SALEM — Superintendent Sean Kirkland has clarified the district’s decision to halt cannon fire during games at Sebo Stadium.

Kirkland explained that the decision was made to protect the stadium’s scoreboard, which had issues throughout the season last year. He said that the scoreboard company Daktronics informed the district that those technical issues were the result of damage caused by the cannon blasts.

“We have a $300,000 scoreboard that all of last year was being knocked out of commission and the scoreboard company finally informed us that what was knocking it out of commission was percussion from the cannons so we can no longer shoot the cannons off near the scoreboard, otherwise we render it useless,” said Kirkland.

Kirkland also explained that there was no other location within the stadium further from the scoreboard where the cannon could be safely fired.

“I understand it’s a tradition going back years ago I think that tradition had stopped for twenty some years and then we brought it back in 2019. Unfortunately, there is nowhere else in safe range to put those cannons because one corner has the entrance, another has the band shelter, and the other corner kids play in, that place up on the hill is the only place for them … It’s 100% due to the fact that throughout the year on multiple occasions the scoreboard was rendered useless due to the percussion that was coming from that,” said Kirkland.