MARCH 17, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
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District champs highlight choir concert
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Fresh off winning a pair
of district championships and
acceptance to the Rose City
Sing-Off, McNary’s girls and
boys a cappella groups, Some-
thing Blue and Dangertones,
will take the stage in the high
school’s spring choir concert,
Take Me Home, on Monday,
March 20 at 7 p.m. in the Ken
Collins Theater.
Winning district wasn’t a
surprise for Something Blue
after capturing the Oregon
Music Education Association
state title in female vocal en-
semble last year but they did
feel the pressure to repeat.
“It made me more ner-
vous,” Ella Garro said. “We
won last year so we’ve got to
do just as good.”
Madi Zuro, who is also in
Something Blue, was a fi rst al-
ternate in soprano voice. The
rest of the a cappella group
includes Sydnie Gould, Ca-
rina Hodson, Veronica Reyes,
Grace Condello, Camryn
Runnow, Ingrid Dunn, Re-
gann Donahue, Kennadi
Thomas, Mary Dolenc and
Jaden Brunhaver.
They performed Mozart’s
Ave Verum Corpus and This
Little Babe by Benjamin Brit-
ten.
“She (the judge) said that
she really liked our blend,
which is what a lot of people
say,” Garro said. “That’s our
strength. She also loved our
sopranos.”
Dangertones, which didn’t
even compete at districts last
year, were surprised to win
male vocal ensemble.
The group, which includes
McNary students Casey Pot-
mesil, Briley Hill, Ashton
Thomas, Logan Boga, Aus-
tin Deng, Kyle Weltz, Erik
Halvorson, Drew Faatz, Mat-
thew Albright, Jacob Fritts
and Dominique Williams per-
formed Ave Maria and Ring of
Fire by Johnny Cash for the
judge.
“You’re supposed to have
two pieces and we had Ave
Maria but we could not fi nd
another one and we were al-
ready working on that (Ring
of Fire),” said Potmesil, who
was also fi rst alternate in bass
voice.
“Traditionally, you wouldn’t
do anything like that for solo
ensemble but he (McNary
choir director Joshua Rist) felt
it meshed all our voices good
enough. We’d only ever done
pop literature. We hadn’t done
classical stuff that you do for a
contest like this. We didn’t ex-
pect to make it to state.”
Hill said it was Rist who
encouraged the boys to com-
pete at districts to begin with.
“This is our fi rst year
branching out,” Hill said. “It
was Mr. Rist pushing us to
do more. This year I feel like
our potential shot through the
roof, probably because of his
support and us striving to do
more.”
The OMEA state competi-
tion will take place April 28-
29 at Pacifi c University.
“I guess we’re just going to
see what happens,” Potmesil
said. “We don’t really have any
specifi c goals and we’re not
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary’s boys and girls a cappella groups, Dangertones and Something Blue, will both perform during the high school’s upcom-
ing choir concert on Monday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in the Ken Collins Theater.
going to be sad if anything
happens. We’re just going for
the experience, I guess.”
Dangertones and Some-
thing Blue are just two of nine
teams that will perform in the
Rose City Sing-Off on April
8 at Imago Dei Community in
Portland, and the only school
with multiple groups.
McNary’s a cappella groups
will each perform three songs
during the spring concert. The
boys are doing My Girl, Ring
of Fire and Right Round while
the girls will perform This Lit-
tle Babe, Bubbly and Ain’t No
Mountain High Enough.
McNary’s concert choir,
Elektra, Celtic Men’s Chorus
and the Classics will also per-
form a wide range of songs.
“In the program for the
concert we’re just looking
for an interesting arc of styles
and feels and moods so we’re
touching a little bit of every-
thing,” Rist said.
School board hears from facilities task force
By HERB SWETT
Of the Keizertimes
Salem-Keizer School Dis-
trict buildings in their pres-
ent form will be short of
space for 741 students in
2020, 1,307 students in 2025,
and 1,861 students in 2035,
School Board members heard
Tuesday.
Those are the projections
at which a citizens’ facilities
task force arrived for a pre-
sentation to Tuesday’s board
meeting. Michael Wolfe, dis-
trict chief operating offi cer,
opened the presentation, in
which two other task force
members, Mark Shipman and
Lisa Harnish, participated.
The report, which board
members are studying for fur-
ther consideration at a special
meeting Tuesday, March 21,
was discussed in detail for the
McNary High School atten-
dance area in several stories
in the March 10 Keizertimes.
Next week’s board meet-
ing will be at the usual time
and place, 6 p.m. at the Sup-
port Services Center, 2575
Commercial St. SE, in Salem.
Initial cost estimates for
meeting future capacity and
core infrastructure needs to-
tal $443 million: $128 million
for elementary schools, $49
million for middle schools,
and $266 million for high
schools.
For elementary schools,
the task force has found that
22 sites need capital con-
struction additions and im-
provements for capacity and
core infrastructure.
The infrastructure issues
involve cafeterias, gymnasi-
ums, common areas, libraries,
and end-of-life (EOL) por-
table classrooms.
Eight middle school sites
were found to need capital
construction additions and
core infrastructure improve-
ments. Replacement of EOL
portables at three schools is
recommended.
For high schools, the task
force recommends increasing
the capacity of each compre-
hensive high school to 2,200
students except for 2,000
students at West Salem High
School. This was found pref-
erable to building a seventh
comprehensive high school.
Other initially projected
costs are:
• $123 million for building
maintenance needs, accessi-
bility in accordance with the
Americans with Disabilities
Act, and possibly consolidat-
ing administration functions
on one campus.
• $12 million for moving
the district’s data center out
of a fl ood plain and expand-
ing wireless networks.
• $37 million for safety and
security.
• $56 million to $151 mil-
lion for upgrading school
buildings to meet seismic
standards.
The task force recom-
mends a general obligation
bond as the best possible
funding source.
In other business, the
board approved eight grants,
seven from the Oregon De-
partment of Education. The
remaining grant, $82,236
from Nike, is for AVID (Ad-
vancement Via Individual
Determination) expansion
in McNary and other high
schools.
The board approved con-
tracts for many teachers and
administrators in the Mc-
Nary and other attendance
areas.
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