The upcoming renovations of the high school, elementary buildings and football field are not the only projects leaders with Dowagiac Union Schools have in the hopper.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Paul Hartsig announced that the district is working on plans to install new fencing around Chris Taylor Alumni Field. The centerpiece of the project will be the construction of a digital sign at the corner of the field at the intersection of Spruce and Paul streets near the entrance of the city.

Unlike with the district’s other impending construction projects, which will be paid for via dollars from the pair of bonds passed by voters in 2015, the new sign and fencing will be funded entirely through private donations, Hartsig said.

So far, two area donors — First Source Bank and Wolverine Mutual Insurance Company — have contributed to the effort, splitting the cost of the estimated $22,500 price tag for the sign.

“We are happy to have two community partners as generous as them,” Hartsig said. “We are fortunate to be in a community that supports us the way it does.”

District leaders have discussed the possibility of installing a digital sign at the intersection for more than year, Hartsig said. The space where the sign is slated to be installed is currently used by the district and others in the community as a space for banners and signs to promote upcoming events, the superintendent said.

“With all the requests we get for signage, we thought that would be the ideal spot for something like this,” Hartsig said.

The new sign will serve a similar function, promoting both school and community events, as well as making an aesthetically appealing decoration for people entering the city, Hartsig said.

The district also hopes to enhance the fencing around the football field, to bring it more visually in line with the stone and black iron gate at the front entrance of the stadium, Hartsig said.

In order to fund these improvements, members of the Dowagiac Union Schools Foundation — a nonprofit dedicated to raising money for the district — reached out to leaders with First Source and Wolverine Mutual, who agreed to donate to the cause.

The foundation plans to develop plans to raise additional funds for the fence installation in the coming months.

District officials are hoping to begin construction on the improvements in conjunction with the second round of bond-related renovations at Chris Taylor Alumni Field, slated to break ground in summer 2018.

“We want to do well by our students and the rest of the community, because we are a part of it as well,” Hartsig said.