By Dr. Thomas Little
Superintendent of 
Perry Township Schools

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on our blessings. Perry Township is a special place filled with families that care a great deal about their community.    

We are thankful for the children who walk through our school doors every day. We are thankful for the teachers who tirelessly plan and spend long hours preparing lessons for their students to help them succeed.
Our teachers are committed to helping children prepare for the challenges in life and to help students realize their life dreams. We are thankful for our parents who support their schools and provide the guidance and direction for their children to be successful. 

We’re thankful for our administrators who guide and direct students, staff and academics in their respective buildings on a daily basis. We are thankful for the bus drivers who safely transport our children to and from school in all types of weather. We are thankful for our food service staff that prepares meals for our children. 
We are thankful for clinic assistants, custodians, teacher aides, administrative assistants, maintenance, technology and staff members who work to help make Perry Township Schools an A-rated district. We are thankful for the board of education as it provides excellent leadership. Your board spends hours upon hours attending meetings, reading material and talking with patrons.  

We are also thankful for such organizations as the Perry Township Education Foundation, which provides scholarships for teachers and donations to other worthy projects and programs. The Dads Club at Perry Meridian High can be seen grilling and selling burgers and hotdogs at various events. On any given Friday night, many parents and patrons can be seen loading and unloading band equipment.

We are thankful for the more than 100 corporate and business partners that support our schools. We will soon announce that a sponsor has come forward and would like to financially support an outdoor facility improvement initiative. I am told by former staff members that this need has existed since the school opened almost 43 years ago.  

We are especially thankful for the Southport and Perry Meridian high school alumni associations, which donate time and invest money in the future of our upcoming alums.  Their offices are located in the Perry Township Education Center at the corner of Banta Road and Orinoco Avenue. You will be amazed by the number of items that they have collected over the years.  
​
We are thankful to the community for supporting our schools.  Student success is our community success. This would not happen without the support of our community and local business initiatives.  On behalf of the 1,900-plus employees of Perry Township Schools and its more than 15,000 students, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving!.

By Dr. Thomas Little
Superintendent of Perry Township Schools

The concepts of progress and improvement are measured in a variety of ways. 

Many times, it depends on your vantage point whether something is an improvement or a step back in your attempt to keep moving forward. The Interstate-69 project is one of those issues that can be viewed as a positive improvement for the community or a barrier, depending upon where the roadway is placed and how your life is impacted by this stretch of road.  

I applaud the concept and appreciate the work that is being placed on finding the perfect route to place this roadway here on the Southside. There are no easy answers, and the time and convenience factor is immense. A great example is driving past Kokomo on U.S. 31, which is now a dream compared to the 11 stoplights that you attempted to time as you made your way north. Although if you talk to some of the business owners in Howard County, you may hear a different story from the loss of traffic near their establishments. There are pros and cons to every change.

Perry Township Schools is a dynamic, growing school district with strong graduation rates, rising achievement test scores and a diverse community structure that values the cultural differences that exist among our patrons. The district enrollment increased by more than 500 children this school year. We are projected to continue this rate of growth over the next several years. The community has a reputation for strong values and a sense of hometown community standards that simply are not replicated in many places in central Indiana.  

I have had the good fortune to be invited to meet with a group of concerned citizens whose businesses are located along State Road 37. One proposal is to locate  I-69 on State Road 37 and some interchanges along the route. If this occurs, it will have a huge impact on restaurants and businesses along the route. I am told they will be forced to move and quite possibly be forced to relocate outside Perry Township. The loss of assessed value and community support from these business owners simply cannot be replaced.

My background is not in road construction nor traffic pattern configuration, but I do know what it takes to transport children safely to and from school. The following are some facts that raise questions from my vantage point that need to be answered:

• We have more 100 school bus routes transporting 1,000-plus children across State Road 135. 
• We have more than 400 Perry Meridian High School students who live on the west side of the proposed I-69 route and drive to and from school.  
• Typically, there are three or four school events each week that are held during in the evenings and weekends that cause traffic congestion for parents attempting to go to their school and then return home. We have more than 250 families that cross State Road 37 to attend their children’s functions.  
​
Taking into account just these three factual statements, we need some assurances that these concerns will be addressed.

The Indiana Department of Transportation will host a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30, at Perry Meridian High School, 401 W. Meridian School, so the community can view the proposed options. I am looking forward to this meeting and hope to see you there.  

