Editor's Notes:
Academics can give OHS distinction
As an alum and parent of two sons who benefited from Owensboro High School cross country, track, music and theater programs, my innate impulse is to heartily endorse the ambitious athletic and fine arts building plan for the OHS campus and its Shifley Park satellite recently authorized by the Owensboro Board of Education.
On closer scrutiny, however, the proposal raises questions that warrant public dialogue.
Proposed projects
At OHS, preliminary plans call for a sparkling new gymnasium, artificial turf on the Rash Stadium football field, 500 parking spaces, and more accommodating facilities for its band, orchestra, theater, chorus, and visual arts programs. The $13 million project will absorb most of the city school system's bonding capacity.
A few miles away, the board leased Shifley Park from the Owensboro city government and proceeded to spend nearly $600,000 from its general fund to purchase contiguous property. The baseball facility was improved, an artificial turf soccer field and parking lot were constructed, and tennis courts and a girls' softball field are planned. These projects may push the Shifley Park expenses to $2.5 million dollars - all of which will be funded through resources otherwise available for the classroom.
Rationale in supporting the projects
The strong correlation between extra curricular activities and student graduation rates helps build the case for these projects. Better facilities could entice more students into these programs, enhance experiences, and boost the image of a school that routinely battles negative (and unwarranted) connotations assigned to it.
Moreover, credible research increasingly links arts education to learning and improved test scores in other academic subjects. Arts classes are not fluffy electives, and the impressive OHS program warrants a brighter spotlight. Some would say that the OHS athletic legacy deserves a turn, an infusion of funds, and its first on-campus gymnasium. Sports can build character, an immeasurable lifetime benefit. An impressive new facility could boost student morale and would finally accommodate an assembly of the entire student body.
Questions and concerns
On the other hand, considering the project costs, one need not be apologetic to ask if this is the wisest use of these funds. Is this aggressive building program long overdue in the city schools or does it represent misplaced priorities? Are parents, school councils, PTO volunteers, booster groups, or any of us who have an investment in public education concerned about these school board initiatives?
Academic options
Did the city school board explore all the options? Rather than athletics, what if its focus had been on academics? Imagine what $2.5 million dollars (or many millions of dollars) spent on academic initiatives or learning resources could do to boost student success and bring distinction to OHS.
For example, what if the city school board embraced a 10-year goal of making OHS Kentucky's top science high school? Rather than use bond funds for new sports facilities and artificial turf, they could invest in a planetarium, observatory and telescope, or a lecture hall with distance learning connections to prominent scientists and mathematicians. (OHS improved its science laboratories recently.) A task force of local scientists, engineers, and information technology specialists could advise the board on such an initiative.
Intern programs could be developed in conjunction with local research occurring at Large Scale Biology, Mitchell Cancer Center and PediaResearch. We would see mentoring programs, summer institutes, and more science scholarships. Word would get out. National academies of science and charitable foundations would be interested in collaborating. OHS could become the school of choice for students with a keen interest in science, including many foreign students.
Of course, science is just one dimension of what it will take to prepare students for the jobs of the future. High school seniors from 21 other countries currently test above U.S. seniors in math and science. In the global economy, students will need to be proficient in technology, mathematics, foreign languages, and more. They will need to be lifelong, adaptable learners.
A question of priorities
Unfortunately, school boards are subject to restrictive formulas on the use of state and federal funds for construction, equipment and programs. But the city school board is also using general fund dollars on this largely athletic investment, diluting classroom resources. And because the athletic plan is so ambitious, even when academic projects qualify for bond funds, there will be little if anything left in that kitty, perhaps for many years.
There is rationale for building these sports facilities, but it pales in comparison to the impact of a comparable investment in academics. OHS athletics may be near and dear to our hearts, but our heads tell us that students will be better prepared for life through a stronger grounding in academics.
In 2003, the city school board reacted indifferently to a study commissioned by the Citizens Committee on Education that pointed to disturbing school financial and population trends due to a landlocked city school district. The board acknowledged that a study to examine the advantages and disadvantages of a consolidated school system would be helpful, but it declined to participate because of the cost. Just two years later, the board finds millions of dollars to spend on athletics.
City-County favoritism
There is already speculation that this OHS campus and Shifley Park capital spending spree is a "last hurrah" by the city school board to do something impressive and dramatic for their only high school while they have a chance, since once the city and county schools merge - which some think is inevitable and right around the corner - county school officials will favor their own schools over those schools inherited from the city.
If merger is inevitable, our community would be well-served if lingering city-county rivalries and tensions were minimized. Some county officials have already grumbled about how a merged system would be saddled with the debt from this OHS expansion.
Refocus on our goal, consider all the options
Perhaps it is time to challenge the dominance of athletics in this major capital investment. Let's engage the citizenry in dialogue about a community vision for our high schools. What characterizes America's best high schools? How can we apply our resources toward that end?
Let's make sure we examine all the options, stress learning and achievement, and bring the most useful distinction and lasting benefit to OHS and its students.