LSC's Maurie Denney honored, AP African American Studies course approved at Monday meeting
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Lafayette School Corp. unanimously approved several recommendations during its Monday evening meeting, but one came as a surprise to most in attendance — the renaming of the Lafayette Jeff Softball Complex in honor of former athletic director Maurie Denney.
Among other notable agenda items included the addition of an advance placement African American Studies course to the high school curriculum, as well as the approval of new start times recommended by the Transportation Task Force for the 2024-25 school year.
Here are the highlights from the board meeting.
African American Studies course approved for the fall
Lafayette Jefferson High School juniors and seniors will have the option to take AP African American Studies in the fall, offering an additional option for students looking for further college credit options.
According to the official College Board course description, students will evaluate key concepts, historical developments and processes that have shaped Black experiences and debates within the field of African American studies, while identifying the intersections of race, gender, class, as well as other connections between Black communities in the United States and the broader African diaspora in the past and present.
Huddle said the hope with the addition of this course will be to increase diversity among students enrolled in AP courses.
"When you look at our data, African American students just simply don't attempt AP courses as much as other ethnic groups, and we think AP African American studies will not only draw in African American students, but all other students as well," Huddle said. "I think it will be a nice way for a lot of our students to say, 'Oh, I have an interest. I can do well in here.' And hopefully it can spur them on to take other AP courses."
Huddle said he believes the addition of the course is a great initiative to give students in the high school further opportunities that haven't been present prior to this year.
Softball Complex named in honor of Maurie Denney
Under an inconspicuous agenda item labeled "Naming of Facilities," board president Bob Stwalley said this request was a bit more fun than what typical agenda items allow.
At the request of Lafayette Jefferson High School and Principal Mark Preston, Huddle proposed the renaming of the Lafayette Jeff Softball Complex in honor of Maurie Denney, former teacher, assistant athletic director and athletic director for Jeff High School.
After the announcement of the request, a brief moment of silence fell on those in attendance among a few small giggles of anticipation for the surprise before the board moved forward in unanimous approval.
But while the surprise definitely came as just that — a surprise — Maurie's wife, Jane, who was attending the meeting, said it would likely stay that way for a little while longer because Maurie was at church for a finance meeting.
In his letter of request, Preston said his reasoning for recommending Maurie as the namesake for the softball complex stems from his decades of advocating for equal opportunity for female athletes at Lafayette schools.
As the director of girls' sports from 1981-1984, Maurie worked closely with each of the girls' programs and continued to promote the expansion of additional women's sports as they were continually added by the IHSAA, Preston said in the letter. In the early 2000's during the corporation's "Build the Future" campaign, Maurie advocated for a premiere softball complex that would be closer to the high school campus than the team's then-current playing field behind Sunnyside Intermediate School. With the support of district's administration and school board, property at the corner of Gregory Avenue and South 26th Street was purchased to construct the softball complex that stands today.
Shortly after Monday night's board meeting wrapped up, Maurie said the secret didn't stay that way for long.
"This is quite the honor — I had no idea at all," Maurie said. "I loved every minute that I was at LSC, and I think they did more for me than I ever did for them."
After having been retired from the school corporation for over 15 years, Maurie said the name sake recognition was truly humbling.
"A few years ago someone had asked me something about something like this happening, and I said there was no reason for it. I guess I didn't talk up loud enough," he said with a laugh. "To think there are people that have thought enough to put the time into something like this, I really appreciate the effort — it's overwhelming."
School start times to change for 2024-25 year
After having three different start times presented during February's work session for the corporation's three tiers of students in an effort to work through the current school bus driver shortage, the corporation agreed on "option two," from the Transportation Task Force's recommendations.
"Option two" means Lafayette Jeff and Tecumseh Junior High will be in class from 7:40 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., elementary schools will be in class from 8:30 a.m. to 3:25 p.m., and Sunnyside Intermediate will hold class from 9:05 a.m. to 4:05 p.m.
Roughly two dozen individuals comprise the task force that tackled the school hours challenges, Huddle said, including teachers, bus drivers, administrators and parents.
While adjusting class times was just one piece of the puzzle to the bus driver shortage, Huddle said discussions around enticement and retention of current bus drivers as well as recruitment plans for new drivers would be held at a later meeting.
"This was a long and very, very rigorous task that brought us to this point, and very, very necessary in order for us to get our kids back in school with a certain amount of efficiency each day," Stwalley said.
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached by email at jellison@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ellison_writes.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: LSC softball complex named in honor of Maurie Denney, former Jeff AD
