The Press-Dispatch
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SCHOOL Continued from page 1 READER GUIDE Subscriptions: Change of address: subscribers changing addresses will please give old address as well as new one along with phone number. We cannot guarantee prompt change unless this is done. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Press-Dispatch., P.O. Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 or e-mail to subscribe@ pressdispatch.net. Subscription rates: One year: $35 for Pike County and all 475/476 zip codes; $38 in the state of Indiana; $55 elsewhere in the USA. Paid in advance. Subscriptions taken after noon on Friday will not receive a paper until the second edition after their subscription date. About us: Andy Heuring and John B. Heuring, Publishers Andy Heuring, Editor John B. Heuring, Adv. Mgr. Sherri Sebella, Reporter Eric Gogel, Production Mgr. Cindy Petty, Adv. Sales Pam Lemond, Adv. Sales Brakston Farrar, Designer • • • Published every Wednesday by the Pike County Publishing Co. Phone: 812-354-8500 820 E. Poplar St., P.O. Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 • • • Entered in the Post Office in Petersburg, Indiana for transmission through the mails as Periodical Mail, postage paid at Petersburg, Indiana – published weekly. (USPS 205-620) Contact us: Phone: ....................................................................... 812-354-8500 Fax: ........................................................................... 812-354-2014 Andy Heuring, Editor editor@pressdispatch.net Advertising ads@pressdispatch.net General News news@pressdispatch.net Circulation subscribe@pressdispatch.net The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, Feburar y 16, 2022 A-3 LOCAL Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg NEWS BRIEFS Blue Jean Center to host Sunday dinner Feb. 20 The Blue Jeans Community Center in Monroe City will host Sunday dinner, February 20 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The menu will include: Ham and beans, hot chicken sal- ad, cheesy mashed potatoes, cream corn, slaw, corn bread, dessert and drink. Carry-outs available. All proceeds benefit the center. Petersburg Community Church offers free haircuts Petersburg Community Church, 420 E Illinois St., will offer a Free Community Meal and Haircuts on Sunday, February 27 after their 10 :10 a.m. service. Students from The Salon Professional Academy and two Educators will be doing haircuts for anyone who would like one. A cake walk will also take place . Join Pike County Purdue Extension WalkIn' Program Walking is a popular form of physical activity- and good for your health! Are you looking to make a change in your lifestyle? Need some motivation but don't have time to at- tend a class? Get WalkIN' is a free e-mail based walking initiative being offered through Purdue Extension in Pike County. Participants can sign-up, walk on their own and receive e-mail support and information. Participants will be asked to complete two short online surveys. To learn more, contact Brooke Goble be email (bgoble5@purdue. edu) or phone (812-354-6838). Right to Life to host Diaper Drive Right to Life of Southwest Indiana (RTL SWIN) along with Churches for Life Will host the annual "Show Love from the Bottom Up" Diaper Drive that helps local preg- nancy centers restock on diaper supplies. In 2021 almost 31,000 diapers were distributed to the centers. This year the distribution will include Birthright, Evansville Christian Life Center and Trotter House, Lit- tle Lambs and the Gabriel Project in Evansville, and Mar- sha's Place in Henderson, K Y. "Helping pregnancy centers with practical needs such as diapers is one way we can be of assistance in the cause for life because we care about children born and unborn," said Mary Ellen Van Dyke, Executive Director for RTL SWIN. Donations of diapers and wipes can be dropped off at participating area churches or at the Right to Life Office at 20 NW Third Street, Suite 810 in downtown Evansville through the month of February. Monetary donations are being accepted online at www.rtlswin.org/diaperdrive or checks can be mailed to the RTL SWIN Office at 20 NW Third Street, Suite 810, Evansville, IN 47708. Upcoming event? We want to know! Do you have an upcoming event? Send it to news@press- dispatch.net. Wishing our moer a very special 94 birday! You are so loved! Love, Brian, Kristi, Carmen and Amy Irma June Capehart Burch February 21 Monday 8-7 • Tuesday 8-noon • Wednesday 10-7 • Thursday & Friday 8-5 eye exams • dry eye solutions prescription lenses • eye disease treatment Call to book your appointment today for safe in-offi ce treatment. Don't Neglect Your Eye Health. We're Open to See You Now! Dr. Clint Shoultz 715 S. 9th St., Petersburg 812-354-9400 Locally Owned and Operated Power line starts grass fire on Blackburn Road Petersburg Fire Dept. and EMS were called to Blackburn Road near AES on Friday after a Duke Energy Pow- er line was knocked to the ground and caught a grassy area on fire. "We don't know if a truck had their tarp up and caught the line or what exactly happened," Ross Elmore, Petersburg Fire Chief, said. "The power line was al- ready dead and Duke Energy was on the scene before we left, so we handed it over to them." Firemen put the fire out with their water truck quickly. Some residents in the area lost power