Sigma Gamma Rho requests big gym for March 2026 'Operation Big Book Bag' event; board previously approved school use
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
A representative of Sigma Gamma Rho told the board the regional youth symposium and Operation Big Book Bag will be hosted in East St. Louis March 14, 2026, expects about 1,000 attendees, and asked to use the high-school big gym; the record shows earlier approval to use the high school but not an explicit board vote on the big-gym request.
Andrea Tolden Hughes, speaking on behalf of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. and as a retired teacher in East Saint Louis School District 189, thanked the board for approving use of East Saint Louis Senior High School for the regional youth symposium and asked specifically to use the big gym for the event on March 14, 2026.
Hughes said the region's international officers and delegations from eight states will attend; the event will provide free book bags and school supplies (1,000 clear book bags were noted as on order), free breakfast and lunch for children, free haircuts from a barber college, hairstyling donated by a beauty school, a clothing giveaway (Urban League in the small gym), and a career fair. She emphasized that no vendors would sell products or services and that the district was listed as a major sponsor.
Hughes thanked the board and said that, to her understanding, approval had been granted for the site but not yet for the big gym specifically: "Everything I'm understanding was approved so far except for the big gym." The transcript does not record a subsequent board vote or an administrative decision on the gym request during this meeting.
No formal motion or vote on the gym use appears in the meeting record; the board later approved an omnibus consent agenda that included other resolutions and reports.