June 05, 2025
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KHS tabbed for public, outdoor fitness court

By Stephanie Markham
Kankakee High School

Kankakee High School has been targeted as the potential site of a public outdoor fitness course through the National Fitness Campaign. (Tiffany Blanchette)

KANKAKEE – Kankakee High School may be the site of a public-access, outdoor fitness court if District 111 is able to secure the grant funds needed for its construction.

The district is looking to partner with the National Fitness Campaign to install a $230,000 to $260,000 fitness court near Kankakee High School.

The plan was discussed during Thursday’s finance and facilities committee meeting.

The court would go where the district’s rented mobile classrooms are currently located that are east of the high school along Jeffery Street.

A rendering shows what a proposed fitness court from the National Fitness Campaign could look like outside of Kankakee High School.

A rendering shows what a proposed fitness court from the National Fitness Campaign could look like outside of Kankakee High School. (Photo Provided By Kankakee School District 111)

In the fall, the district plans to remove the mobiles, which house driver’s education and JROTC courses, and move those programs into the main building.

Superintendent Teresa Lance said the district would be committing $60,000 to the project, and a matching grant has been secured for another $60,000.

The district is also seeking funds from the city of Kankakee as well as other donations or grants that are available for projects addressing community wellness.

“We haven’t stopped trying to secure additional funds to help pay this, because it’s not just for us, it would be for the school district as well as the community,” Lance said.

The Kankakee School Board is slated to vote June 9 on the district’s commitment to the project.

The National Fitness Campaign is a wellness consulting firm that works with municipalities, schools and sponsors across the U.S. to plan, design, fund and activate healthy communities and schools of the future, according to its website.

Kankakee’s court would include a concrete pad functioning as a studio area for fitness courses, a circuit area with fitness equipment, an awning providing shade and a custom art design.

A rendering shows what a proposed fitness court from the National Fitness Campaign could look like outside of Kankakee High School.

A rendering shows what a proposed fitness court from the National Fitness Campaign could look like outside of Kankakee High School. (Photo Provided By Kankakee School District 111)

It would be used for physical education and JROTC classes in addition to being open for community use.

The campaign requires the court to be located at a school with older students, so KHS would be the only option for its placement.

“The intent was not to have it by the high school because they already had the Community Center,” Lance said. “But we had to attach this to a school where the students were 14 years old and older, so that left only the high school.”

Board member Suzy Berrones said the public may question why the district should spend $60,000 on a fitness court when it has a Community Center – which cost over $26.5 million – that also raised concerns of the how the district uses its funding.

Lance said the goal is to increase the public’s access to the district’s resources.

Members of the community can typically come in and walk the track of the fieldhouse in the early morning hours. Currently, this is not available while the track is being renovated.

“So the Community Center, if you think about it, the community really can’t access it except for this limited number of hours, and then what they can access is also limited,” Lance said. “The outdoor fitness court, there’s no lock and key, so anyone can use it and it is truly for the community.”