Yeah. Right? Not because not in not in my house. Yeah. It don't work like that. So and so when he did it, I just said, okay. I ain't in the same way. We'll we'll we'll take it away to get you back. Like, some of the principal, this is the only time I get to see them. Oh. That and, you know, with the summer recognition. Or you see him, but you're here. Mhmm. Above and beyond. How do I always tell him? Listen. He I mean, I went to Central Hughes every day to read. Oh, Thank you.
You know what? Did you put it stuck? Again. Mister president, do you want me to stand for our pledge and allegiance to the flag? Well, good evening, and welcome to our regular MSD Pike Township School Board meeting, February 2026. As we open up, we will begin with our for the good of the cause. If there's anyone that has anything that they would like to share for the good of the cause, then we invite you to come and share a three minute limit. State your name and you may share at this time.
Good evening, doctor Young, board members, cabinet, residents, staff, anybody out on the Internet. Hello. I'm Chris Luede, president of the Pike Classroom Teachers Association, two topics for me tonight. First, the General Assembly, House Bill 1,004 strips hours out of teacher contracts, meaning that district is no longer required to have a set amount of hours in our contracts, currently seven point seven three hours.
Much like the fact that we kept discussion in Pike Township when the general assembly said it was optional, I asked today that we keep the status quo of seven point seven three hours in teacher contracts. We can still do parent teacher conferences, back to school night, and other events by adjusting hours, but we cannot add to teachers' plates. Our plates are full and do not have room for more contract hours. Plus, with horrible legislation concerning both ICE and dissolving the IPS school board in favor
of a mayor appointed board, it's been a rough week. Rates coming Pike's way because start there and just keep on moving. I'll stop now and move on to happier topics. So topic number two, doctor Bishop, I wanna thank you for the work on the calendar committee, with DOE approval and waiver days. I think it's a good calendar. Doctor. Nunley leading the evaluation committee, the PCTA, requested, and I think we are on the
track to having a very good and equitable teacher evaluation system. Mr. Inman, about ready to start another, school start committee. So thank you and to all the other cabinet members. But the main reason I'm up here tonight is, Doctor. Young, thank you for your leadership. In my twenty two years in Pike and six years as PCTA president, I don't think the union and the administration have ever had a better working relationship.
We know the history. PCTA and the administration haven't always seen eye to eye, and things have gotten testy in the past. But we get a lot more done working together than working against each other. Look at what happened with the referendum. Are things perfect? No. But we work to make a more perfect union, a more perfect administration, and a more perfect district for our kids and our families. Thank you, doctor Young. I greatly, greatly appreciate it.
Thank you. Is there anyone else for the the cause? If not, we move on to spotlight on pipe. And see our doors. Good evening. It's wonderful to see you all again. As always, we have a lot to celebrate here in Pike Township. Friday, February 13, all three of our Pike High School jazz bands performed at the Pendleton Heights Jazz Festival, and we have five outstanding performers recognized. We'll share their names tomorrow. This Saturday, we will have 16 soloists and 11 ensembles representing Pike High School at
the I s s m a, ISMA, sorry, state solo and ensemble competition. Our Pike High School boys swimming and diving team are the IHSAA sectional runners up. They set three school records and qualified to compete at state this weekend in five events. So we're a basketball school, a swimming school, a golf school. It's amazing how much athletic success we've had this year and actually going into last year. So we are extremely proud of our student athletes, and their performance in the classroom
is every bit as good as their performance, on the athletic competition field. Our Pike High School boys basketball program officially won the MC championship on Tuesday with an impressive eighty one forty five victory over Warren Central. Wow. Not only are our girls and boys basketball teams, the twenty twenty six mixed MC champions, Pike High School was recognized by Max Preps as the Indiana school with the most combined boys and girls basketball wins. They shared a graphic that had the map of The United States and for Indiana,
it had the pipe feet. So we're extremely proud of that and excited for that collective success. Pike High School senior, Jayla Dabney, was honored as one of McDonald's black history makers of tomorrow for her proactive leadership and academic excellence. We are extremely also proud of school psychologist, Paulina Ballesteros, who was selected as big brothers big sisters of Central Indiana 2026 match of the year. She was matched with her little sister Gabby in 2017, and we shared the video
package on our social media. We'll put that out tomorrow as well if you haven't had a chance to watch it. It's amazing, and we're just greatly grateful for all the work she does here in Pike and the community. Before your next regularly scheduled meeting, our Pike performing arts department will host the Red Devil Jazz Cafe in the Pike Freshman Center on March 3 at 06:30PM. Tickets for that are available online. Pike theater will present Disney Winnie the Pooh kids and the Pike performing arts center at 06:30PM on Tuesday, March 10. That is free admission.
