SIBLEY—Sibley-Ocheyedan School District is looking for a win with its next project.
During its main meeting Monday, Nov. 20, the school board heard a new project request from the Sibley-Ocheyedan Athletic Booster Club.
Travis Ten Napel presented a summary of the football scoreboard project completed earlier in the year before moving to information about another scoreboard addition, this time for the baseball field.
“I come with good news, not the other way around, which is always a little easier on our part,” Ten Napel said.
The total project price for the football scoreboard from Daktronics of Brookings, SD, came to $275,000 plus installation. The club will repay the district for the scoreboard cost.
For the football scoreboard, the club asked for $50,000 for the installation to be on the safe side, Ten Napel said. The estimate had $38,500 and it came in under budget at $30,265.
“It really couldn’t have been possible without all the volunteers that make up the athletic booster club board, but also Raveling Inc. and Mega Inc. for donating their equipment use,” he said.
Much of the revenue generated through various sponsorship levels.
“All positive for the booster club, all positives for the school board, so that makes it really easy on our part there as well,” Ten Napel said.
The experience through the first season with the board will improve the usage options going forward.
“There’s a lot more that we can do with game time stuff outside of the advertising and we’re hoping to grow on that next year and years to come,” Ten Napel said. “We just wanted to make sure we fulfilled the advertising agreements, so we kept it fairly basic this year.”
Ten Napel added the club considers all athletics while planning its projects.
“The video board was so well received out at the football field, we actually had two sponsor spots that were wanted, but we were essentially done selling them,” he said.
Having interested sponsors, along with the condition of the baseball scoreboard, spurred the decision to purchase a new scoreboard for that field as well. The scoreboard will include room for recording nine innings of scoring and the at-bat pinch count to meet district requirements.
Two sponsorships, already sold, will be featured on the 10-by-20-foot board.
“What we’re asking for in this project is the $20,000 of the installation cost that we didn’t use on the football field project to be rolled into this project,” Ten Napel said. “The booster club’s going to purchase the entire components from Daktronics.”
The total cost of the scoreboard and everything to run it from Daktronics is $21,500.
The board approved a motion to provide up to $20,000 for the installation costs for the baseball scoreboard.
Superintendent Stan De Zeeuw added this already was a potential project for the district.
“If the control panel goes out, we’re done, because it’s old enough there’s not a replacement for it anymore,” De Zeeuw said.
Ten Napel anticipates an easier installation process in the same location with the smaller board.
The meeting was just one of three the school board had in two days.
Monday, Nov. 20, also included its annual organizational meetings in succession.
The next day required a special meeting to approve a student expulsion. Under the conditions of reinstatement, the unnamed student will complete online classes, cannot be on school property, have no trouble with law enforcement and follow the recommendations of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
Read More: Sibley-Ocheyedan’s diamond to get new scoreboard | Gazette-tribune