Bangor considers renaming high school theater now named after former band director, teacher
The Bangor Area School Board is considering renaming the high school performing arts theater, which is named after a former longtime band director.
The district placed M. Craig Paine’s name on the building in 2009 to honor his then-28 years of service as the high school’s band director and music teacher, crediting him with transforming the band “from a hodgepodge of students into hundreds of some of the most acclaimed high school musicians,” a Morning Call story explained.
“That legacy has been acknowledged for many years,” School Board President Michael Goffredo wrote in a Facebook comment on a public Slate Belt group, after speculation over the reason for renaming the theater took a course of its own on the social media platform.
The intent behind renaming the building is to acknowledge accomplishments of the present era, he explained.
“Without forgetting any recognition of past accomplishments, it is appropriate to put past accolades aside and recognize the status of our current programs and those that make those efforts successful,” he wrote, including the band, chorus and theater programs. “Our current and future students and performers deserve to have a venue that supports THEIR accomplishments.”
He also revealed the potential new name: the “Bangor Slater Center for the Performing Arts.”
Paine, a 1972 Slatington High School graduate, served brief stints as a band director in Deposit, New York, and Parkland High School before joining Bangor in 1982. He’s been retired for about a decade.
A post in the Slate Belt Facebook group about the agenda item drew several residents to the school board meeting Tuesday night, and several spoke publicly, according to commenters. But the board tabled the motion without comment.
In his comments, Goffredo stamped down the notion that there was any wrongdoing by Paine during his tenure that would have had anything to do with the renaming initiative.
“Let me be clear; There are no allegations of misconduct — in any form — that prompts the topic of the day,” he wrote. “That hyperbole only comes from mere supposition by some of our commentators here.”
He added that the board will scrutinize the matter further before it considers it again at a future meeting.
Superintendent William Haws did not respond to requests for comment. Paine could not be reached for comment.