KALKASKA -- The room at Kalkaska High School may be called an auditorium, but to Craig Chissus, it's really more of a lecture hall.
He can understand the opponents: Why does the school need a new auditorium when it already has one?
Chissus would argue the same, if he weren't a music instructor and band director who regularly uses the room.
Its shape and lack of acoustic panels create what he calls "dangerous" decibel levels. His audiologist recently told him he is losing some of his upper-range hearing, and Chissus, not yet 50, expects he'll soon have to wear hearing aids.
On Tuesday, voters in Kalkaska Public Schools will be asked to approve a 1.89-mill bond issue for up to 17 years that would allow administrators to build a new auditorium at the high school, as well as update the middle school library and separate classrooms at Birch Street Elementary.
The district has a limited window to accept $18.7 million from the federal government for capital upgrades, but it needs the bond approved to guarantee repayment before the government releases the funds.
"This won't happen again. I wish people could see that," Chissus said. "There's just not a place to bring the arts to Kalkaska."
The special election is the only one Tuesday in the five-county Grand Traverse region and is the result of the proposal's narrow rejection in November. It failed by a margin of 1,114 to 1,003.
Because of the delay, the federal funds no longer will be interest-free, Superintendent Lee Sandy said. But the bond is the only way for the district to spend and repay them.
"Even though the economy is down, we have a chance to get a lot more for our money than we normally would," Sandy said. "The need is still there."
Lisa Sutton sees it every day.
The Birch Street Elementary first-grade teacher wants an end to her building's open-classroom model, which groups rooms in such a way that people have to walk through other classes to exit to the hallway.
Each classroom has four enclosed walls and separate doors, but the interior doors don't lock. Bond dollars would be used to rebuild rooms off a main hall.
The model raises questions of student safety, since classrooms can't completely be locked down if needed, and leads to many daily interruptions, Sutton said.
"It's very difficult for teaching and learning because you have people constantly walking through your classroom," she said. "It's hard for kids to re-adjust."
