Platte County School District #1 Weighs $150,000 Gym Video-and-Audio Upgrade, Board Voices Concerns About Priorities
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Summary
Administrators proposed a Daktronics video board plus audio upgrades for WHS (two line items ~ $111,000 and $35,000; combined ~ $150,000). Supporters cited student media and emergency-broadcast benefits; skeptics said other buildings lack full climate control and questioned spending priorities.
Speaker 1 (Unidentified Speaker) introduced a proposal to install a video display and audio upgrades at WHS. Speaker 2 said the bid was a BOCES contract and that the district had authorized going to bid last November but delayed procurement pending other priorities.
Speaker 6 (Unidentified Speaker) described benefits for students and the community, including STEM and digital-production opportunities, and said Daktronics would work with students. He cited local advertising revenue examples: "They're charging $500 a year per business, and they have 40 businesses. So they're pulling in $20,000."
Staff and vendors explained pricing and technical details. The packet showed two price lines (about $111,000 and $35,000) that together total roughly $150,000; Speaker 5 said if the district opted to do audio-only, the audio line would rise to about $46,000'$47,000 because the vendor still must send engineers and balance the system. "They're going to send sound engineers down to balance the audio system," Speaker 5 said. Speaker 5 also said there are no ongoing licensing fees and that the board and overlay software would be included.
Board members asked technical questions about mixers, channels and control interfaces; staff said the system would be expandable and that controls would sit on an upper mezzanine. Speakers discussed durability and safety; staff reported the screen is LED-matrix rated to withstand typical sports impacts, and the vendor said the system is inclusive of overlay software for scoreboard integration.
Concerns about timing and priorities surfaced. Speaker 4 said the project creates "sticker shock" and voiced opposition to spending on high-school athletics systems while other district buildings lack complete climate control and safety upgrades. "I would rather see all the buildings in the district have consistent climate control ... before we do something like this," Speaker 4 said. Speaker 9 responded that HVAC work is on a five-year plan and that funds are planned for those projects, while noting that planning and engineering timeframes limit how quickly HVAC projects can be completed.
Next steps: the board discussed funding from major-maintenance allocations and gathered technical clarifications; no final procurement decision appears in this transcript.
