A drive is underway to keep the proposed Batesville High School Charter auditorium to a size that will seat 2,000 people, according to Batesville School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Hester.
When voters approved the district’s bond issue earlier this month, school officials thought the auditorium would have to be downsized from the originally planned 2,200 seats to 1,000.
But Hester told White River Now’s Gary Bridgman that some community members who saw the need for more seating in the new auditorium are making pledges to make up the difference in building costs — which are estimated to be about $2 million.
The superintendent, who was recently granted a three-year contract extension by the Batesville School Board, said the school has already received a fourth of the $2 million needed to make the difference from Pioneer supporters.
The new auditorium will not only be utilized for school activities such as graduation, but it will also host other events, somewhat like a convention center, he said.
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