Middle School is only seven years younger than the existing high school and merely one year newer than the MCTEA building. Years ago, to alleviate overcrowding in the elementary schools the high school went 9-12, the junior high (previously grades 7-9) became a middle school grades 6-8 and elementary schools “lost” the sixth grade giving them more room for the younger children flooding the lower grades. Any plans for a new high school has to take into consideration that the Middle School will also need replacing, sooner rather than later and where will those kids go to school while a new middle school is being built? Perhaps any current plans should consider a facility that would serve as a combined middle and high school, killing the proverbial two birds with just one construction project.
Instead of cutting, scrimping and compromising over designs, square footage and gym space before the issue has even been laid before the public the School Board should decide on the best educational facility with an eye to the future and without regard to cost (within reason). Once the Board has determined the vision, needs and has completed the best projections that can be performed with the data currently available that’s when they should present the plan and make their case to the public. There should be a campaign to persuade citizens that what is finally proposed is the best course of action and worthy of a bond issue. A significant bond issue will be required, expecting to fund a brand new high school out of existing reserves and future yearly cash flow is short sighted and foolish. After all, what is finally built will probably have to last until near the turn of the next century. This is not the stage of the process to be penny wise and pound-foolish. There probably will come a time to tighten the proverbial belt and bite the bullet if an initial bond issue fails, but that time is not yet and certainly not now.