By now, you’ve probably driven along Highway 49 and noticed the ongoing construction at Baldwin High School.
The construction is part of the school’s new $11 million Fine Arts Center, which will feature a 986-seat auditorium, a 3,700-square foot band room, as well as numerous other amenities and classrooms.
However, a quick glance from Highway 49 is deceiving and does not illustrate the magnitude of the project. The Fine Arts Center will be fairly massive and clock in at more than 40,000 square feet. The official opening is set for March 19 and on May 5 the auditorium will host its first play – Beauty and the Beast.
“This will be a great facility for the community a great facility for the school system. We know for a fact that children who are engaged in activities stay in school and do better in the classroom,” said Principal Lyn Chandler. “We’re doing a lot of good things at Baldwin High School, but we’ve got to do more to improve student performance and our graduation rate.”
Baldwin County voters approved the project as part of a SPLOST referendum in September 2007. The referendum passed 70 percent to 30 percent, although voter turnout was especially small. A total of 1,647 votes were cast on the issue (9.4 percent of registered voters). In other words, fewer than 1- out-of-25 people living in Baldwin County voted on the referendum. Since the economic downturn, however, some boards of education have found it more difficult to pass a SPLOST referendum. In Wilkinson, County, for example, voters this week turned down a SPLOST referendum that aimed to build a new high school in Wilco.
SPLOST basically is a penny-on-the-dollar sales tax that is paid by consumers on all taxable retail items purchased inside Baldwin County. The Fine Arts Center project is part of roughly $25 million in SPLOST funds that will go towards renovations and expansions at Baldwin High. The Fine Arts Center is phase one of the project.
The referendum was approved by voters prior to the economy heading south. Fine Arts supporters understand that some people may have reservations about the project due to the current state of the economy.
“It’s important to understand that this is not Board of Education money. These are sales tax dollars that were approved by voters before the bottom fell out of the economy,” said Baldwin High Band Director Clint Raburn. “But, we understand that some people may not be aware of that.”
Mark Weaver is the director of the Fine Arts Program at Baldwin High and the project’s primary point person. Weaver gradually has built one of the largest Fine Arts programs in all of Middle Georgia. More than 25 percent of Baldwin High’s 1,401 students currently are active members of the Fine Arts program (200 in band, 120 in choral and 50 in theatre). An average high school typically has a 10 percent student participation in Fine Arts, according to Weaver. Weaver was asked why the new Fine Arts Center is a solid use of taxpayers’ dollars.
“Studies show that students who are actively involved in a Fine Arts program have a dropout rate of less than one percent. A Fine Arts program makes a school a school,” he said, adding that the new auditorium will host events and bring revenue into local tax coffers.
Weaver added that space – or a lack thereof – is a major factor. The new facility will include a new 1,500-foot-plus choir room, thus allowing the choral program to grow from 120 to 200 students. Also included is a 3,700- square foot band room, which is nearly double the size of the current band room. Baldwin High’s marching band already is one of the two or three largest in Middle Georgia, and Raburn said that the new Fine Arts Center will allow his band to grow even larger.
“Right now, we’re turning away children who want to participate in different aspects of our Fine Arts program. I don’t ever want to turn away a child who wants to be a part of something at our school,” said Chandler. “That’s important.”
The centerpiece of the project is the auditorium, which will be the largest in Baldwin County. The yet-to-be-named auditorium will seat 986 (14 fewer than Russell Auditorium) and the stage will be three feet wider and 18 feet deeper when compared to Russell. Raburn is especially proud of the auditorium’s hydraulic orchestra pit, which rises and lowers at the push of a button.
For the complete story, pick up the Sept. 17-23 issue of The Baldwin Bulletin.
