Maintaining what we have

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

With student numbers no longer on the rise, a focus of the Gentry School District has been to maintain its current facilities rather than build new ones to make room for more students. The result has been major improvements on a number of school campuses.

To mention just a few, there is a new heat, air and ventilation system at theintermediate school campus - an improvement deemed necessary for the health and well-being of students - and new entrance doors. There are now lights on the high school parking lot - another safety-related improvement. Though it was completed several years ago, the work at the Carl Gym did much to maintain and improve that facility.

In the football stadium are new visitor bleachers, replacing ones which were inadequate and becoming a hazard. Repairs were also made to the home-side stands.

Those who have attended concerts and other events in the high school auditorium may have noticed the new curtains and other improvements there.

Perhaps one of the most noticeable areas of improvement to visitors at the school is in the high school gymnasium. The gym has new seats on the home side - a good number of them with backs - a refinishedfloor, new paint and, very noticeable to photographers, much improved lighting.

Though not many may have measured the light improvement, I have. The gym is nearly four times brighter than it was last year. How do I know? Camera f-stops and shutter speeds tell the story. Even though I’m shooting with a faster lens and letting in four times as much light as the lens I used last year, I’ve been able to shoot without flash at 1/500th of a second, compared toabout 1/30th of a second without flash last year - something which just didn’t work for sports photos, so I had to use flash and shoot with faster shutter speeds.

I can also tell you that the Carl Gym, even with its improvements, is only about half as bright as the high school gym now is. I have to slow my shutter to about 1/250th of a second there, using the same f-stop, for a proper exposure.

What’s my point? If the improved lighting is of benefit to a photographer, it’s probably also a benefit to the athletes and spectators. And all the improvements serve to make our public schools safer andmore appealing to the eye.

More improvements are in the works, including some new roofs, to make the school facilities we have safe and serviceable for years to come.

I commend our school board and school administrators for focusing on needed maintenance andimprovements to what we have rather than seeking an increase in bonded debt in these tough times to build everything new.

Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be reached by email at rmoll@ nwaonline.com.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 01/18/2012