Commendable effort
Kudos to Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation’s Ethan Crough and Janice Montgomery, the present and former school foundation executive directors who led the successful fund drive for repair and replacement of the sculptures “Puddles” and “Frog Pond” outside the school district’s administration building. They raised more than $23,700 since announcing the fund drive in June — exceeding their goal — and are still accepting donations.
The statues are significant because they were originally commissioned by the late James Baker, former chairman of Arvin Industries. The statues were part of a series of sculptures located at the Arvin headquarters, now serving as the school district’s administration building. However, “Puddles” was stolen in 2012 and “Frog Pond” was removed by the district while a replacement was commissioned.
Some of the money raised will go toward security measures to prevent future thefts of the statues. That’s reassuring because they have a special place in the community.
Where are the candidates?
The filing period for school boards has been open for several weeks, since July 27, yet there’s been a lack of candidates for the positions. That’s disappointing.
Two of the open Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. seats had only one candidate as of Wednesday. Tim Woods is the candidate for District 5, currently occupied by Pat Bryant. District 7 incumbent Jeff Caldwell has filed, but has no challengers. The only semblance of a race is in District 3, with Polly Verbanic and James A. Persinger vying for the seat.
The situation for the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Board is worse. As of Wednesday, no candidates had filed for either open position, the Flat Rock or Hawcreek representatives, seats held respectively by incumbents Brian Rose and Steve Wilson.
These are important roles, and we encourage people with an interest and the time to step forward.
Safety first
We commend the Indiana Football Coaches Association and Indiana High School Athletic Association for taking steps to reduce the risk of injuries in football. Injuries are always a concern in this collision sport, but as the long-term impacts of concussions become apparent, for example, safety is all the more important in football.
The organizations reduced the number of full-contact days teams are allowed to practice in a week. Only two days of live contact with tackling are permitted, and all other practices must be scaled back to permit at most players putting hands on each other.
While some schools already have scaled back the amount or degree of contact, the new rule makes sure all schools adhere to best practices in ensuring the safety of student-athletes.