And our annual mental health fair will take place at Pike High School on Thursday, March 12, and that will be from five to 06:30PM. Last but never least, we'd like to recognize the donors listed on this evening's agenda. Alden Wagaman donated men's dress pants and sports coats for students at Lincoln Middle School worth an estimated value of $350. The Pike Township Educational Foundation collected $850 in donations for the Pike Rez Zone Food Pantry via their website. They donated a thousand dollars to support our twenty twenty six teacher celebration and funded classroom grants for Karen Flannery's Get Your Move On project and Yolanda Henry's Computer Technology
Project at Central and Terrell McLean's Little Sounds Big Words grant at the NJ ELC for a total value of $16.30 dollars Coca Cola consolidated donated $6,300 to support our twenty twenty six teacher celebration. And one fellowship church, an active member of our faith in Pike ambassadors donated $4,500 to the Pike Township Educational Foundation to cover the CCDF funding shortage for families and loving care program at Snacks Crossing Elementary School for this semester.
We're extremely appreciated to one fellowship church for their ongoing commitment to support Snacks Crossing Elementary School in our greater Pike community. You may have noticed they've done several donations over the course of the past year, and they've just been, an incredible partner to work with. We wanna sincerely thank all of these individuals and organizations for their generosity. It's absolutely amazing. Thank you, miss Dorsey. We're on to reports to the board, student teacher recognition, doctor Justin Hunter. Mister president, members of the board, and doctor Young, we are truly excited to recognize
Pike Township's student teachers who completed their placement during the fall of the spring semester. We have a record number of student teachers. When we first began, we had about 17. Last year, we had about 22. This year, we have 52 student teachers that completed that student teaching in the MSD of Pike Township and 39 that RSVP today. Through our partnership with Butler University, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University Indianapolis, Indiana Wesleyan University, Mary University, Taylor University, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Indianapolis, these future educators have enriched our classrooms by supporting small groups, team teaching, flexible instruction, and engaging
our school communities. This evening, we are proud to present two elementary groups and two secondary groups in appreciation of their dedication and student teaching in the MSD of Pike Township. You too. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. 23. Let's go. Here we go. 123. One more. 123. Our second elementary group of student teachers. Alright. Right here. 123. Thank you. We'll have our first secondary group of, student teachers.
Alright. 123. 123. You know, our our final group of students secondary student teachers. Thank you, mister president, members of the board, doctor Young, for allowing us to have the opportunity to have such great student teachers in our district. Thank you, sir. One more round of applause for our previous speaker.
Alright. Next up is our Lilly Endowment phase three presentation, doctor Larry Young. Thank you, mister president, members of the board. So here we go. Thank you, mister Heck. Mister president, members of the board, thank you for the opportunity tonight to talk about the Pike High School student service and community project. This is a $31,800,000 project, and, this has been made available partially and mostly, through the Lilly Endowment. They provided us with a grant that covered, 80% of the project.
And then as a district, we kicked in an additional 20%. We are grateful, extremely grateful to Lily Endowment. Yeah. Absolutely. Project overview. So the intent of this particular project is to, one, expand student services as well as community engagement, focus on career and STEM pathways, performing arts, health and wellness, and design to improve college career and life readiness.
So why? Why do we even go down this road? Why did we even apply for the grant? Well, when you think about the current Indiana diploma, the new diploma, students still need opportunities for CTE and as well as if they wanna seek out the seals, whether it's the honor seals or the honors plus for work based learning opportunities. Now one of the challenges I'm sure you've heard, is access to some of those
work based learning opportunities. Transportation to businesses and organizations. So if we can bring those opportunities to our children, we can ensure that they get those opportunities right here on campus. Key program components. Career STEM pathway expansion with industry cert certification, on-site work based learning, and simulated work environments. Again, students can qualify for those high school diploma seals if they get those experiences. So we're trying to bring those experiences right here on campus. Performing arts.
