Lottery funds to pay for $37K in audio upgrades at PCHS

Perquimans County Schools plans to use nearly $37,000 in N.C. Education Lottery funds to pay for audio improvements to the auditorium and gym at Perquimans County High School.

Superintendent Tanya Turner and Assistant Superintendent James Bunch appeared before the Perquimans Board of Commissioners on March 4 requesting the board’s approval to use the $36,848.16 from the county’s Public School Building Repair and Renovation Fund to pay for the improvements.

According to Bunch, the cost to improve audio in the high school auditorium will be $28,825.73 while improving audio in the gym will cost $8,022.43. North Carolina Sound, the Pikeville-based company that installed the sound system at the high school’s football field, will complete the work.

“For the theater students, the auditorium is their classroom,” Bunch said. “That’s where they practice and that’s where people come to see our school plays.”

“PE (physical education) classes are held in the gymnasium and we want to make sure PE teachers can be heard when they are instructing students to do things,” he continued. “Other events are also held in there so we need these renovations.”

Theater students at the high school were scheduled to present performances of “The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy” Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Bunch said school officials were informed that it would take 60 days for materials to become available for the audio system work.

This is just the latest time Perquimans County Schools has used lottery funds to pay for facility improvements.

In 2017, the district used $61,300 in lottery funds to upgrade the lighting and audio equipment in the auditorium at the high school. In 2018, the district used $274,771 to purchase and install new bleachers at the school’s athletic complex. And in 2019, the district used $105,000 to cover the cost of improvements to the school’s heating ventilating and air conditioning and direct digital control systems.

According to the NC Education Lottery webpage, $50 million was used to cover schools’ renovation and repair costs. The cost of those repairs and renovations otherwise would have to be covered by school boards and the board of commissioners in their county.