Several Islanders have been hankering for a new community theater for years now. And it’s understandable. Not only is the Island home to many talented actors; it also has a theater many of those actors say is inadequate. The Vashon High School theater — the closest the Island comes to a community stage — has no bathrooms, no dressing rooms and no sound and light booth, to name just a few of its limitations.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the school district’s responsibility to provide the Island with a state-of-the-art facility. It’s true that some districts — Shoreline, for instance — have fantastic theaters that serve a range of community needs. But ours is a much smaller school district. What’s more, Islanders are already reeling from escalating property values that will no doubt lead to much higher property taxes next year.

It’s not right to pass off the community’s desire for a new theater on a school district that is struggling financially and that has inadequate space for its primary mission — educating kids. And it especially doesn’t seem right when a stone’s throw away from the high school is the K2 Building, 180,000 square feet ripe for civic-minded redevelopment.

Islanders may not be able to get everything we want out of the K2 Commons, as Richard Sontgerath is calling the space he hopes to redevelop. We may not be able to get a state-of-the-art theater. We are, after all, a semi-rural community of fewer than 12,000 souls. But if we are to push for a community theater, let’s do that pushing where it belongs — among the philanthropists, community leaders and thespians who yearn for such a structure. Our school district needs to stay focused on other matters.