So think about performing arts. Some of our hardest working some of our best athletes are actually in our color guard. They're our band. They're out there when it's a 100 degrees. I see them walking, running, doing pushups. But what happens when it rains? So a lot of those experiences that they have could be limited based on, the fact that they're outside, just the elements. So we can bring those opportunities inside for that group. Health and wellness facilities, accessible to students and also community. One of the things we wrote into the grant, right next door to our campus
is Rob And Run Village. So imagine Rob And Run, members of that community having a, key fob. So early in the morning or when it's there's ice outside and they want to walk in a safe space and get exercise, they'd come swipe in during times that we're not even using the facility. So what a great community offering for our neighbors, just to the south of the community. And then here in a second, we'll also talk about some opportunities to help alleviate some of our challenges for our athletic programs.
I think it was miss Doris was talking about the success that we've had. Well, a challenge is we've got folks on top of one another, trying to find an opportunity in a place where they can practice and work out. I have a son. I can speak to this, as a parent. So he plays baseball. They get out of school, what, at, you know, around 02:20. Well, he goes home and he'll come back to practice at five something in the evening just because they're trying to figure out when they can get access to the facility. So we'll talk about that here, in a minute when I show a rendering of
the space. Career pathway expansions. Before we submitted our application to Lilly Endowment, we spoke with some community partners, universities, and we had some idea about what work based and CTE opportunities were viable. So one, where are the jobs in the future, and who's willing to partner with us? So, with this space, we're looking at biotechnology and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
That would be something new. Construction and trades and skill apprenticeships, that would be an expansion of programming. Imagine our students leaving with a certification as a dental assistant, right, from high school, optometry. And we all know that welding is a high salary career. So welding certificates as well. These are all different CTE certifications that we would look to bring with this new facility. I just talked about some of the ways that we would be able to provide
that. There aren't I mean, I looked at the team. We have a pretty talented team, but I don't know of very many members of the team. If I go back to this screen, have background in dental or optometry or welding. So what we would have to do is we would have to rely on universities. We'd have to rely on businesses and other professional organizations that took to partner with us to, provide these opportunities for our students. So we do have some verbal commitments, and we'll continue to work through those and
solidify those partnerships and agreements here over the next couple of years. Sort of what the timeline would be. So by the year end of the of the first year, so we think about maybe next January, we like to, you know, have the, facility construction staffing and baseline data. So we wanna have a pretty good idea of all of the, plans solidified in those areas. So then by this time next year, our hope would be to begin that construction
and have it done by the end of year two. So the end of year two, program lot. So as we go into the third year, we actually wanna then have a ribbon cutting and then provide access to the actual facility. Okay? So about two years from now, that's our hope for. And then by the end of year three, full implementation evaluation and sustainability plan. As we think about sustainability, one of the things that I believe we will have a great opportunity to do is to actually rent the space out as well.
So over the course of the five years, we actually have funds built into the grant to help cover the cost of programming. But as we kinda move out of that five year plan, the hope would be that the call the ongoing cost and the plan would be for the ongoing cost of the facility, we would actually cover that. It would generate the money itself. Talked a little bit about that as well. Diversified funding and long term district commitment. We talked about that with sustainability, external evaluation, and continuous improvement. We do have an external evaluator of the grant to make sure that we are
adhering to all the parts and the things that we promised to Lilly Endowment, facility design for shared use and for future growth. So with the shared use, those are all those areas that we talked about before. And that's some of the things that, we are having discussion about. It's a shared space, not just for performing arts, not just for work based learning, not just for athletics, but how can we cohesively utilize this space. Alright. Now here's a rendering. So if you look at this, this would be the upper level.
That area that is orange, you can see it's paved with lines. This is where the practice space would help out. So So there's a 200 meter, track there. You can also see there's a designation in the area outlined for band. There's actually four full basketball courts on that space. This is also where performing arts, our band, and other groups would be able to utilize this large open space. In the top right hand corner, there is a college and career lecture hall.
