By Madison Ford

Entertainment Editor

Friday night lights are about to get a little more spectacular at Coppell High School football games. But at what price?

The new scoreboard is one of the many projects carried out with bond money the district received from local taxpayers. While this scoreboard, as well as many other district  mandated changes, were intended to improve the facilities of various Coppell schools, some are questioning whether this money was put to the best use.

In 2009, CISD held a bond election that approved $50 million in bond money. This bond money was then allocated to different projects within the district.

“[The bond is] paying for renovations throughout the district,” CISD Assistant Superintendent for Business and Support Services Sid Grant said. “Like new air conditioning systems, carpets, roofs, things that need to be done to our buildings just because they are getting older.”

The 2009 bond has also helped pay for technoloy, such as computers and the wireles networks within the district.

“Now you can go just about anywhere in the district and have wireless connectivity,” Grant said.

Among the more financially taxing use of bond money was the new articial surface of Coppell Middle School West’s Leslie Field, and the new scoreboard for CHS’ Buddy Echols Field. Costing an even $600,000, the new scoreboard is well equipped to show instant replay in HD clarity and create a new friday night football experience for Coppell residents. It was also the most expensive of all the bond projects.

Some CHS students were shocked at the pricetag of the new scoreboard.

“It is totally not necessay to have a new scoreboard when we had one in the first place that worked perfectly fine,” senior Sam Fillingim said.

According to Grant however, the previous scoreboard, despite its appearance, was approaching a state of disrepair.

“It was just about to fall apart; it wasn’t working. We were afraid every time we turned it on, ‘Is it going to work, is it going to come on, is the sound going to work, were the lights going to come on?” Grant said. “It was old and time to be replaced. We were just patching it together everytime we used it, in hopes that it would make it through a game.”

While the state of the scoreboard did call for a replacement, the high price spent on another sports related facility was puzzling to some.

“I think the scoreboard money should be put to better use, like hiring more teachers rather than creating a good football stadium,”senior Stephen Arifin said.

The process of deciding how the bond money was spent was very methodical, and Grant stressed the involvement of the community when deciding on bond projects.

“We started in 2008,” Grant said. “We put together a commitee of about 30 diffferent community members, parents and tax payers from around the school district, and they actually went around to every school, talked to the principals, talked to some of the teachers, and then came up with a list. So Coppell ISD community members came up with a list of things they would like to see done in the schools.”

Grant and his committee assisted in the decision process by informing the community of the schools that were in need of certain necessities, such as new air conditioning systems. In this way, the district attempted to ensure that the bond money was used in the most beneficial way.

The commitee also considered how they could benefit  financially from the bond projects. The installment of the scoreboard, for example, was an attempt to bring in additional revenue.

“The money we are spending we are going to recoup by selling advertising,” Grant said. “We are trying to get about $150,00 per year, thats what we’re targeting. This first year, at least $100,00, but somewhere between $100,00 and $150,000 per year.”

The scoreboard will be controlled from a room inside the press box. KCBY students will be responsible for filming the game, broadcasting instant replays, and controlling the scoreboard. In this way, the bond provided an opportunity for KCBY students to further their understanding of broadcast journalism.

Many are enthusiastic about the new scoreboard due to its allure and potential to bring an elevated atmosphere to game nights.

“I am so excited for the new [scoreboard] because its going to pump up the crowd an bring entusiasm to the students,” Senior Alexis Meyer said.

The most publicized projects of this most recent bond, many of which were completed this summer, seem to focus on the sports departments of Coppell ISD. However, this bond, as well as previous bonds, have contributed many renovations to the district that are unrelated to sports. Among these are new bleachers and playground equipment at elementary school, smart boards, and from a bond voted on in 2006, New Tech High School.

“We took the old elementary school and during a summer rennovated it into a high school,” Grant said. “That was a challenging project, to completely rennovate an elementary school to a high school in 10 weeks. That was the most exciting.”

With each bond the district receives, many hours are devoted to how the funds should be divided. Since these funds come from bonds that citizizens vote for, they directly involve tax payers. Due to this, tax payers provide input into how they should be spent. If a large portion of funds are set aside for a certain department over another, this may be because those questioned expressed interest in spending the bonds this way, Grant explains.

The district can look forward to more improvements in the future, as the the rest of the bond money is spent on projects throughout the district. Meanwhile residents of Coppell can sit back and enjoy the benefits of yet another series of bond projects.