By Dr. Thomas Little
Superintendent of Perry Township Schools

We believe the students who graduate from Southport and Perry Meridian high schools are some of the best prepared students compared to any high school in the state. Our Perry Township graduates have what I refer to as community roots. The fact is that people who were born on the Southside tend to gravitate back home.   
We have found that some of our most dedicated staff members went to Perry Township Schools. We have almost 400 alumni on staff. I want to take this opportunity to highlight just two examples of the caliber of staff that we have working with your children.  

• Third-grade teacher Britni Bundy.
“I attended Perry Township Schools throughout my entire school career. I started my education journey at Douglas McArthur Elementary, continued on at Perry Meridian Middle School and graduated in 2008 from Perry Meridian.
​
“I am proud that I have had the opportunity to come home and start my teaching career as an interventionist at Perry Meridian Sixth Grade Academy and now a third-grade teacher at Southport Elementary. I knew at an early age that I wanted to make a difference in the lives of children, but it was not until my junior year of high school that I knew that difference would be made through teaching. The teachers in Perry Township changed my life in a positive way and molded me into the passionate, hard-working person that I am today. 

• Master teacher Andrew Karr. 
“My first experience with Perry Township Schools began in 1997 as a freshman at Southport High School. SHS would end up being my eighth and final school on the journey that was my K-12 education, the journey that would eventually land me a high school diploma.  The idea of a diploma was a new concept in my family. It was something that no one else had obtained. I faced a lot of challenges early in life that included frequently moving schools, poverty, and other family issues. I found myself with the odds stacked against me and knew it. I now realize that I was your textbook at-risk student. All of this changed the moment I landed at Southport.

“My newfound educational success at Southport would become the fuel that pushed me toward college, where I obtained my undergraduate degree in elementary education. This would become the springboard to the many blessings that exist in my life today. In the 10 years I’ve taught I’ve been fortunate enough to serve as a teacher, school administrator and TAP master teacher. This is what ultimately brought me back to Perry Township.” 

Those are the kind of stories I hear over and over again about Perry Township and the reason that our alumni come back to their school district to return to their roots. Our dream is to carry on this tradition for years to come.

By Dr. Thomas Little 
Superintendent of Perry Township Schools

It was the philosopher and composer Friedrich Nietzche who said, “Life without music would be a mistake.”
I would suggest that schools without music programs would be a huge mistake. We’re proud of our programs. I would like to take a moment to touch upon our band programs. 

The dedication and devotion by band members, their leaders, parents and patrons is simply immeasurable. You can drive by Perry Stadium before a Friday night football game and see band members, parents and others unloading equipment in preparation for the game. These individuals complete this task over and over, literally dozens of times each school year, as well as throughout the summer with joy in their hearts. This is no easy task but their drive to be a part of something special. 

As early as 1970 the stadium served as one of seven sites to host the Indiana State School Music Association’s district marching contest. Due to its location near Southport High, the facility hosted an opening round for years, with the finals now held at Lucas Oil Stadium.  

Over the years more and more football fields changed from grass to turf. To avoid mud and poor surface conditions, Southport lost the opportunity to host the event. Recently, Ray Skillman Auto Group donated enough money to install a turf field. Thankfully, Southport recaptured the ability to host an ISSMA marching event in early October.  

Gone are the days for field maintenance of mowing the grass, lining and relining the yard lines before and during competitions, prepping muddy areas with sand or absorbing material and marching on unlevel and or pitted grass field. Despite close to 16 hours of rain before this year’s competition and a soggy football game the night before, the new all-weather turf was in perfect condition to host the marching band event. That would simply not have been an option before the installation of a turf field. The field would have been one giant mud puddle.  

Experiences that have a major impact on your life often occur beyond the four walls of the traditional classroom. Sometimes they occur on a stage, on a court or on a field. Long after high school you won’t likely remember what grade you made on a test or who won a particular game. However, you will likely never forget marching on a football field competing for the No. 1 spot during the competition.

Children come to us with a wide range of talents. One of our responsibilities as an educational institution is to provide those opportunities to children so they discover their talents while realizing their dreams. 
​
A district goal is to secure funding from additional corporate donors that will financially support similar outdoor facility upgrades at Perry Meridian High School. We are committed to accomplishing this goal.