School board tours new gym

The Allen School Board toured the new gymnasium Monday night at the start of its regularly scheduled meeting.

The gymnasium is currently under construction and is scheduled to be completed this coming summer.

Greg Wellington, with MacHill Construction, led the tour. Wellington showed the group each area of the new gym and answered questions throughout.

The gymnasium includes the main gym, along with training rooms, a visitor rooms, a room for referees, a hospitality room, restrooms, and a large special area upstairs on the west side of the building which will remain incomplete until a later date.

Allen resident Danielle O’Daniel was also along for the tour and questioned Wellington about the room. “So this is going to be completely unfi nished and it was spec like that from the beginning,” she asked.

“Yes,” Wellington said. “There were alternate bids to finish the lights, the heat and air, all of those were alternate bids and none of them were accepted.”

Wellington said that MacHill did frame the restrooms for the upstairs area and will hang sheetrock and bed and tape.

Officials say the room could possibly be used as a banquet facility, and for other events.

After the tour, interim superintendent and elementary and junior high principal Jeff Hiatt said he was happy with the progress. “I look forward to the community seeing the fi nal product,” he said.

Board Member Jami Rinehart was impressed. “I was very impressed,” she said. “A lot of progress since I was there a couple of months ago.”

As well as for basketball, the new gym will also be available for other activities such as proms, etc.

Regular meeting

After returning to the Administrative building, the board discussed and approved an adoption of Indian Education Program Policies and Procedures for fiscal year 2019.

Administrative reports

Hiatt and high school principal Tony Wellington delivered administrative reports to the board.

Hiatt was appointed as interim superintendent of Allen Schools last month after retiring Superintendent Dr. Bill Caruthers took a leave of absence for health reasons.

Hiatt said for three of the first five days back from Christmas break he was busy in meetings. He said when he could, he spoke with students and faculty concerning what he expects for the rest of the school year.

“I basically told them my expectations that have to happen right now,” Hiatt said.

He said he will also be setting goals for next year. Hiatt also took time to thank the school board.

“I want to thank the school board publicly, I don’t think I’ve done that yet,” Hiatt said. “I want to do that tonight for giving me this opportunity to step in. My number one goal, I want to earn your trust, I want to earn the community’s trust, and I want to work hard. And hopefully the community will see that. We gotta have a community where we’re all working together, and I’ll do everything I can to bring community together.”

Hiatt said philosophy wise, he’s about kids first in every decision he makes.

“Any decision you make, is it good for kids? If it’s not, it pretty much stops the question at that point,” he said. “But anyway, I want to thank everybody, and, like I said, I want to earn that trust, that’s my number one goal.”

Hiatt spoke to the board about elementary happenings including an update on elementary basketball festivals, one of which took place in Calvin Monday night.

“A lot of my kids are over in Calvin tonight,” he said, “at a little fundraiser for them. They came over here and helped us. We packed the gym, it was packed when I left. Kindergarten through third grade is over there tonight.”

A fourth festival will take place in Allen February 5 and begins at 5 p.m.

Hiatt told the board that the third nine weeks period of the school year is the most crucial time for learning. “It’s right before testing,” Hiatt said. “It’s a time where we’ve really got to, and I told my teachers this, this is a time where you’ve really got to get after it.”

Hiatt said the third nine weeks is also a time where many students aren’t so eager to learn. “So it’s a battle,” he said. “... but we can’t give in to them. We have to push them hard leading up to testing. So that’s my challenge to our teachers is to raise that bar. Wherever that bar is, I said, ‘Some of you need to pick it up off the floor, some of you already got it pretty high. But I’m asking everybody to raise that bar and push them hard this third nine weeks, because it’s that important.’”

Wellington

Up next, Wellington addressed the board and began speaking about high school basketball, the playoffs of which will begin next month. He spoke about some tough