Extracurricular or Education?

* Facing numerous and difficult decisions in preparation for the 1993-94 school year, one decision administrative officials and trustees of the Antelope Valley Unified High School District need to address immediately is the condemned facilities at Antelope Valley High School--the 300-row science classrooms and the athletic bleachers at Mays Field.

At first glance the choice to replace or to reconstruct appears to pose no difficulty. However, in the financially strapped district such a decision is not going to be simple.

First, consider the cost. For a district which finds it difficult to balance its own books and whose teachers are required to supply the rudimentary materials necessary for daily instruction, this poses a tremendous barrier. Where will the money come from?

Second, consider the primary mission of the school, of the district, of public education. That mission is to educate children. In a district already short of instructional classrooms and existing facilities filled to capacity--and that’s putting it mildly--every classroom needs to be ready for September.

Third, consider what is required education and what is extracurricular. Required education is the Three Rs and classrooms for instruction. Extracurricular is football, soccer, track and bleachers for viewing.

Given the district’s burgeoning student population and the need to have all facilities ready for use in the fall, the choice required by district officials, on behalf of the students and teachers at the school, appears clouded. Funding one of the projects is questionable. Funding both is impossible.

Time will be the indicator of the priorities of the district, of its administration, of its Board of Trustees. Will that decision be on behalf of that which relates to required education, to academics, to the Three Rs, or will that decision be on behalf of that which relates to extracurricular, to activities, to fun and games?

DARWIN M. OCHS

Ochs is science department chairman at Antelope Valley High School .