Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Motorists driving by Presque Isle High School as of late have likely noticed a new digital marquee that’s being used to promote school events.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
A NEW DIGITAL MARQUEE that is being used to promote school events has been mounted to the front of Presque Isle High School. Plans call for the manual marquee, located at the school’s park, to be taken down and installed at the SAD 1 School Farm. The new marquee cost about $10,000, and was paid for with technology stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 at no cost to the district or the local taxpayers.
According to principal Eric Waddell, the new marquee was mounted on the front of the building Thanksgiving week.
“For 10 years, I’ve been generating messages – and Frank Keenan before me – five lines, 36 spaces per line and giving them to the custodians who pull the letters and put them up,” said Waddell. “It’s time-consuming, labor intensive, and with the location of the old sign and the fact that it’s elevated, it was not easy to change it.
“The custodians created somewhat of a cage that they would put on the end of a tractor and lift themselves up to change the sign,” he said. “It was much safer than trying to put a ladder up and doing it that way because in the winter you have unlevel ground, and in the spring the ground is wet and soft. This new marquee will be much easier for everyone’s sake.”
Plans call for the manual marquee, located at the school’s park, to be taken down and installed at the SAD 1 School Farm where staff will be able to use it to promote the fruits and vegetables they have for sale.
Waddell uses his office computer to update the marquee.
“Essentially you create a show,” he said. “The show can be anything you want it to be, and can even include pictures. You can have as many lines as you want, it just depends on how big your font is.”
The new marquee, which is similar to the one located in front of the County Federal Credit Union on Main Street, cost about $10,000.
It was paid for with technology stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 at no cost to the district or the local taxpayers.
