The Pekin Community School District has completed a full playground replacement and is putting the finishing touches on a gymnasium renovation ahead of the upcoming school year, according to Pekin Superintendent Dave Harper.
The district has completed a full playground replacement, driven by both safety concerns and the expansion of its preschool program. “Our playground was outdated and needed to be replaced,” Harper said. “We now have more ADA playground equipment and the new safe surface is going to be great. We wanted to ensure our students had a safe area and equipment that was readily available to them.” Harper also noted that the upgrades were necessary to accommodate the district’s growing preschool program, which recently moved its classrooms into the building and has expanded to offer two full sections running Monday through Thursday. “We also needed to upgrade the equipment to meet our preschool students since we moved our preschool classrooms into the building,” he said. The playground project cost approximately $400,000.
Pekin basketball and volleyball teams will also open the 2026-27 season on a brand new court. The original gymnasium floor dated back to the 1960s and had reached the end of its useful life. “The gym floor was the original floor installed in the 1960s and needed to be replaced,” Harper said. “We also took this opportunity to refresh the gym with new bleachers and mats. We were able to increase our leg room for our spectators by reconfiguring our bleachers. We wanted to make this more comfortable for our fans to enjoy our various events.” New bleachers were also installed in the middle school gym as part of the project. Harper said the project will be fully completed this month. The gym project cost approximately $170,000.
Harper credited the district’s board for its commitment to keeping facilities up to date. “The Board of Directors is committed to ensuring we have up to date facilities for our students,” he said.
