Sacred Sitdowns
Sharing one’s personal story is sometimes hard, but it is holy. Sacred Sitdowns seeks to allow a safe space for faith-filled conversations with members and friends of Geist Christian Church. Hosts Kyle Brown and Danny Gulden hope that all those who hear will be enlightened and inspired. Listen with us. You’ll be glad you did.
Sacred Sitdowns
Sarah Parks-Reese
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode of Sacred Sitdowns, Danny and Kyle welcome Sarah Parks-Reese, a dedicated member of Geist Christian Church and assistant director of kindergarten readiness for the Indiana Department of Education. A lifelong advocate for education and community, Sarah shares her journey of faith; the challenges and joys of serving on the Hamilton Southeastern school board; and her passion for ensuring all students feel safe, included, and supported. She also discusses her experience as a band mom, the importance of mental health resources in schools, and how faith has shaped her commitment to education.
Let us tell you a story. A story that will challenge, inspire, and change the way you see the world. We're your host. I'm Danny Goulden. And I'm Kyle Brown, and this is Sacred Sit Downs.
SPEAKER_01A conversational podcast that explores how the Spirit of God moves within this world through the power of story.
SPEAKER_02In today's episode, we will sit down with a member or friend of Geist Christian Church as they share their dynamic faith-filled story.
SPEAKER_01We hope that you will be enlightened and inspired by the words shared today as we gain deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. This is Sacred Sit Downs.
SPEAKER_02I'm looking forward to the stories we hear and the stories we get to share.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, absolutely. We have a wonderful guest today. Our friend Sarah Parks Reese is here. Sarah is a member of Geist Christian Church and professionally she is the assistant director of kindergarten readiness for the Indiana Department of Education. So that means she is very important to our kids, our futures and learning. She is also a school board member here in Hamilton Southeastern Schools. Welcome, Sarah. We're glad you're here today.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Happy to be here.
SPEAKER_02Sarah, it's really good to have you on. One of the things that we like to begin usually each of our podcasts with is for the person to tell us a little bit about uh their story.
SPEAKER_00Sure. So I grew up in a Presbyterian church, a very small one at first. My dad was my Sunday school teacher, and some Sundays I was the only member of the Sunday school class. And then during church, we would get dismissed after the children's sermon. And then my mom was the youth church teacher. So then there was usually a few more kids by then because it was it was more all elementary ages instead of divided up by grades. And so about the time I was in fifth grade, we switched churches, but it was still a Presbyterian church. And so that's where I spent the rest of my time while living with my parents was at Reed Memorial in Richmond, Indiana.
SPEAKER_02And that's where you grew up, Richmond. Okay. All right. Is Richmond known for anything? Like, does it have any like historical markers?
SPEAKER_00Not really anymore. At one point it was known for the City of Roses, and then way back it had a recording label, so there was some jazz um recordings there.
SPEAKER_02Really?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00So cool. From my journey from there, I went on to college, and I think as many young people do, they kind of maybe don't attend church on a regular basis. But I did find a church that I liked, and I would go, and then I had somewhere to take my grandma when she came into town and said, Sarah, take me to your church.
SPEAKER_01I got one. I got someone. Where did you go to school at?
SPEAKER_00Ball State.
SPEAKER_01Chirp, chirp. There we go. Okay. So yeah, you had to find a church because when grandma came and you had said, Oh, I don't really have one, that probably would have been unacceptable, right?
SPEAKER_00Not gonna land well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So then moving on in my in my twenties, I remember I moved to Indianapolis. My best friend and I were looking for a church home. We were really looking for those 11 o'clock services that weren't really very popular at that time. But we we didn't find any place that felt like home. At that point, my mom got sick and my faith kind of took a different direction. I kind of wasn't sure that I really wanted to be a part of that community at that time. It was it was difficult. My mom had always taught us to pray that we pray for God's will. You know, we pray, she was a part of the prayer chain. So people would call and and we would pray and we would pray for God's will. But when I felt like it came to my mom, my will didn't maybe align with what God's will may be. And so that was a little bit of a a struggle. So that eventually she she passed away. And we, I I still didn't have a church home at that point. About a year goes by. I find myself unemployed and looking for work, and I knew I didn't want to work in for-profit childcare anymore. The focus really hadn't been on the children, it had been on the profit, and I didn't like that. And I had two options. One was for a nonprofit childcare and one was for a childcare ministry. And so I was really encouraged by that. And I thought that might be my way back into church and uh as well as employment. I got pretty far down the line. I was obviously their their leading candidate. And then they said, Well, you're gonna have to fix your living situation before we can offer you this job.