Now that is, I believe, it's just under 10,000 square feet. So, mister Gruber, what what about 10,000 square feet? For for for many folks, that's you know, it's hard to kinda get an idea about that. So I think we were talking 10,000 square feet is about the size of a of a gym. Yeah. So, like, a middle school gymnasium is about 10,000 square feet. This is a really big space. Really big space. Top left hand corner, community resource. I think mister Jacob is helping to lead the charge with that space. We're looking at well, yeah.
And the and they would actually utilize some of that larger space there in the orange, but we talked about the, the the Pike Red Zone food pantry. Maybe a portion of that can be used there. We've also talked about, social services. It's often been said, and I agree that sort of Pike Township, the Northwest Side of town, is a social service desert. When I look at the East Side Of Indianapolis, there's a lot of social services that are available. So whether we're talking about teeth cleaning or, whatever we determine the the needs could
potentially be, that can be a space that people in our community can come and get some of that help and support right there as well as, you know, the the the food to the food pantry. And then those light blue sashes, rectangles on the left, those actually butt up against our current CTE programming. So the facility itself will be sort of closed off that gym space during the day. So we'll be able to secure that, but we'll also be able to use that
light blue area for those CTE programming that I talked about before. Okay. So that would be the upper level. If you look at the next slide, this is the lower level. The lower level in the green area are suites, which we we could use for work based learning. So imagine as a student having a company or an organization, they would literally come to campus. They would work. And as a student, I can go down in that space and work right alongside of them while they're providing service.
And that would help me some of those hours for the work based learning, for for the various skills that our students could qualify. Now one thing that I've told, everyone is that this is not a field house. Little endowment did not, give us funding for field house. Obviously, it would help out with alleviating some of our, needs when it comes to different practice spaces. But, you know, this is a Stillman Career Center. In closing, the investment in students, families, and Pike Township community strengthens college and career
readiness and creates lasting community impact. Questions? I have one. Yes. And where exactly the Great question. Good question. I should've I should've mentioned that. So if you if if you are, let's say, facing the main entry of of a high school and to your left is actually east. So this space would be on the far east and maybe tuck a little bit behind the, the aquatic center. Okay? Now there there's a child. I think we mister Cooper and I had a meeting with, the architect, and I
think they've come across some some some new renderings, more recent renderings. And so there's there's a flood plain there, so we've we've known that. So that may be something we may have to potentially address. Another challenge is that when this work was done, and and when I say work, trying to scope out what the cost would be Per square foot, the cost was made about $450. Well, guess what it is now with the tariffs.
It's $600 on average square foot. So the cost of getting everything we have here has significantly gone up, and that's due because of of the tariffs and some other things. So, good news is that because, many, construction companies are are really looking for work at this time, many of the jobs that have been bid have been very favorable. They've been they've come in kind of low. But those are all some things, that we're we're gonna have to try to figure
out and and to work out. Right? So based on what you're saying Mhmm. Are we talking so are the softball fields gonna be impeded by that? So there's a practice softball field that we'd have to relocate. Okay. Yep. Yep. So that's another thing we've gotta figure out as well. Yeah. But you you've got the right spot. It's that practice softball field. Well, so I wanna jump in there. That's the JV softball field. That's the JV. Yeah. So practice. I was gonna say that flood plain, that's the JV field. You you that's That's what we're talking about. Sneeze real hard in second base flood.
So I'm I'm glad that that's, that that's I'm honestly glad that it's gonna have to be moved. I did have a question in in the art here and Mhmm. So I'm I'm phrasing it more as a statement because I'm not asking a question. Should I make any kind of a commitment on? But I do know the current space with the robotics team Yes. Is very crowded. It actually doesn't give them the full space. Yes. I'm hoping with some of this focus with the stem and with some of those things that maybe there would be an area in there that they could actually leverage also. Yeah. Because I think even there's been some talk about the space they have now needing
to share with other places and hoping that can be considered. Yes, sir. So every single month, we meet once a month in that meeting. I'm just looking at the team here. I mean, it's almost this whole front row, and I think maybe a portion of the the second row. I know that, even even the the third row as well as we have missus Anthony from the high school. We have missus Zortman from the high school. We have the athletic team. So we're all having conversation about programming. Robotics has come up Mhmm.
