By Troy Zabel
Superintendent, Bayfield School District
This letter is in response to an article that was published in the October 2nd edition of the Pine River Times as well as many social media conversations regarding the updated activity banners at Bayfield High School. We would like to take this opportunity to reassure the community that the Bayfield School District uses sound decision-making processes and keeps the best interests of our students and community a priority.
It is our hope that this letter will clear up misconceptions about the reasons that previous banners were taken down, new paint was applied, and updated banners were installed. The decision to do this was neither taken lightly nor intended to compromise tradition or the accomplishments of the athletes and teams represented by the preexisting banners. In fact, our intentions were quite the opposite. It is and always has been very important to the school and district administration to honor the achievements of all teams and athletes past and present.
The school administration has been contacted numerous times throughout the years to hang banners for other teams with similar accomplishments. The district had also stopped displaying new accomplishments for the past six to seven years due to space limitations. Team accomplishments previous to 1960 were not displayed at all.
Concerns had also been raised about the size of the banners not reflecting a team's level of accomplishment. Many teams who had not moved as far in post-season play were honored with banners larger than others who had advanced further. Some banners recognized individual athletes while others did not. The system was inconsistent in recognizing students and teams.
These issues were taken to a committee of staff and community members to consider. It was determined that a new banner system was the best way to address and maintain a consistent recognition program for many years to come.
We are sensitive to how to best handle the old banners. Our district activities/facilities director, Rob Dean, will lead a committee to look into this. The committee will be limited in size so decisions can be made efficiently and effectively.
Finally, we would like to address the cost associated with refurbishing the gym walls. The walls had not been repainted since the gymnasium's original construction nearly 20 years ago. The banner transition project provided a perfect opportunity to consider a fresh approach to the walls. Repainting this amount of surface is costly. We leveraged funds from our capital construction project coming in under budget and used the funds that were already designated for improvements on the Bayfield High School campus to paint the walls.
We have also been asked why we would spend money on the high school gymnasium when we have an ailing primary school that needs greater attention. Although we agree there are many problems with the primary school building (and have made improvements at the site), we clearly recognize that a more comprehensive plan is needed to address them. The district is developing solutions to move away from the use of this building as a primary school and will attempt to limit large expenditures on a site that is inadequate for our future needs.
As always, we appreciate the unwavering support the Bayfield community provides for our instructional and extracurricular programs and activities. We are truly fortunate to have such a great place in which to work and live. Your children will always remain top priority for the entire staff in the Bayfield School District.
