Backing needed for high school benches

Angelique Flores

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- They’ve seen gradations, assemblies and lunchtime

fun. But now, at 30 years old, the Edison High School Bowl benches are

cracked, broken and splintered. They are falling apart.

“They’re just getting worse and worse,”’ said Jill Johnson, a

community resource coordinator. She added that the seats have been a

problem for six years.

Broken benches are being replaced with wood planks. The dilapidated

seats are not just unattractive, but also unsafe, she said.

“If you sit on them or stand on them, they may break, and you just

don’t know when that could happen,” said Wynndi Dahlin, a community

member who has joined the effort to replace the benches. “A visitor or

student could get hurt at any time.”

In 1996, the Coastal Committee on Community Service, a student group

at Edison, decided to do something about it. They raised about $2,500 to

have the benches replaced or refurbished.

The money, not sufficient to complete the project, went into the

school’s beautification funds. Estimates to replace the benches range

between $40,000 and 50,000, said Ed Manko, another community member

involved in the project.

Though enthusiasm to get the project going isn’t lacking, funding is.

Project planners are looking into grants and corporate sponsorships as

funding sources. They’re also looking into more community involvement,

including fund-raisers.

However, the project is still in the planning stages, and the school

still needs to decide what kind of benches to purchase. Choices include

aluminum, cedar and plastic.

“It would be nice to have it done in time for graduation this year,”

Johnson said.

The group will meet at 10:30 a.m today at Edison High’s administration

building. The meeting is open to the public. Call the school at (714)

962-1356 for information on the time and date of the next meeting.