As well. Okay. So, you know, would this be a a new space for robotics or would we move current programming maybe into this space? Mhmm. And then that would open up a space for robotics. So those are all things we're working with with the high school team as well as folks that are seeing, you know, in here now. Okay. And we've got some flexibility. Yeah. One one of the things we share with the Lilium endowment is the program that we like to launch, but we didn't share that it's gonna be right here in Room A or Room B.
So we've got some flexibility. I have a question. So with this with this layout, was scouting other districts, part of the planning, process? And if so, in our neighboring, school districts, does anyone else have anything like this? I would say scouting, not so much from a facility standpoint because this is really the, so it's interesting. Great question. I'm glad you asked that. When we first heard about the Lily dollars, we as a team got together and
we just started brainstorming. And I think I said to the group, act like money is not even an issue. Just dream your biggest dreams based on what our highest needs are. And we we we outline all of those things. And once we did that, I think it was doctor Bishop took it, and then, put it into to to chat GPT. And that was sort of the structure and the start based on the needs we have. So this is really tailored to the brainstorming session and talking to all of the
the the the different, you know, members here and also the high school, what the needs were, and we just designed it based on on that. The reason why I asked that is because I was wondering where this, where this layout came from. Mhmm. I was, last year, a couple years ago, I was down in Center Grove, and it has something like this. Nothing close to how elaborate this is, but it's definitely a pearl culture Yes. When you walk through there. Yeah. But it brings a level of prestige. Mhmm. And so that's why I was wondering, this something like this will be the envy,
especially here, with our neighboring school districts, which rightfully so is that's what you want. And so it just lets it sends out a signal to the community that we are growing. Mhmm. Because we you know, some of us, we hear a lot of things. Well, no. That district is building this, and this district is building this, and when are you guys gonna do something? You know? But patience has, has paid off because we've talked about this since my second year on the board. Now we're into the fruit, fruit tasting stage. So kudos to your team and everyone involved in this. I'm really happy about this project here.
Thank you. So this project will, basically address the growing because we now have a, girls, wrestling team. Mhmm. And I know that there's been a lot of issues with practice time and Sure. Juniors and the freshmen, and everybody's trying to bid their time. And if, you know, if they're talented enough to go into state, it overlaps with other sports. So this is going to be something that's gonna really help them out. So if you were to say the three what were the top three issues Mhmm.
That needs to be addressed? Yeah. So so one great. Thanks for that question. I think one is staying true to, what we told Lily we were gonna do, Lily endowment with the space. Okay. Even though we know that it will help alleviate some of the things that you referenced, miss Wilson. You know, we also wanna be very cognizant that this is a space that performing arts will use and the community will use. So that's a challenge. Right. Because even just in conversations with people that have heard about it, people are always
sort of jockeying. They're spot. You know, you know, for for for the space. So that's so that's one. What's your question addresses, one. I think two is with the with the increase of cost, with the square footage, you know, trying to make it look exactly like it does here may be a challenge. Mhmm. We've got some options, but, you know, we we may have to give some things up. Right? Or does that mean that everything we see here, we may not get it all in there all at once?
Or, you know, as a district, is it something we wanna, you know, commit more of our dollars towards to get it to be exactly like this? So the that increase in cost, and no one could have seen the the tariffs and the impact of that. So I don't think it's, you know, anyone's to blame, but that's a challenge. And then also the location as we look at that that area there. But some As we see more recent renderings, you know, they look a little bit different than I think the ones that we've looked at.
Would you agree with that, mister Gruber? Yeah. So so we've gotta we've gotta double check and triple check that. And if there's an issue or challenge, we're we've gotta make a decision. You know, do we fix it? You know, can we fix it? Do we fix it? There could be a cost to that. Or do we look at sort of maybe changing the location of the, of the program? But I I want us to, you know, keep our commitment to the Lilly Endowment folks. And and if we have to make some revisions, obviously, we'll go back to them and say, hey. Based on these things, you know, in order for us to stay true to what
we said we would do, we've gotta maybe change some things over here and make sure they're okay with it, because ultimately, we wanna go back again. That that was gonna be my question kinda tacked in on because brought some good things. So is our commitment exclusively really functions of the building, or is there any kind of a commitment to it'll be a certain size or a certain is there is there any commitment with those things that they're actually giving it to us? Conversations and the meetings we've had with their leadership, they said, listen. We we know things are gonna have to change. The only thing we ask is that you bring us into that conversation.