SPEAKER_01What does that mean? Yeah, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00It meant that I was living with the man who's now my husband, but at the time we weren't married.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00And and that didn't align with their values for who they wanted to lead their child care program. So once again, I stepped back from the church.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. With with good reason. Yeah, I would step back too.
SPEAKER_00So I struggled with kind of where my faith was at that point for for a few years. And the thing that brought me back was I went to work for that nonprofit childcare, and one of the students there passed away in a car accident. It was horrific. It was tragic, but the family held the most meaningful service. They brought all of us together and they said that they knew where their child was, that their child was in heaven with Jesus, and that they wanted nothing more than for everyone to leave that service and know that their children needed to come to God as well. So I had a three-year-old at home at that time. And the next Sunday we found ourselves here at Geist Christian Church. We had planned to try out a few churches in the area. This one was just at the top of the list because we knew a few people here, and I knew the disciples of Christ was aligning with a lot of my values, but we we never made it past Guy's Christian Church.
SPEAKER_02We were one and done. You came in and you're like, oh yeah, this is it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It was. It was it. I came a couple times, and at the time Courtney was one of the pastors. I'd never introduced myself to her, but she came up to me in the hall and said, Hi Sarah, how are you? And I said, I'm I'm fine. My name, yeah. And so my friend was like, How does she know your name? I said, I have no idea. So we knew then, like that this was home, that that people went out of their way to make us feel welcome and comfortable.
SPEAKER_02That's I mean Courtney Richards, who was on staff here for many years. That is one of her spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_01You were not the first person to come on here and say, Yeah, with a very similar story about it.
SPEAKER_02She's got a gift of of seeking people out, knowing their name, but also finding a way to get them plugged in to the church in a way that that gets them connected and grounded, which I I that's just amazing. So yeah, you're one of many who have who have used her in in kind of their coming to Geist Christian Church and not just coming, but staying at Geist Christian Church. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I think it's really brave to vi I am always in awe of people who visit churches because I think that's one of the hardest things to do is walk into a church and you don't really, even if you've read up, I mean, you just especially having an experience like you had in the, you know, where I mean, so many churches kind of have what I call toxic theology and just a toxic way of looking at things. And so it's really, I think, very vulnerable to walk into a church and put yourself out there. And so I'm so glad you did. I mean, that's a hard especially being burned a few times, right? Right. Oh, it's so hard. I can only imagine.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It is hard. And I had done research online and there was another church that we didn't go to because it said on the page where they advertise doing weddings that they refuse the, you know, that they reserve the right to refuse to marry people that are already living together. And I said, interesting that you put that on your website.
SPEAKER_01That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You wouldn't find that here, which I'm gr very grateful for. But I remember, you know, growing up, you know, my father was married before my mother. Um, that marriage dissolved. I found out when I was 14. And the first question I ask is, Do I have any brothers and sisters? Not that he would have not told me up until this point.
SPEAKER_01That's a good only child question, though, you want to know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But growing up in a Southern Baptist tradition, if you had been divorced, you were not able to participate fully. I mean, it it is amazing how uh so often we create rules to exclude instead of include as a church. And there's uh those are several examples, but they're just several of many that are out there, some written and some unwritten that create a disingenuous, but more importantly, a harmful to the greater community in a way that I think is unfortunate.
