Our community watched in dismay as leaders of Santa Fe Indian School oversaw the demolition of the older part of its campus along Cerrillos Road.

Adobe buildings, including some in Pueblo Revival style and containing a number of beloved murals, were knocked down and cleared away. So were scores of shade trees.

The site now has the look of land ripe for redevelopment — which is what the All Indian Pueblo Council has in mind. Will that include a casino? Not under current federal law — but how hard would that be to amend? Whatever the school's governing body has in mind will be revealed, in time, to its neighbors and the rest of the community by a public-relations outfit hired this week.

Clearly, it's the pueblo council's call; such preservationist groups as the Old Santa Fe Association and the Historic Santa Fe Foundation have no official say in the matter. Neither does the City Council, despite some members' queries about municipal water flowing to the school — and responses to the effect that city sewer lines cross the property, so tread lightly. As for the federal government, well, our senators seem to have other fish to fry.

What's done's done, when it comes to the Cerrillos Road frontage — but what's about to be done is, to many minds, worse: The Paolo Soleri Amphitheater, farther onto campus, is to be knocked down next month.

The flowingly sculpted outdoor stage, a model of the "green development" Soleri has fostered in various parts of the West, was built with the labor of students from the Institute for American Indian Arts back in the 1960s. It was to serve as a stage for Native American works, as well as for graduation ceremonies — but soon it also became a popular rock-concert venue, and all that implies for concertgoer behavior.

Time, weather and the Americans for Disabilities Act and other politics caught up with the 2,900-seat site: Citing renovation and upkeep costs, among other factors, the pueblo council recently confirmed rumors of the amphitheater's impending demolition.

Soleri himself, now 90, says his Cosanti Foundation will do its best to save the structure. And a growing number of Indian School alumni, still reeling from the loss of the old campus, are organizing pleas to preserve what could — and should — have been a designated historic landmark. It isn't though; there was some talk about nominating it and other campus buildings to the National Register of Historic Places in the 1990s — but it went nowhere.

Cheaper — and vastly more effective — than hiring a public-relations agency would be pueblo-council willingness to at least meet with Soleri or his representatives, and perhaps some Santa Fe preservationists. Surely those outsiders know some "angels" who could raise the half-million dollars it might take to bring the place up to snuff.

Even if it were to cease serving as a rocker venue, which is among the better excuses being offered for its demise, the amphitheater could be host to many more Native American performances — as well as a cultural anchor to the campus.

We salute the 19-pueblo council's dedication to educational sovereignty, but we urge its members to consider the Paolo Soleri Amphitheater's potential for helping Santa Fe Indian School head in its new direction.