So what I would probably do is is before we made major changes, we would bring them back and say, hey. You know, we wanna, make sure we're doing what we said we would do. This is the reason why we need to do something there for our life. You know, are you guys, you know, are we still meeting the the the tenants of our agreement Okay. If we make these changes. Okay. And if the building does have to move, let's still move that softball field, please. It's a problem. It's a problem. It is. So we need we need we need to address it. Alright. Well, we I got one one thing.
I would just like to say that I was wondering how we were going to address all of the work based learning and the hours and do it safely Sure. For our students. And I think this is will be a very good option to meet that expectation that the state has given us and do it safely where we don't have to because I was the transportation, the vetting of businesses, all of that Mhmm.
Has been in my mind, and that has alleviated a lot of Mhmm. Questions that I've been wanting to ask legislators. Yeah. How did you think we were gonna do this? So And we're, you know, we're very fortunate in Pike. We're right here in Park 100. I mean, there's so many businesses and organizations that we can tap into. I don't know how some school communities, how they're able to provide those opportunities with the new graduation requirements. Have it right Yeah. On campus, that's even better. Right.
Right. That it? That's it. Okay. Thank you, doctor. Oh, thank you. Alright. We're on to the action item. First up is the, minutes of the board approval from 02/12/2026. I recommend that we approve the minutes of the board, from 02/12/2026. Second. And moved in second that we approve 02/12/2026 minutes of board education, the child of the confidentiality.
No questions will be attained at this time. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed. Thank you. We're on to human resources, doctor Justin Hunter. Mister president, member of the board, doctor Young, I request your approval of HR report as presented. I make a motion we approve the HR report as presented. Second. We'll second that we approve HR human resource report as presented. Again, due to the nature of confidentiality, we will not attain questions and we're on to vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Pose. Thank you, doctor Hunter.
Thank you, sir. Request for approval for the coach kicking the stigma. Grant. Mister Jacob. Good evening, mister president. Good evening. Members of the board and doctor Young, I'm hereby seeking your approval to apply for the Colts kicking the stigma grant. I move we accept the, accept the, I'm sorry. I move that we approve the application for the Colts kicking the stigma grant as presented. Second. Moving second that we approve item action item C as presented.
Are there any questions on action item C? No questions. We're on the boat. All in favor say I. I. I. Pose. Action item d, request approved to apply for the school mental health and wellness mini grant project where mister Jacob? Mister president, members of the board, and doctor Young, I'm hereby seeking your approval to apply, you know, for the school mental health and wellness mini grant project aware 2026. I move that we approve, we I move that we approve that, mister Jacob apply
for this school mental health and wellness mini grant project aware 2026. Second. Moved and second that we accept the approval of the application for mister Jacob to apply for the Project Awareness 2026 grant as presented to us. Are there any questions? I want to vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed. Thank you, mister Jacob. Thank you. Claims and allowances. Let's see. This almond is gray. Mhmm. Okay.
Okay. We want to then combine action items e, f, and g. This is great for approval. Good evening, mister president, members of the board, and doctor Young. I request your approval of action items e, f, and g as presented. I would make I would like to make a motion that we approve items e, f, and g, including the claims and allowances, contracts, and donations as presented. Second. Moving second that we accept and approve action of item e, f, and g as
presented. Are there any questions on action items e, f, and g? So not a question, but as always, when we have a contract from CIESC, I do want to just be forthright that my wife does work for CIESC. She does not work for the area that provides, purchasing of buses, and so there's no benefit or anything like that to my family. Just want to be forthcoming about it. So are you are you recusing or No. I can still vote according to our lawyers. Just want to make that public notice. Alright. Alright. Any other questions, statements? We're on to vote.
