EDITORIAL: Much more to do

Many of you came out last week and shared your opinions with the Greencastle-Antrim School Board on a proposed stadium renovation project. That is how a democracy is supposed to work. For those of you who opposed the project that eventually was approved during the meeting, that also is a byproduct of our democratic process and representative government.

We hope the plan to conduct a public campaign to fund the $1.36 million price tag will be successful. We also hope that school officials can actually work it out so that no increased taxes will be necessary for the stadium project. We doubt when it comes down to it, that will happen. But we also are confident that school officials will do their best.

We still wonder why our athletic fields were allowed to disintegrate so badly that action was necessary immediately to save home contests for the fall. We are also glad that the extra curricular events which in many ways pull a community together will continue to be played on Blue Devil turf.

But this is just the beginning. The board will be wrestling with the general fund budget over the next couple of months, trying to pare it down and avoid a big tax increase. Already the proposed school renovation project has been sliced from a 2011-2012 spending plan. That however begs the question as to why that proposal was expendable and the stadium was not. It’s confusing as to what is the priority and how it should be addressed.

We will be watching closely as the budget process continues. For certain the board has heard the cry of its citizens. We also believe that they will do their best for those citizens. In the end, we hope that everyone remembers the most important part of this picture — the students and their education.