By Eric Stock and Patrick Baron
BLOOMINGTON – It’s music to the ears of the Bloomington High School Band Director. The school could soon be getting a new fine arts complex as part of a multi-million dollars series of improvements at the school.
District 87’s school board will consider this month selling up to $8 million in bonds for two major projects, an addition to the band room so it will more than double in size, along with remodeled rooms for orchestra and chorus, essentially creating a Fine Arts wing to the school. The other part of the funding would pay for a new field turf surface at the high school football field.
Bloomington High School Director of Bands Max Chernik explained the band’s success in the past helped in making the case for a larger room.
“They’ve seen our awards and our outstanding performances, and they’ve seen us crammed into this little band room or stuffed into the orchestra choir room,” Chernik said.
Chernik says the band has doubled in size to close to 200 members since 2005 while the orchestra and chorus have grown. He attributes some of the increase to giving fifth graders students daily band instruction, the first class to get daily instruction is now in high school .
“Even if we did pack all the kids into this little room, it’s downright dangerous,” Chernik explained. “The low ceilings and all the flat surfaces and the amount of sound our band produces, this is not a safe environment and our administration recognizes that.”
Both projects are scheduled to be done next year to be finished by the start of the 2018-19 school year.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].