All in favor, say aye. Aye. Hold. Thank you, miss. Thank you. Great. Board member items, missus Wilson. Oh my goodness. Because customer was out here. Those on you. It's on me. Well, it's been a very, enlightening day to hear the presentation by, doctor Young. I think that's great, the Lilly Endowment. It's even more gratifying to know that we have different facets of our school, the jazz department, the swimming department, the, academics department, the basketball department, all are excelling at
Pike, and they are doing nothing but making us look better because of the excellent, competition that they're out to become winners. So with that being said, I wanted to say, the girls basketball team did an excellent job. I love those girls. They did a great job. I was there, and, I'm proud of them. And I'm proud of the coach. I'm proud of all the coaches, all the girls. They did an excellent job. We all cried, but, you know, it is what it is. But, and just glad to see you guys back and, you know, thank goodness for
black history. I was able to go to College Park and read with the, second graders and the fifth graders. And, it was hardly for me because I went last year and didn't realize that the one teacher asked for me again. So, you know, that it was I was glad because she she's evidently whatever I did she liked and the kids liked, so, I just took that to heart. So thank you, missus Gossett. Mister Hoefer? Alright. So picking up right there for miss Wilson, do wanna thank doctor Mullen at College
Park Elementary for always inviting the board, to read. It is a a really fun time, and all the fifth grade, host that that, escort us throughout the throughout the building are just wonderful. Actually, my wife was there also reading because of being part of PTEF, and she comes home and she's telling me, I had this one of my host, and he was prepared. He had a joke for me, and I said it was Edwin. He I had him too. So, so, they, but but they were just absolutely awesome. Also tonight before coming over to the board meeting, we they had literacy night at
New Augusta North, and so got had a chance to go there and wanna give kudos to all those teachers, especially give kudos to miss Whitcomb, who I know that puts a lot of work in putting that on and, really appreciate, just everything it does. The community was out. It's it's it's such an amazing time. Wanna thank the student teachers and especially the supervising teachers that host them. I know that it adds a lot of extra work onto a teacher's plate to have a student teacher. But having had a, a wife who was a supervising teacher at one one point
and a daughter who was a student teacher at one point. I guess my wife was a student teacher too, but not when she was my wife. She, we, I just I appreciate that and just want to encourage those, those student teachers. Pike is a a great place. We've, you know, got a lot of opportunities, and so we really hope they're considering, looking at us here. And then, last for rounding up the things with around Pike, wanna compliment, the early learning center. Got a chance to go last week to their sneaker ball, and, so that was just so much fun.
And there was this one little boy. He had the moves. He was out there. He was, I he was something else. So, and, actually, gotta give special credit on that. So we just talk about Pike family, and it's a family even to the family of our administrators that are out because, I had a chance to thank mister Blandon, missus Blandon's husband who was there helping, out with the event, and it was his birthday even. So special shout out going above and beyond, helping his bride out on, on that
night. And then lastly, just thank you to Lily. Obviously, that is gonna do amazing things for our school system, for the community, and really appreciate their support of public education. Thank you, miss Dan. Before miss Danz. Just a couple of things. Good luck to our teams that are going to be playing the sectionals, next week. This message is really more for the community, but it has to start somewhere. With the passing of certain legislation bills that come through, I hope that people will take this time to as we ramp up for campaign season, to become informed, voters.
A lot of times when we get these bills, people become retroactive. But you have they become, yeah, retroactive. But we need to be proactive, as we learn about who's running and who's, passing these bills. So I think with these things that's coming into place, that's gonna motivate a lot of people to become informed and voters. So I'll be making that mess message periodically as we get close to the season. And as always, thank you to our administration, for all your hard work that you do. Our teachers and everyone all the way down, you're just as important.
Appreciate you all. Thank you. Thank you, miss Johnson. Miss Barnes. I'd like to thank, certainly, the HR department that put together the gathering earlier this evening honoring our student teachers. They were just overjoyed as were we to be a part of that. So I appreciate the invitation. I thought it was beautifully ran and well attended. Something that is really impressive about us in Pike is that we do know how to say thank you. Mhmm. And I think we did that for this group of young people who came through.
I I like to call them baby teachers, So but, anyway, thank you so much for that. And thank you to our donors too. And, also, thank you for Lily, for the administration team that really kinda put in the work to make this happen for us, for our community. I think it's just amazing. So thank you so much for all the hard work that you do. Thank you, miss Barn. Miss Kelly? Alright.
