INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The auditorium in the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center will have a new name, the Indian River County School Board decided Tuesday evening.
With a vote of 4-1, the Board approved naming the auditorium for James M. Sammons, who was and remains a critical element of the high school’s music and band programs.
Several people spoke before the School Board, urging the Board to approve the auditorium’s naming for Sammons, including one father who was a member of the marching band during his high school years and whose son now a member.
That son, Jason, has cerebral palsy and wanted very much to be a part of the band his father had played with. When his dad approached Sammons and voiced concern about Jason not being able to physically march, Sammons told the dad not to worry, they would figure it out.
Jason found a place on the band, playing the bass drum, the cymbals, the chimes and other instruments on the field with his fellow band mates.
The naming of the auditorium “should be approved without hesitation,” the father told the Board.
The majority of Board members agreed, voting in favor of the Name Selection Committee’s recommendation.
School Board member Charles Searcy was the lone nay vote. He did not speak to his nay vote at the time of the Board’s discussion. However, during a prior Board discussion session, he raised the matter and said he would not support naming the auditorium for Sammons if Sammons’ late wife, Sheila, who was the band’s co-director, was not also included in the honor.
School Board member Shawn Frost moved to approve the recommendation but added that he would like to see another piece of the PAC, perhaps the vestibule, be named for Sheila Sammons.
School Board Chair Matt McCain told his fellow Board members that when the matter of naming the auditorium for James Sammons came before the School Board a few years ago, he was on the losing end of supporting the recommendation.
“I’m glad to support this,” McCain said.
