George Rogers Clark High School will be getting a new band tower soon following action by the Clark County Public Schools Board of Education last week.

 The district sent out a request for proposals and opened bids for a new tower April 12. According to Administrative Director of Operations Donald Stump, CCPS received two bids on the project, voting to accept the proposal from Educational Steel to construct a tower for $42,950.

The competing bid, from Porta-King, came to $78,000.

The bid from Educational Steel does not include a concrete base for the tower, and Stump said that CCPS facilities staff will have to build one before the tower can be installed.

Since the new high school was built, the marching band has been without a permanent tower.

“As you can imagine, if you are not 30 to 40 feet up in the air, it is very difficult to coach the kids on their formations,” Director Michael Payne said. “So for the past 4 years, we’ve been doing our best to have something in place to where I could get the appropriate vantage point. At first, I was standing on top of my Rav4. After a few days of that, we were able to rent a painters scaffold, which was around 12-16 feet. The scaffold is nice — but a strong gust of wind can take it out.”

Payne said he tried several ways to direct the band before acquiring an old scissor lift. However, the lift was old and would often break down.

He said that the band members are excited about the new tower, which will move their program in the right direction.

“My wife is excited that I will be a little safer at rehearsal,” he said. “So am I.”