Perham tennis courts ahead of schedule as sports platform debuts

Perham High School’s tennis courts were moving toward an early-August finish, and the district paired that construction with a new sports platform meant to put registration and ticket buying in one place. For families in Perham-Dent Public Schools, the changes promised fewer separate logins, less scrambling at game time and a clearer path through the district’s athletics system.

The tennis project had been taking shape for months. On March 17, the school board approved the Tennis Court Design Development Plan and authorized the district to move ahead with construction documents. The plan called for eight regulation-sized courts in two groups of four on a concrete base, shifted about 10 feet south of the existing location to leave roughly 25 feet between the courts and nearby residential lots.

The design also addressed how the site would function day to day. The March 17 presentation included 6-foot pedestrian and maintenance gates, 10-foot fencing and options for fence color and gate placement. Drawings dated Jan. 28, 2026, added bleachers, court lighting, an equipment storage shed and concession stand, plus a realigned walkway to fit the rebuilt layout.

Cost drove the district toward the concrete option. The Jan. 28 pricing sheet put the concrete-court alternative at about $1.015 million total, while a post-tension version came in at about $2.065 million. Earlier planning materials had put the overall rebuild, including design fees and contingencies, at about $1.4 million. On April 20, the board voted to award the tennis-court contract to Hammers Construction after an ICS Consulting recommendation.

The courts were only half the story. In June, Activities Director Erin Anderson told the board the district was switching to a platform that would allow families to register student-athletes and buy tickets in one place. The same system was also intended to help the district handle sports arrangements and contracts with other schools for competitions, a step that could reduce the paper trail and split systems that families and staff have dealt with separately.

That shift mattered because Perham High School already used a GoFan page for events and tickets and a separate activities registration site. Consolidating those functions would bring the district’s digital front door closer to the way families actually use it, especially during the busiest months of the sports calendar.

Perham-Dent Public Schools serves a community of more than 3,000 residents in Perham and enrolls just over 1,800 students. With the court rebuild, new site features and a streamlined digital system, the district was modernizing both the place where athletes play and the way families get them there.