West Seneca officials outline $8.5 million plan to replace auditorium rigging, lighting and sound; board to consider May vote

West Seneca Central School District officials told the school board on Feb. 11 that all four secondary-school auditoriums need replacement rigging, lighting and sound systems and presented an $8.5 million budget estimate to do the work.

The board heard from district staff and Young & Wright consultants that rigging systems in the two middle-school and two high-school auditoriums are original to the buildings and failing, stage and house lighting is obsolete (replacement bulbs are scarce and costly) and audio systems are more than 20 years old and increasingly unreliable.

The problem is both practical and financial, the district said. “There are dead zones on our stage where there is simply not lighting,” a district staff member said, describing student performers who were left in shadow during recent productions. The district currently spends about $10,000 a year renting supplemental lighting to cover…