Middle school seeks major funding for auditorium seats

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard(McMinnville, Tenn.)

The middle school PTO is asking the school board to replace the school’s auditorium seats, many of which are missing, ripped or broken. (Will Stewart photo)

The seats in the middle school auditorium are falling apart and are in dire need of replacement, the school’s PTO told school board members Thursday night. The group further pledged $10,000 towards the effort as an incentive for school board action.

“We need new chairs. When this place was built in 1957, there were 868 chairs. Now there are only 768 chairs. With 860 students, whenever the whole school’s in here some students have to sit on the floor,” said PTO president Don McBee. He further noted the stuffing of many of the remaining chairs is held in with duct tape.

Thursday night’s meeting, held in the middle school auditorium, was the second time in two years the school’s PTO has requested new seats.

Middle school principal Donna Trevathan noted a similar route had been taken in Cookeville, where seats in the auditorium at Avery Trace Middle School, the old Cookeville High School, were replaced in such a manner where they look quite good.

McBee said the PTO realizes replacing the seats would not come cheap, estimating costs for the seats alone to be between $75 and $100 apiece – or between $65,100 and $86,800 for 868 seats. For that reason, the PTO had voted to give $10,000 of its own funds toward the project if the school board would commit to the retrofitting.

The school board promised group members it would take the matter under consideration and encouraged them to obtain estimates for retrofitting the seats, as well as for replacing the auditorium floor, before the board’s annual winter retreat in February.