OUR VIEW: Time to start the planning for new schools

• OUR VIEW

OUR VIEW

Talk about it

We agree with Mitchell Superintendent Joe Graves, who said this week that “planning is everything.”

Graves was quoting former general and President Dwight Eisenhower when he said that in reference to plans for an updated fine arts facility by 2016 and a new Mitchell High School by 2025.

Considering the distance of those proposed break-ground dates, it may seem early for such plans, but Graves is right to put this wheel in motion.

The district has adequately addressed other aging structures, including the city’s elementary schools and the local football stadium.

Now, it would be most prudent that we — and by “we” we mean the entire school district — decide exactly what’s next in this process.

Does the Mitchell School District need a new high school building? We’re not structural engineers, but anecdotal evidence tends to show that the current building is aging and becoming outdated.

Do the school’s fine arts facilities need expansion and the attention that our local programs deserve? We tend to think so.

We suppose someone disagrees. That’s all right. Graves invites those with differing opinions to make their concerns heard.

So do we.

The point is that plans are being put in place.

Nobody assumes these plans will remain unrefined, unchanged or unchallenged.

Yet nobody can deny that planning for the future is the prudent thing to do.

Schools cost money, and a new high school is a big-ticket item.

We’ll need a new high school sometime down the road. We’d just as well begin the process now.

Tags: opinion, updates, editorials, schools, local, mitchell