A Boys & Girls Club could soon be coming to Pineville Independent School next year. The Pineville School Board approved applying for a 21st Century grant and entering into a partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Appalachia at their October meeting.

Miranda Jeffers, the director of school partnerships for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Appalachia, spoke to the board about the partnership.

“It was brought to my knowledge that you all had 21st Century funding, but it’s been probably ten to 15 years ago,” she said. “What we would like to do is come in and work with you to write the grant and hopefully receive it so we can put a Boys & Girls Club here in the school starting in August.”

She said the Boys & Girls Club would be the fiscal agent for the grant and Pineville Independent would be the co-applicant.

“We would handle the payroll, the reporting, all of the administrative side of it. All we ask the school to do is provide a classroom, help promote the program and help us get teachers and students for the program,” Jeffers said. “We would work hand-in-hand with the teachers, with the principals and with families to ensure that this program is successful.”

The deadline for applying for the grant is Dec. 4 and Jeffers said the grant could be written for K-5 students, K-8 or K-12.

The Boys & Girls Club would provide an afterschool program for Pineville four days per week for the entire school year. The club includes activities for the kids as well as tutoring.

“I think Pineville is the only school in this area that doesn’t have anything after school for the kids,” Jeffers said. “This grant would be a continuation grant so we would have $100,000 a year to work with. That would pay for a site coordinator, teachers and your supplies.”

Superintendent Russell Thompson recommended the board approve the partnership and they agreed to. If the grant is approved the Boys & Girls Club would start at Pineville in August.

Principal Dr. Jarryd Boster gave an update of the school’s new wrestling program.

“We have identified another coach to be a part of that program on a volunteer basis and that is Hunter Luttrell. He’s a Bell County Deputy Sheriff, he’s coached in Knox County, and has a good amount of knowledge of the sport,” he said.

Luttrell would be working with Ethan Raby on teaching wrestling techniques to the team. Allen Harris will be the coach of record and coordinate the schedule and buses.

Boster said so far 20 high school boys, six high school girls, 13 middle school boys and five middle school girls to sign up for the team.

“We have a mat identified, we have a quote in place and we will be picking it up shortly. It falls well within the target price we discussed,” he said. “We’ll even be able to outfit those athletes in singlets and headgear for the high school ranks. They’ll have to provide their own shoes, but that’s typical.”

Wrestling will be a club sport for those in middle school and younger. The cost will be less than $100 to each athlete to outfit themselves. They will also provide their own transportations to matches.

“Everything seems to be in place and there is a high interest,” Boster added. “I think once we see what the total picture looks like it will be one of our largest sports.”

Catrina McDermott went over KSA scores with the board. Highlights include the high school earning an overall 91.9 rating to rank number two in the state, and improvement across the board at the middle school and the elementary.

Thompson told the board that $17,000 had been raised through donations for a KSA celebration trip to Dollywood — The Pineville Rotary Club, Chu-Con and the Pineville Kiwanis were among the significant donors. Those trips will start on Nov. 6 with third, fourth and fifth grades; sixth, seventh and eighth grades will go on Nov. 13; juniors and seniors will go on Friday, Nov. 15 and freshman and sophomores on Nov. 22.

Architect Ben Boggs from Clotfelter-Samokar congratulated the board on the opening of the football field and said work was winding down on the track and field areas and the turf practice field. It will be the spring before the final grass perimeter on the field is finished.

The board approved change order #02 which included additional sidewalk around the weigh room, the relocation of an electrical box as well as the painting of the old fieldhouse and new fixtures in the bathrooms.

Boggs said that leaves about $28,000 in contingency with the project nearly completed. He estimated that it would cost about $2\0,000 to put a new roof on the fieldhouse.

Thompson said after looking at other fields that have recently been upgraded around the region, he felt like Pineville “got a lot of bang for our buck” with their athletic field upgrades.

The board also approved:

— the KETS offer of assistance for FY25 of $5,496.

— a capital funds outlay request for debt service on buses ($46,000), additional fencing at the football field ($10,000) and work on the gym floor ($30,000). Athletics paid $17,000 toward the resurfacing of the gym floor.

— pay application #05, the architect’s invoice and the special inspector’s invoice for the athletic field project.

Meet the Mountain Lions will be November 20 at 6 p.m.