SPEAKER_01People are very good at putting uh God on the hook for boundaries that they like to draw. That is true. That are not of God. Absolutely. We so I was trying to figure out when in the podcast to bring this up, but uh Sarah's wearing her. I'm in my uh mom uh band mom era. And so Sarah's daughter, Selena, is a sophomore at Fishers and she plays the flute. Clarinet. I'm sorry, yeah, that's right. She is a clarinet. And then my daughter, Bella, is a junior at Carmel High School, plays a clarinet marching band. Uh both bands are very good, very competitive. And so, Kyle, you have a uh you have a soon-to-be freshman in high school. Let that sink in. A soon-to-be freshman in high school who is strongly considering being a part of the Fishers marching band. And uh so what what do you want to know about band? I mean, in terms of it's finding your people, but your life is Sarah right, his life might be getting ready to change in a way that he can't even expect, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you have to schedule your vacations very carefully.
SPEAKER_01That's what I hear. That's what I hear. You've got about a three-week window in the summer.
SPEAKER_02What's really cool is Friday, this past Friday, it was an opportunity for eighth grade band members to go and participate uh with the Fisher's band. They're included. They get to go eat with the band and kind of experience what life is going to be like on Friday nights for home games. And Selena was so cool. She reached out to Miriam and said, Hey, are you gonna be there? And unfortunately, we had a wedding. So Miriam wasn't able to be there. Uh, I think she's excited. I think it helps because uh she knows Selena, and so there's that uh connection in youth group, but she doesn't feel like she's walking into a room where she doesn't know anyone, although these bands are huge. I mean, they're not small by any stretch of the imagination. But I think she's excited uh a little bit to to participate. I I think after uh 12-hour band practices in the summer, she may think otherwise. What's the one thing that Selena has really enjoyed about the band and and what's one thing you've enjoyed as a as a band mom in this process? Because it is a lot of work. Danny is right, it it takes a lot of time and energy from everyone.
SPEAKER_00I think she's really found her people. So you say the band is large, but the high school is even larger. So the high school, you know, is a a few thousand kids.
SPEAKER_02It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00And so when you knock that down to just 250 in the band, I mean, she doesn't know everybody in the band, but she knows a good chunk of them. And she at least knows them by face so that when we see them out, or we see them in Wisconsin, right? We saw them on spring break, she'll say, that person's in band. So I think it's really helped her find where she fits in in such a big school. And so I think that was really important going in because the way we were districted, and it's still kind of messed up this way, is that our neighborhood from Deer Creek Elementary splits off into three different intermediate schools. And so at the that was the first year it did it when she moved. And so only about 30 kids from Durban at the time came to Sand Creek Intermediate. And so it would it took her a long time to find her people because most of them had been together for a long time. So those 30 kids she moved with, obviously, all 30 of them weren't her friends or she didn't she wasn't close with all of them. So I think this is really band in general, but especially marching band has helped her really find her place.
SPEAKER_02And what about you as a band, as a band mom? Like, what do I need to know? Is this like apparently scheduling vacations?
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02I need to be mindful of that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you have to definitely, I mean, like fall break, we only get half a fall break, really. Okay. So uh but so that's one thing. But I think knowing that we're a team, we all work together. It's not just the kids that have to do the work, the parents have to put in a lot of work too. So we do a lot of volunteer work, and it's can be hectic when you have other things going on too. But it takes all of us to make it work.
SPEAKER_02Because you all, I mean, one of the things that I think is interesting, you know, growing up, our band in Ashland, Kentucky may have participated in things beyond Friday night football games, but I was unaware of it. I become more aware there's competitions and everything. You guys are uh at Carmel and Fisher's, like you all are downtown a lot, but you're also in other communities competing against other bands throughout the season.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, there's two usually two treks. So there's the Istmo, which is the Indiana State School Music Association, something like that. And so that has the regionals, semi-state and state. And so those are the ones that are around the state and this and then eventually the state is downtown. And then we have the more national competitions that are through bands of America.
