Lake County Gazette

Granite City Community Unit School District 9 (GCSD9) has announced that starting with the 2025–26 school year, students will not be required to pay admission fees for home athletic events at Granite City High School and Coolidge Junior High School. This change applies to all GCSD9 students.

To gain free entry, students must show their school ID at the gate. If a student does not have a physical ID, they can verify enrollment by showing their information through the Skyward app. The district emphasized that this policy is intended for currently registered GCSD9 students.

There are additional guidelines regarding attendance. Elementary and junior high students from GCSD9 must be accompanied by a parent, grandparent, or guardian when attending football games at Granite City High School. For athletic events at Coolidge Junior High School, both elementary and high school students need to be accompanied by a guardian. The district specified that older siblings cannot serve as guardians for these events.

“Thank you for your continued support of GCSD9 schools,” said the GCSD9 Administration in its announcement.

The Granite City Community Unit School District 9 serves Madison County and includes several schools such as Coolidge Junior High School, Frohardt Elementary School, Granite City High School, Grigsby Intermediate School, Maryville Elementary School, Mitchell Elementary School, Prather Elementary School, and Wilson Elementary School (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).

According to data from the Illinois State Board of Education, the district employs 320 teachers with an average salary of $67,898 before pension contributions; about 77 percent are women and nearly 23 percent are men. There are no teachers in the district with more than ten absences in a school year (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).

The student population in Granite City Community Unit School District 9 is composed of approximately 65 percent White students, nearly 16 percent Black students, almost 12 percent Hispanic students, and less than one percent Asian students (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).

In terms of finances, the district spent $17,739 per student in 2020 for a total expenditure of $106 million (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).