By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Lights. Camera. Action. Now the lights are even better inside the Hoisington High School Auditorium. USD 431 Superintendent Patrick Crowdis updated the board of education on the improvements, which were completed Monday, during the meeting later that evening.
"We upgraded all of the lightning to LED lightning, upgraded a lot of the systems, and control systems to that," he said. "Just one particular bar would have a draw of about 60 amps on the old system. It knocks it all the way down to about three amps on the new system."
HHS Principal Joel Mason had the opportunity to play with some of the new technology earlier in the day and seconded Crowdis' thoughts.
"These bulbs have an average life of like 50,000 hours, whereas before we were replacing them every other year," he said. "Like Mr. Crowdis said, you get an app on an iPad or a phone and you can control all this down on the floor."
Crowdis said the improvements will reduce heat produced by the old bulbs, which is important in theater, and the upgrades are the first to the hardware since 2001. The district will next seek quotes for potential upgrades to the sound system.