SPEAKER_01I I think the community, like you know, at church we talk about building community, and that's really important. The thing about band is not just within your own band, but I think last year we had a uh Selena and Bella and Izzy Craig, who's in Noblesville's band, took a picture together. I think it's it's competitive, but not there's not like it's a healthy competition. I think the band community, when when Sarah mentioned band community, it's not just at your school, it's other schools and they do uh break ranks where they go on the field and they all it's really in some ways like band is really good at showing us how we should kind of live in the it's kind of a glimpse a little bit of how we should be toward one another. Sure. And uh it's just been and I also think I probably this is true for Selena. Like I'll tell Bella, I'm like, you're working harder. I've never worked this hard in anything in my life. I mean, I've never practiced 12 hours a day for something, but they um yeah that's a full commitment. It is a huge, but discipline, all sorts of it's I can't speak high, and I'm not a I mean, I played the trumpet for six weeks in the sixth grade, and the teacher said, Aren't I hope you're good at something else? So that's really the extent of my so we knew nothing about, but it and the parents are great. I mean, and we've enjoyed getting to know the parents, and it really is. You depend on one another. Sure. It really takes it really takes everyone to make it work.
SPEAKER_02So, Sarah, you talked about that decision of working for um uh a nonprofit school. How did you get from from there to your job now?
SPEAKER_00So I was a center director with that company for about seven years. And then I was promoted to the director of curriculum and instruction. And so I kind of oversaw all of our sites and supported all the center directors in preparing their their teachers to better implement the curriculum in the classroom. Also working on uh a national accreditation, helping making sure they were prepared for that too. Eventually, they decided that position was great, but they couldn't really fund it anymore. And so uh the position was eliminated, and I once again found myself unemployed. And at that point, that's when the state had an opening, and I applied at that time to be the pre-K expansion specialist. And so it was a unique position looking to support schools in implementing the new pre-K pilot on my way pre-K. And so they needed someone that had come from that community-based pre-K background to kind of bridge the gap and speak both languages. So to speak that community-based preschool language and help the schools understand what they needed to do.
SPEAKER_01Where would you say your passion for education comes from in general?
SPEAKER_00Oh, it definitely comes from my dad. He um was very passionate about ed education and would always ask us um, you know, what was going on in class and how was school. Even once my parents were divorced, the first thing every time we saw him, how is school? How is this? How's what's what's going on in in each of your classes? But more than that, he he modeled it. So he didn't have a college degree for uh most of my childhood. And then in middle school, he went back to school and got his nursing degree.
SPEAKER_01Wow, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So it was it was really crazy to watch him uh work third shift and then come home and get us off to school and bake us muffins and and do all these things, all the while trying to learn the names of these drugs and watch him study for these tests and and eventually get his his R in.
SPEAKER_01Kind of hard for you to complain about going to school when you see your dad doing all these things, right? Right.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that has to be a really core memory uh for you, is being able to watch him I'm the sacrifice that it takes to to do all things, to be a parent student. I mean, it's hard enough just to be a student or just to be a parent, but to to make that work in a way that allows him to succeed, but also the family to succeed. That's that's gotta be a pretty special memory.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It was it I mean, and the fact looking back now, I didn't think anything about him making muffins or whatever, but now I'm like, he worked all night, he came home, he made muffins, and then he studied for school. Like it's just I'm like, why didn't we just eat Pop Tarts?
SPEAKER_01Right, right. You're like, this is a lot.
SPEAKER_02That's amazing. And he taught Sunday school.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he did.
SPEAKER_02Now, do you uh so my mother taught Sunday school? Did you do you have a uh a memory from Sunday school with your dad that that that you hold on to?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. He had me make a map of like Mesopotamia and we with like Play Doh in a pizza box. So it was yeah, it was very elaborate.
SPEAKER_01Did he give you something to look at? I'm not sure I could draw a map of Mesopotamia for a yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm pretty sure I had something to look at. Sure. But yeah, it was, I still remember it was not pretty. It didn't look very nice.
SPEAKER_01Well, not everything in the Bible's pretty. I mean, you know, yeah, it fits within the hands-on learning.
