Hillsboro school board approves new digital sign

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Jim Smith

The Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education selected the low bidder to install a new digital sign near the high school/middle school entrance during a rescheduled special meeting, superintendent Jim Smith said Tuesday.

Smith said Francis Wayne from Springfield was awarded the sign contract with a bid of $56,491.

A meeting to discuss the digital sign bids was originally scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 27. Smith said that meeting was canceled and rescheduled for June 1 in the board offices on the former high school campus because there were “some people who couldn’t make it,” to the May 27 meeting.

The new digital sign will be 9.5 feet long and 5 feet tall, Smith said, and will be placed atop a larger brick sign already located at the entrance to the schools. The superintendent said some additional footers and reinforcements will be placed near the current sign before the digital sign is placed on top of it.

Smith said he dropped the required paperwork to erect the sign off to the city of Hillsboro on Tuesday afternoon and that the hope is to have the sign operating by the start of the new school year on Aug. 10.

The sign will be used primarily to remind the public of upcoming school events like when grade cards are being sent home, open houses, parent-teacher conferences and athletic activities. But Smith said, “we did tell the city we’d be happy to promote non-school events.”

When the sign was discussed at school board meetings earlier this year, Smith estimated the cost was $45,000 to $50,000. It was also noted that the Hillsboro PTO contributed $8,000 to the project.

Smith said someone will likely be appointed to oversee the sign’s content on a daily basis.

“We want to make sure what’s on the sign is fresh, so we really want to keep on top of it,” Smith said.

Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or on Twitter @13gillilandj.

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