The board met with architects on Monday, July 30. The architectural team will shortly begin drafting designs based on input from the board and school staff.

Mike Patano, who has been conducting an "educational specifications" study for the team, said the architects have been interviewing teaching and administrative staff to create "a wants list without putting any constraints on it."

According to Patano, "We've taken a very open approach with the staff. We haven't said 'No' to anybody."

However, he warned, "that time is coming around the corner." As the design team starts seriously putting pencil to paper, it will become increasingly necessary to make choices based on practical constraints -- especially the $20.5 million budget.

The choices will be "gut-wrenching," Patano said.

Board members were in agreement that the first priority should be durability and ease of maintenance.

"I'm inclined to put the dollars into function as opposed to style," Jeff Smith told his colleagues via telephone conference call.

Questions of function included the size of the auditorium.

"I feel strongly we should err to the side of making our auditorium larger rather than smaller," said board member Bill Reed.

Reed argued that community events, including the Sisters Starry Nights Concert fund-raisers require an auditorium that seats about 900.

However, all agreed that amenities such as an orchestra pit and a fly loft should be left out.

Designers said there would be much to discuss regarding the merits of one-story versus two-story construction. There are cost-savings associated with both. Both alternatives will be hashed out as design moves forward, Patano noted.

Board members generally rejected non-traditional "classrooms-without-walls" concepts that they had seen on tours of schools throughout the region in the past couple of weeks.

Heather Wester, new board chair, extolled the concept, but she was alone in her reaction to the design which is considered somewhat radical.

Steve Keeton joked that "maybe kids are different than when we were in school... we'd have been chucking erasers from one end to the other."

Glen Lasken said he was "not willing to be that cutting-edge."

However, the board did like the idea of breaking classroom space into "pods" that would mix traditional classrooms with open common work areas.