SPEAKER_02It's absolutely absolutely that's right. So, did watching uh, you know, education is important. Um, I was telling Danny before you got here. Uh, I'm always fascinated how my favorite show, West Wing, reflects common or modern commentary and and whatever it is. I mean, the show was forever ago, but they were talking about uh Josiah Bartlett wanting to be active in a school board race. He felt like someone should have not been up for that position and wanted to weigh in. And one of the other characters is like, You you're president, you can't weigh in on a school board election. That's not what the president does. And he's like, But I I want to, school board. Uh it is not an easy job, it is a non-paid job. And yet, why?
SPEAKER_00Again, I'm super passionate about education. As I mentioned, I get it from my dad, but also my mom had a passion too for servant leadership and community support. So I think when you combine those things, the school board makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_00When I first told my sister that I wanted to run for a school board, she laughed out loud.
SPEAKER_01Had you run for anything before? No. Before you ran last time? Like even in school or like no student government, no nothing.
SPEAKER_00This that was not my lane. Okay. And I think we both were obviously surprised that I was interested in that. I'm an introvert at heart and not really one to put myself out there. But I felt so passionately about that. I really want to make sure that equal access is available to all of our students and that all of our kids feel safe and want to come to school and they feel welcome and that they're able to learn. Additionally, I think it's really important to support our teachers and more now more than ever, they really need to feel that support. And so I think that that's what I've tried to do in both my votes and my actions.
SPEAKER_02Sure. I mean, I think uh we'll talk about the student component here in a bit, but the teacher component, you know, when I when I think of of COVID in that era, we we tended to lift up our frontline workers. And I think in many ways our teachers were our frontline workers doing things in a new way online. And I think there was an element of of support at that time. I I do feel like it's it's begun to wane that that you know, I went to school to be a teacher. I did student teaching. I remember how hard it was. What subject do you teach? It was social studies. It was it was social studies, but it was government. And in Virginia, both eighth grade and and seniors had to take a government class. And so that's political science and and it worked. But it's a grueling job. Like I think people think teachers get the summers off, you know, when students aren't there, they've got you know, the the it I don't know what people think teachers do, but I I remember once school left, there were mountains of work that needed to be done before days end. And and it was almost being taken for granted that that what we do at that particular time. Uh and so what do you see with with our teachers and what are their biggest needs that you see within this community?
SPEAKER_00I think often their biggest needs are are just to be heard and to be listened to. So when we're making decisions, making sure they're part of that decision, they need to have a seat at the table. And that's done through our teachers association, through our union, but they all have an opportunity to elevate their their concerns and their needs through the appropriate channels there, but making sure that we're we're really listening to what their needs are.
SPEAKER_01Would it be fair, I'm trying to think of the right way to ask this question, to say that your kind of your desire, your passion, that that kind of all students are heard and treated equally, does that that comes from your faith, I would assume in some way?
SPEAKER_00I would think so. Yeah. I think it also comes from from my upbringing too. But again, that was rooted in in the church.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that's I mean, I think that's needed. I mean I think, you know, for me at least, I mean, I you know, when people ask, well, I mean, I I have that same belief. I mean, I think all and and for me, that's deeply rooted in in my own faith. I mean, I believe that's who that's I believe that's how God would have us treat others and treat everybody. And so sometimes it's hard in the public space when you hear I know sometimes when I walk out and oh, you're a pastor, and I can see people are immediately thinking, Well, what kind of past that's just a loaded term, right? Because people have so many. I I assume it's kind of the same thing when you think about education or I'm on the school board or whatever it is, you know, like, oh, what is exactly and so I I I have appreciated um Sarah just watching you, um, just knowing who you are and and and and your heart and seeing being passionate about uh every kid in the community because we we desperately need that in our teachers and every teacher. And so it's just um it's inspired me. So I just appreciate you doing that.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Yeah, it's important. I mean, we have students of all different needs. We have English language learners, and we have even more moving into the area. We have students with special education needs, we have students that are high ability and they have a different set of needs that we need to meet as well. So just trying to make sure that all of our kids have all of their needs met.
