My eyes were caught by falling paint from the ceiling; wooden chairs that desperately needed attention; and chandeliers that may very well have been in the room for 130 years. While I could feel the age of the building, I could also feel its warmth. The warmth was exacerbated by the teachers who were in their classrooms interacting with students, the soon to be Mahar students passersby, and the sound of students singing, “America the Beautiful.”
There were so many things on my mind about the up and coming school year, and on the aforementioned day a new thing was added. The auditorium at the Butterfield Elementary School stands as the place where students and parents gather for celebrations of yearly success. It also stands as the auditorium that has housed each and every graduate of the Orange School System at one point or another for the past 130 years. I wondered how room deserving of so much respect could be allowed to look the way that it did.
Not long after this day, I had many conversations about the condition of the auditorium. One of these conversations did not fall upon deaf ears. Enter Sheriff Chris Donelan. I had a conversation with Sheriff Donelan about the auditorium. In that conversation it was it was Chris who reminded me that he along with many Mahar parents, grandparents, and great grandparents stood in that room at one time or another. I recall him saying, “You know, there are more memories in that room than can ever be counted.”
The next day Sheriff Donelan called me with good news. He informed me that he had a work crew from the Franklin County Jail that could come to the auditorium and give it a tune up. Without hesitation, I agreed. Having no idea what the possibilities were, I just hoped that the falling paint could be scraped from the ceiling. Today when I went to the Butterfield Auditorium to meet the Sheriff and look at the work that was completed, I was absolutely amazed.
With little experience on how much labor it takes to scrape, paint, and completely update the appearance a room of this size I am going to have to turn to an expert to understand the dollar value of this work. I have heard jobs such as these costing tens of thousands of dollars. As you can see in the pictures below, the floor, walls, ceiling, and seating all look brand new!
Soon we will celebrate our students' success in the renovated auditorium. Thank you Sheriff Donelan for your assistance and for the generosity of your work crew. Mr. Trill is in the process of planning a September event in which parents, students, and community members can see what I had the privilege of seeing today. It is my hope that you can be our guest.
No comments:
Post a Comment