Cookeville High School set to receive a new digital marquee following a donation.
Cookeville High School Financial Bookkeeper Julie Cook Sparks said the sign will improve communication. Sparks said the new marquee will be approximately 9×10 in size
“It was something that the administration had been wanting for a while so that we can not only put information out there as parents come in to drop off and pick up, but also that we can spotlight students and staff and just do a better communication in case there was an emergency or anything like that,” Sparks said. “So it’s just going to be a huge asset to our school.”
The sign will be located in a center section behind a raised bed at the school entrance. First National Bank agreed to provide the sign to improve communication with the community.
Sparks said the current signage at the front of the building is a static sign.
“It is not able to change anything,” Sparks said. “It just simply says ‘Cookeville High School.’ So there was no ability to put up even the letters like some of the other schools had a marquee with, so we did not have any ability to present any type of information, announcements, anything like that at Cookeville High School’s front entrance currently.”
Sparks said the school plans to use the digital display for rotating announcements.
“We plan to have rotating announcements that will not only tell information about the school, the school day, also spotlight students, employees, and any important information coming up as far as schedule changes, what schedules we’re on, that type of data will be on there rotating every few seconds,” Sparks said.
Sparks said the Putnam County School Board approved $13,500 for electrical work that must be completed before the sign is installed. Sparks said Smith Electric will tap into a power pole at the edge of the property and run electricity through the ground to the center section where the marquee will stand.
“It is an expense because we have been the ones who have chosen it to be installed at our school, so therefore we can either get a donation for it or we can incur the cost ourselves,” Sparks said. “It is not a requirement from the school district to necessarily install that for us.”
Sparks said the sign should be up in the next two weeks.