SPEAKER_02We were uh Danny, Michelle, and I sat down with uh the person who's in charge of the food, the cafeteria program for all of Hamilton County. And one of the things that she had tried to introduce, which I thought was really interesting, is kind of International Food Days, an opportunity to bring in a variety of food and cuisine for kids to experience how other cultures and the food that they they enjoy. You know, back in the day for me it was pizza. That was about a school pizza, school pizza where it was a square. I didn't know they made that. But I just uh you know, that's a small example of um a kid allowing an opportunity to share a little bit of their culture and their their history and who they are with their uh other students, which I thought was really cool. I don't know if every school system does that, but I thought that was really interesting that ours did that.
SPEAKER_01And at the same at the same token in meeting with her, because you know, we were talking about school lunch debt and what we as a church might could do. Mainly we didn't want kids to get stigmatized for not having enough money to eat school lunch, and sounds like the school system does a good job of not doing that, but also the amount of the amount of children who the amount of students in our community, where people from the outside might look and say, What an affluent community. Um but that's just one story because the amount of students and the amount of school lunch that, you know, kids who can't, which they, as I understood it, carry with them through high school. What are what are some of the challenges that you see for our our school system?
SPEAKER_02Things that maybe whoever's listening may not be aware, they don't have students or kids in the school system. What are some successes and what are some things that you think we need to be mindful of that you've seen from your perspective as being a board uh being on the school board?
SPEAKER_00Some of our successes include the really diverse hands-on opportunities that we provide our students in the community. So we have partnerships with Connor Prairie. We have a teacher in residence there at Agra Park. We have a teacher in residence there. And then the students also have from grades two through five an opportunity to have a field trip, including those at the Agra Park and Connor Prairie. We also have a teacher in residence at the makerspace at Hub and Spoke, and that's their uh fifth grade opportunity. So they have lots of different opportunities to get out in the community and see what the community has to offer, but do that through hands-on learning and kind of really bringing that learning to life.
SPEAKER_02Now, were you a hands-on learner? I'm glad that you highlighted that. Were you a hands-on learner as well? I mean, we go back to that Mesopotamia example of of using your own. Clearly, the answer is yes. I mean, she put together a absolutely. I I just I think that's important of the variety of ways in which students learn. And hands-on is definitely one of those important ways.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think hands-on is is definitely the way I learn. I think it's unique to the way most people learn. You have to to really kind of try it to really understand what you're what you're applying your knowledge to.
SPEAKER_02So, what are some things that we should be aw aware of? Things that we need to work on as as a as a school community.
SPEAKER_00We accepted a mental health grant a couple of years ago, and that's been really good to help us move the needle towards having enough social workers in school, but we're still below the national recommended average. And so when you think about the high school counselor that you may have met with to help guide your future, our counselors are overloaded. And so they're still not in that national recommended average. They're having to meet with a lot of different students. I know my student in particular, you know, she has time with her, but not a lot of time. And so that time has to be very specific and very targeted, and she has to know what she wants to talk about when she goes in. And so having more opportunities like that would be great. And so continuing to keep the funding that we have and increase the amount of social workers and school counselors so that we could provide additional services to students would be great too.
SPEAKER_02Sure. My guess is it hasn't shifted. We're just more aware some of the stigma that we've had around sharing the vulnerabilities or the uncertainties. We've made that a little bit more acceptable. It's not to the level where people are as open as we would like. But you know, things that I think students share these days, I probably would have not shared with my counselor back in the day, or didn't even know my counselor would have been there to to meet me with whatever need I might have or concern or anxiety. I mean, I think COVID probably raised some of that for our students. But what do you see some of our students struggling with these days that that maybe it was going on when we were going through school, but it just wasn't as talked about or we might have not been as socially aware of those things?