Again, the event that was held for the student teachers was we were like, we're at comp like, this room is at capacity. So that was very awesome. Awesome. And congratulations to those teachers that are going to get licensed and make our profession proud. And I was also able to participate in the reading at College Park, and I got to read to a kindergarten class and a first grade class. And I'm like, anytime I need to get my rock star status back, I'm gonna
go to elementary because my high school students are like, oh, you're old news. You're old. You don't know anything. We see you every day. But I really enjoyed being with the younger kids. The athletes, our scholar athletes that are making us proud on the court, as well, and in the classroom, keep making us proud. And the supervising teachers that because that is extra work to do that. So thank you to them. And to when doctor Young was making the presentation about the Lilly grant, thank you to Lilly, but thank you to you all for when he said, let's dream.
And you all took that and helped make it bring it to reality, and that's why we were awarded that grant. So thank you to the team that has done that work. And to kind of, piggyback on what mister, Anderson was saying, May 5 is the primary election. So it begins with the primary. So I'll leave it at that. Have a great week. Thank you, miss Kelly. Doctor. Mann.
Thank you, mister president. Like others, I enjoyed my opportunity to read. At College Park, I read to kindergarten and to third grade students. Thank you to mister Ludy. I think he may have left for his kind words. He's still here. Is he? Oh, I I I didn't see him. Thank you, mister Ludy. I appreciate the kind words. And, as we all know, our teachers are the backbone of the work that we do here in the district. And, and with strong leadership, I think we can continue to provide, an excellent learning opportunity for our children. I hope no one believes that by any stretch of imagination, public education as we
know it, is is under attack. So if if you if if you don't believe that, then we can talk after. And I really think more than any other time that I can think of, you know, we really have to be united. And I think we talked about legislation every year around this time. I reminded of that fact that, you know, everyone doesn't see necessarily the value or necessarily want the structure that I believe helped build our country to stay the way that it looks today. But together, we'll we'll we'll we'll keep fighting.
Thank you, doctor Young. Few things that I'd like to share, and then we're out of here. Again, I too thank you, to all of the board that I did see participating. Tuesday. I had a chance to thank, the little student that sent, and I think miss Wilson told me everyone had a thank you card. I had a chance to thank the little student that sent us with the cards and she she said, thank you for being the president and she said, I and she said, and I know you have a good vice president.
And she said, and I know you all make rules for the district. And so I had a chance to take it because again and and and I said that, but that that touched my heart because the board always have the underhero presentation. Sometimes when we have to rule as a governing body, it just doesn't look good. And it just and it's sometimes it's not pretty. And so for others to appreciate what we do really, bless my heart, because we we we just don't we just not out front.
We just do what we do. So, thank you for that. Mister Ludy, you alluded to things coming this away from downtown and attack on public education. But that is the reason why I believe that we have to stay strong. As you just mentioned, doctor Young, unity in essence where both board district and community is together and when we are locked like that and walking with boots on the
ground like that, we will be a hard district to overturn and be but I think it all starts with unity and walking together and helping one another in the cause. In my world, I I have to help families and so this is something that happened to me Tuesday. I had a long day starting out over College Park, then had to wind up downtown helping a parishioner, who have gotten in trouble with the law graduate of Pike. But something he said when I was taking him home that really they really blessed
me. He, he lost, he lost a, he lost a job, paying over $30 an hour. And, and I asked him, I said, what are you doing now? And he told me that I'm working at blank, blank, blank in HVAC. And I said, you know, you've been in trouble. You know, what what what happened? He explained, he said, I got my HVAC certification at Pipe. Oh, man. Man, it, that, that, that, that ripped me apart because it, because, and then seeing
you present that presentation from Eli Lilly. It says to me, man, we are powerhouse regardless of what anybody say Pike is a powerhouse and when he told me that and now he's he's got a job based on that and then he's getting ready to go into supervision even though he's in trouble. So, everybody, everybody needs someone to come alongside of them and looks like we're going to be able to help him with with his misfortunes but it just blessed me to know that that he got a start right here in Pike and then others
are getting that same start and and so in closing, we we we have been asked about the assistant AD position. Now, I just want to give an update on that. The board has exercised its governing position and we will be meeting an interview with the three final candidates on Monday and and and you stay tuned and you and we'll see what happens from there but that is our update for that position itself. Alright? If nothing else, you'd like to obtain a motion to adjourn.
Motion to adjourn. Second. Mean stand adjourned. Who's gonna do it with it? It's at the top. Miss Tony. I call you sister Tony. I don't want to hear that. This is my I don't know.