The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

On Monday, I met with several students in Rob Moore's sixth period class at Dayton High School to talk about their recent trip to Seattle to compete at the state FBLA conference. They were quite successful there, and I wrote a story about that which appears on Page One.

While I was there, Mr. Moore and I took a few moments to change the subject. We asked the students if they'd be willing to give their thoughts on the levy. They were. Because almost all of them are under 18, and it's a controversial topic, I'm not going to name the speakers. But I will say that they had some thoughts that were very enlightening.

I asked them first how they would have voted. I didn't count hands, but the majority of them said they would have voted no. I asked why.

"We don't need all the extras," said one student. "That seemed like too much money."

"We don't need that new building," said another. Several others agreed.

I asked about the need for a performance and assembly space if the auditorium in the high school were eliminated.

"We only had, like, two assemblies in there this year," one student said.

I mentioned that when I was in high school, assemblies were held in the gym. (I went to high school somewhere else. And yes, it was many, many years ago.) Most of the students nodded and agreed that that would work. "It has nice new bleachers," said one.

The students were unanimous, however, in their agreement that Dayton's school facilities are in serious need of repair. "We have holes in the ceiling," a student said.

Another student described the sorry plumbing in the Home-Ec room. "The pipes have broken under the sink about five times this year," she said.

"They should fix the problems with these buildings and not build new ones," a student said. "We need an elevator in the high school, and bathrooms upstairs," said another. Currently the second floor of the high school has no student rest room on the second floor, and the only access for handicapped students is a precarious powered lift up the stairwell.

The students also had an interesting take on the proposed redesign of the grounds. "What do we need all those parking lots for," one student asked. "We don't fill up the ones we have."

There was another point on which the students were almost unanimous. "I can't believe they're getting rid of the basketball courts," one said, to a lot of nodding heads. She was referring to the concrete outdoor courts directly west of the high school building.

"Those courts are used all the time," another said, "even on the weekends."

"If they get rid of those, they should put them in somewhere else," was another response.

It's certainly true that many of the students may have heard opinions from their parents that influenced their views. But, as Mr. Moore said, "It's good that they're talking to their parents."