Lake County Gazette

The Marching Coalers began their competition season last weekend by traveling to Pontiac for their first contest of the year. The band competed in Class B at the Pontiac Showdown Marching Band Contest, performing movements one and two from their 2025 field show titled "Rearrange." The performance featured music composed by Jeff Chambers, as well as arrangements of "The Sound of Silence" by Disturbed and "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap.

Despite challenging heat conditions, the Marching Band achieved several honors. They won Best Percussion and Best Colorguard in their class and finished fourth overall. The band also earned second place in subcategories including Music Performance and Visual Performance Individual.

Looking ahead, the band will compete again on Saturday, September 20 at Northern Illinois University during the Red and Black Fall Classic.

Coal City Community Unit School District 1, which includes Coal City Early Childhood Center, Coal City Elementary School, Coal City High School, Coal City Intermediate School, and Coal City Middle School across Grundy and Will counties, supports programs like the Marching Band. More information about the district can be found at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/. According to state data from the Illinois State Board of Education, the district employs 153 teachers with an average salary of $69,297; most are women (77.9 percent) while men make up 22.1 percent. No teachers reported more than ten absences in a school year. Further demographic details indicate that students are predominantly White (86.9 percent), with Hispanic students representing nearly ten percent of enrollment; smaller percentages identify as Black or Asian (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). In 2020, per-student spending was $21,619 for a total expenditure exceeding $47 million (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).