SPEAKER_00I think there's definitely a lot of anxiety. And so our social workers have support groups, again, with parent permission, you have to sign up for those things, but they have them during their their targeted instruction time. So when the students aren't in class and it's more or less a study hall or a time where they can meet with either a counselor or a teacher where they're needing extra support, they can have that time to meet with the support group and they can talk through different ways of managing their anxiety. And so I think those have been really valuable for our students. Having options like that is part of our school safety plan. So you mentioned that maybe we just didn't pay much attention to these things before. I think that's definitely part of it when you think about preventing school shootings and things like that is that you have to pay attention to that. It has to be part of your safety plan.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm sure anxiety, um, you know, all the research around anxiety and teens and um social media screens. I mean, I'm sure that I mean, I think about when I was in high school, middle school, I'm a little older than Kyle and Price Era. So, but back, you know, we had rotary telephones. You know, we didn't we didn't have those things. And so that the comp I can only imagine, both for a teacher, a school counselor, the complexity of their role now as compared to say 20, 25 years ago, I it's it's gotta be night and day, I would imagine, on a day-to-day basis.
SPEAKER_02Do our teachers have the resources needed for all the roles that they're playing?
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think that they have some of the resources. I think we have to continue to provide them more.
SPEAKER_02And where do we, as as a school system, where where do those resources come from? Are those tax dollars from our local community? Is that from the state? How how are the ways in which we ensure and fund those programs?
SPEAKER_00So a lot of the funding comes from the state. However, because Hamilton Southeastern is one of the more wealthy on the index of the state complexity, we don't get as much funding from state as maybe some of the other districts. And so that's why we have to have things like our referendum that we passed last school year, last fall, with over 70% people voting for that. And those obviously still tax dollars, but coming directly from our community to support the additional initiatives that we want. And so this time it was it was school safety, but it was also class sizes.
SPEAKER_02What's our average class size?
SPEAKER_00I don't it depends on the grade, but anywhere from about 20 to 25.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I mean, that's to me very manageable, but also smaller than probably some of our other communities in and around Indiana.
SPEAKER_01And those typically, I think, right, well, on referendums like that, it's not a new to it's a renewal of tax dollars, right? That's already going to be a good thing.
SPEAKER_00Right. Ours was a renewal.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Which sometimes people don't realize they hear tax. And and I mean, I think an investment in our schools is the best. Everybody wants to live in a community with with good schools.
SPEAKER_00It does, it raises your property values.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And we've got some great teachers. I mean, I that's one of the things that I've noticed. Uh I mean, Miriam has been very lucky to have just some amazing teachers that are creative and thoughtful and kind and caring and challenging as well. I mean, we also want them to be challenging, but I mean it's um, you know, that's the one thing that I think is hard when we have state required or mandated SOLs or whatever we want to call them. Sometimes it takes a little of the creativity out of it for a teacher because they have to meet these benchmarks. But I'm so it it it's harder work for them to make it engaging and fun when they're talking about whatever it is that they're teaching that particular section or st or or cohort.
SPEAKER_01And we typically in a disciples' congregation, um, you know, at one time the disciples of Christ, our movement, had started the most educational institutions in the United States. Uh Butler was a church school at one time. I mean, that's not true anymore, but so we've always, I think, in our tradition, our church tradition, I've had a a strong emphasis on education. We're very open-minded here. We believe people can read the Bible and interpret it for themselves and learn and build build clay models of Mesopotamia and Sunday school. I mean, we we believe in that. And so, you know, in your average disciples' congregation, you tend to have a lot of educators. We have that here at Geist. And um, you know, they just make our our community life richer. I mean, we um just working here, not having a student in in this school system, but working here um and getting the chance to know some of our teachers and educators has been a joy because they really we have some of the the best of the best, and they really do have the kids, kids' interest and and futures at heart. How do you handle being on the school board? How do you handle the mudsock game? Like when when Fishers and HSE play one another and basketball, football, soccer, all that.
SPEAKER_00How do you so for the football game, whichever team is hosting is the team that usually all wear their paraphernalia. So I'll wear the the Fishers paraphernalia, but I don't really care who wins. I'm just it's you just want a good game.
SPEAKER_02It's fun to see the community out. Community come together and have a great game.
SPEAKER_00Now, this year the basketball will be a little bit different because it's gonna be in the new Fishers Events Center. So um That's gonna be awesome. I don't know what I'm gonna wear to that yet. I get we keep saying that somebody needs to make a like divided sweatshirt. You know how they've had like split like Peyton Manning jerseys when he left. Um so something like that that had both the Royals and the Tigers on there.