temporarily. No injuries were reported. with the quarantine part." " I don't want to change any- thing on the positive case. With the exception of, let's re- mind everybody, and it doesn't just apply to COVID. If your child's got a fever, keep him home. If they're sick, keep him home, please. We're all in this together. We want our kids in school as much as we can. We don't want our staff sick. We don't want our cafe- teria folks sick or bus drivers or anybody else. If your kid's sick, please keep them home," said Potter. Assistant Superintendent Dana Deffendoll asked if that meant even family members of a student testing positive. She said she just wanted to be clear because it would proba- bly come up right away. "The positive person only," said Potter. He added, if the family wanted to keep other siblings at home that was fine. "So it will be an excused ab- sence," asked Deffendoll. "Yes," said Potter. Board member Chris McK- inney asked if students are kept at home, would be they still have elearning available to them like before. The board worked through several questions around the change, including if they would keep the exemptions to being quarantined in place and if they were going to keep their COVID dashboard in place on the school website. "I know it makes no differ- ence. We already have the da- ta, but we have some families who would want to see it," said superintendent Dr. Suzanne Blake. Staff said it only takes a few minutes each week to put up the number on the website. Board members agreed to keep posting the numbers. They also decided to elim- inate the exemptions since they weren't going to be quar- antining anyone. "I'm gonna make a motion that we're not quarantining. We're still doing the contact tracing to alert parents that their child has been close con- tact. We do away with the lan- guage on the four exemptions. And everything else stays the same. . . If your kid's sick, keep them home. Just what we always say… fever free for 24 hours," said Potter. McKinney said they will continue to contract trace and let parents know their child has been in contact with some- one who tested positive and to keep an eye on them for symp- toms, but no quarantine until symptoms appear. NEW $6.5 MILLION THIRD GYM IN PRELIMINARY DISCUSSIONS Deffendoll told the board the weight room has been up- dated with new equipment, but it is still in a bad location above the pool. "So we've talked before about what options we would have available. So we took that first step to start exploring it and met with Hafer (an archi- tecture firm) to pitch small ideas to the grandest of the grand," said Deffendoll. "What you have in front of you is a potential starting point for a project to build a facility on the back of the Pike Central Gym entrance, the high school and down that slope into the first couple doors of the band hallway that would serve as an internal en- trance for students and allow handicap accessibility up into the gym without having to go outside or use an old elevator," said Deffendoll. She added the new facility would give them another to practice gyms, walkers, the new weight room, the hall- way, concessions and ticket- ing with more handicap ac- cessibility. "So again, I'm not asking you to take action on any of this, I mainly just wanted to bring the information before you. By all means, if you have questions, please let us know," said Dr. Blake. She said some of the bond the school district is paying off will be finished in the near future. "But to be clear, this is not just a weight room, this is the weight room to additional gyms and practice gyms," said McKinney. He added "We ar- en't paying $ 6.5 million for just a weight room." Potter said he liked the idea that kids wouldn't have to go home then come back to school for practice later in the evening due to a shortage of gym space. Deffendoll said some kids are not able to participate in sports because of that. Potter also said it would bring the gym closer to the parking area so people didn't have to walk so far. In personnel matters the board made several hires and accepted several resignations. The resignations included Lisa Bertsch as a special edu- cation assistant, Madison Har- mons with the special educa- tion team at PES. Jacob Western resigned his positions as a teaching aid for the middle school and the positions of varsity soccer, freshman basketball and var- sity baseball positions follow- ing being cited for marijuana possession. They also hired several teaching aid positions: Dori Onyett and Paige Loveless at Petersburg. Taylor Schro- ering and April Loveless as SPED instructional aids at Winslow. In coaching personnel, J. J. Howald was hired as junior varsity basketball coach. Dave Pipes was hired as the softball varsity assistant and Rachelle Johns as JV softball coach. In the Middle School, An- drew Russell was named boys and girls head swim coach with James Luff as boys as- sistant and Amanda Barrett as girls assistant. Tracy Stone was transferred from the Pike Central ECA treasurer to Administrative Assistant position at the cen- tral office. The next school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 8. Above is a drawing an elevation of proposed new gym facilities that would attach to the existing high school gym. Above is a drawing of where a proposed new gym facility would be located at Pike Central.