BY CHRISTINE HEISER

Though the price tag attached to  proposed renovations to Salem High School has astonished some residents, others are working together to get the word out that the fixes are necessary.

The newly formed Salem High School Renovation Committee is applying for nonprofit status, and Salem residents taking part want others to join them to help inform the public.

“We want people to see not just screaming headlines saying ‘$40 million’ but what would be done to improve the school,” said Tim Bosch, who has just signed up for the new committee.

“Our main goal is to make sure that everyone in Salem understands the needs of the high school, the deficiencies of it, and that the recommendations that the Facilities Committee made are the most cost-effective way to handle it,” he said.

The school district’s Facilities Committee has proposed a $40 million fix for the high school, including a 75,000-square-foot  free-standing athletics facility, along with moving the main entrance of the school and making improvements to the library, science rooms and other classrooms.

The advocacy group will meet for the first time in August, said Bosch, and will plan a strategy to convince voters to pay for the needed renovations.

The committee may produce a Web site and a video presentation on Salem Community Televsion, and, as the election approaches, make presentations to small groups of residents, as well as to PTA and civic groups in town.

Addressing the athletic center Bosch said one of the most important things the group wants to get across to voters is that the proposed athletic facility, which some detractors have said is the district’s focus, is really a by-product of other school needs.

School Superintendent Michael Delahanty said the first aspect the district and the Facilities Needs Committee worked on was making the building safe, both to protect students and provide a sense of security for parents sending their children there.

A new entrance at the front of the school on Geremonty Drive is planned.

That, in turn, made changes to the rest of the building necessary, he said. The renovations would create more and better spaces for the science, music, art and special education programs, some of which operate in substandard areas.

“The evolution of our thinking resulted in a free-standing athletic center,” he said.

The center, along with the other improvements, would add to security and save wear and tear on the building, he said.

Currently, the track team is using the halls to run in, and youth sports groups using the building have to travel through the current entrance all the way through the building to the gyms.

Bosch, whose children have all graduated from Salem High, said he signed up for the new group because  he’s a concerned citizen who believes the renovations are important to the town.

“Anyone who’s had kids in the school can see that the school has  served us well, but it needs work.”

Contact information for the group will be forthcoming in the next several weeks.