School board OKs new scoreboard, fitness court for KHS | Kewanee Voice

Two new additions to Kewanee High School — a digital scoreboard for Brockman Gymnasium and a fitness court — were approved Monday by the Kewanee School Board.

Both of the new items are expensive. The scoreboard will cost more than $98,000, and the fitness court’s cost is around $160,000.

But Supt. Rebecca Baney said the additions will offer new educational and recreational opportunities for students.

The digital scoreboard will have video capabilities, and open up possibilities for advertising, replays of the action and so on.

Tim Atwell, the district’s athletic director, told the board at the September meeting that a number of other northern Illinois schools have the digital boards, and they greatly enhance the game experience for the fans.

The new board, which will replace a Brockman Gym scoreboard that’s about 25 years old, also will offer students a chance to learn, Baney said. The board will have to be programmed, and that’s something students could learn to do.

The 36-by 36-foot outdoor fitness court will support the seven core movements that are needed to remain fit, Baney said.

The high cost of the court will be partially offset by a $50,000 grant the school district will receive. That was the biggest grant any school district in Illinois got, Baney said.

One of the bigger costs for the court is $25,000 for artwork for a wall. School board president Jeff Johnson, who is also the director of the Kewanee Schools Foundation, said the foundation could conduct a fundraiser that would pay at least some of that cost.