Carrying a sign that read "Stop construction. Save the spotted worm," Mike Bachman wasn't able to persuade anyone to halt plans to demolish the school's performing arts center to save his wiggly friends.

"They are very small and hard to see. There are only 12 of them. They are very rare," Bachman said with a wry smile.

Bachman, who calls himself the "supporting cast" of his family, joined his wife, Cathy--a member of the parent theatrical group, Glue Factory--and dozens of other parents and students of Pioneer High School as they celebrated the bittersweet moment that will begin on Feb. 21 when the old Performing Arts Center, scorched by a December 2003 fire, will be demolished to make way for a bigger and better facility.

The Wrecking Ball--held as a farewell party and fundraiser for the school's performing arts program on Feb. 12 outside the center--was replete with yellow plastic hard hats, a lunch truck overflowing with donated desserts, Dini's Diner, and a large black ball poised above the heads of party-goers waiting to begin destruction.

Steve Dini, the school's drama director, hosted the evening, bringing together members of the Glue Factory with students as they sang songs from past productions, accompanied on keyboards by Jeremy Harris, the school's vocal director.

Event organizers Leslie Hanlon and Lori Biviano spent the better part of the day decorating with construction cones, caution signs, and displaying the dozens of donated items for the silent auction.