Last Tuesday, January 21, the Big Sandy School Board had its monthly meeting.

The meeting began with the usual Pledge of Allegiance and the approval of minutes.

Melanie Schwarzbach began with the meeting with a report from the MHSA Annual Meeting. Included in that report were some interesting changes that may be occurring over the next school year concerning athletics in Big Sandy. Starting next year, shooting shirts for the basketball team may be purchased by an organization as long as it is equitable to the other Big Sandy teams. Along with that, a girls’ wrestling team may be added as a sport. According to the MHSA report, girls may continue to wrestle boys during regular-season competition but will have their separate matches for divisional and state. A boy’s powerlifting sport will also be added next year. However, this may cause a problem since there must be an equal number of boys’ and girls’ sports for Big Sandy High School.

The school board is considering adding a report from the Athletic Director to the minutes. While this may add minutes to the meetings, this would give the Athletic Director a chance to give everyone a recap of the past months.

For correspondence this meeting, Darin read some thank you cards from the teachers. These cards were a thank you for the gift cards sent out at Christmas.

Glenn Terry made a comment about a recent meeting he attended with his grandson and his teachers. He said he was very impressed.

The student council is trying to get a special guest speaker, Pat Goldhan, with the “Buckle Up for Lauren” campaign to speak to the high school later this year.

Kelly Haaland went over some of the recent building maintenance that has happened over the past month. Including new light on the south side of the building, directly over the steps. Kelly may have a list of upcoming projects for the spring in the next meeting.

A newsletter with the Driver’s Ed summer courses will be released soon with more information. They also hired a Driver’s Ed teacher named Walter Tuss.

Along with that, the activity bus drivers requested a small raise to help cover their meal tickets on trips that take them out of town. Currently they receive $6.00 a meal which doesn’t cover their costs. If they do get a raise, it will take place next year.

A new non-lethal CS Gel is a consideration to help with the security and safety of the students around Big Sandy. This gel is the Reflex Protect brand, and Kelly says the main reason for considering this is for the protection of the students. There is a YouTube video on this gel if you would like more information.

The clerk, Maryetta Engle, gave her report. Within the first week back, there was an audit done. It went well. Along with that, Pack the Place in Pink will be the first weekend of February. This is an excellent opportunity to get the students together to decorate and socialize.

Heather Wolery, the principal, gave her report, which included information about the Golden Student Awards. The annual student ski day in Showdown is coming up; students are getting excited, and so are some of the parents.