SPEAKER_02I like that idea. That sounds really that's that that could be a good church fundraiser right there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we should put together split split Fishers and HSE jerseys. I like it. I I didn't yes, I would love to. I yeah. So, Sarah, what do you do? You may not get much of this, but what do you like to do in your free time? What do you like to do for fun? When you have free time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, I like to Netflix and chill.
SPEAKER_01Since you mentioned Netflix. So we always like to ask them is there a television show, uh book, uh podcast, anything like that that they've read, watched, they want to recommend. It doesn't have to be highbrow at all. So what's something you've watched lately that you really enjoyed?
SPEAKER_00Hey, I just finished Nobody Wants This. Kristen Bell and has a story of a rabbi and they fall in love. And I won't give any more spoilers, but it's a really interesting kind of situational comedy about how you navigate faith and relationships.
SPEAKER_01I was not watched. We were talking about it earlier, and he's not four episodes in, I think. It is really you're talking about navigating faith. I mean, they really handle that very well.
SPEAKER_02I I will I my my fear is that Sarah wants to watch this show, which means uh I watch way more TV than she does. And so creating space where both of us can sit down and watch a show uh is is a little more uh difficult. But I I'll put it on my list. It'll be there. But my guess is she's gonna want to watch it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's so good. Mary Michael, my wife, just she just normally she'll wait on me if she's like, Oh, I know there's something. And she just watched the whole thing without me. Did she? And then said you need to watch it. She's like, I'm sorry. I mean, she felt bad, but she's like, I couldn't, it was so good.
SPEAKER_02We've got to finish only murders in the building. And then once we get through that, we can move on to another show. But that's that's our show right now that we're watching. We can't do too many. So is is that the show that you and Selena watch, or do you all have a uh No, she and I watched Love is Blind. Oh, that's a fascinating show. So uh when Mark Yecchinelli was here last two Aprils two Aprils ago, uh he said that that was a wonderful show to watch with your kids because it's there are a lot of situations that arise that you could have some really meaningful conversations from. Yes. Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I mean, I think some parents think that maybe it's not a great idea to watch it, and my husband might be one of them.
SPEAKER_01So he does not watch it with us.
SPEAKER_00He does not watch it with us, but I think it gives us the opportunity to talk through some red flags and lots of different things like that.
SPEAKER_02And that's what Mark was saying. It's it's there's the good, bad, and the ugly, and but it allows conversation. So have you and Selena always been able to have conversations like that, or is that something uh of of pulling teeth? Like you were you were talking about your dad would ask how school uh was. I'm guessing you gave more than one-word answers, like it's fine. Good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, one word wouldn't have flummed have gotten.
SPEAKER_02He would have pressed further. Well, you still get one word answers when you press further.
SPEAKER_00But no, I think we've always been able to have that um relationship. I remember back in second grade, she came home and and she told me, Mom, I have I have something I'm not supposed to tell anybody. And I said, Well, guess what? It doesn't count when you tell your mom. And it turned out to be something that I needed to know, that I needed to report to the teacher. So I was really lucky that we had already built that relationship and that I could tell her that that I didn't count, that when your your friends say you can't tell anyone that your mom doesn't count.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's awesome to have uh brilliant conversation and to be able to know what's going on in your kids' lives, but also it helps you be a better parent, but also a better school board. I mean, you kind of know what's going on in the life of of our schools, which I think is really, really good.
SPEAKER_01Well, Sarah, thank you for being with us. Thank you. I know it's an incredibly busy time for you, so thank you for making uh time for us. It's been a joy, and just thank you for all you do for our community, for our kids, our teachers, our schools. I mean, you are you are a blessing to this community, and so we are we are appreciative of that. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for having me, and thanks for filling my cup when it needs it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, anytime.
SPEAKER_02This has been another episode of Sacred Sit Downs. We hope you will join us next time as we explore the power of story. We can be found on all major platforms, so be sure to subscribe. As always, thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Sacred Sit Downs.