Staff goes all out for tradition

It’s not every day the kids in Pilot Point High School get to see their teachers and staff members get a bit silly, but Halloween morning was an exception.

Multiple Marios and Luigis raced down the hallways of the school that were lined with students taking pictures and joking around with each other.

“Students, it’s time,” Southard said over the loud speaker. “If you want to, go ahead and come out into the hallways. Get up against the walls as we don’t want someone running into you because this race may be very vicious.”

That was one of the announcements about the fifth Parade of Idiots, during which the staff members don costumes and their silliest moods to parade around the school.

For Southard, the annual tradition has multiple benefits.

“We started this five years ago, and it’s just a team unity thing,” Southard said. “And, kids love it. They get into it.

“It’s a perfect time of year because we’re really kind of into the grind of the school year, so it’s nice to have a little bit of a break, kind of relieve some pressure and have a little fun.”

The majority of the characters made two loops through the hallways after taking off with the traditional Mario Kart starting buzzer.

Princess Jasmine, Aladdin and the genie even made their appearance, with Jasmine and Aladdin seeming to float through the hallways on a magic carpet.

Several of the most famous female Disney villains also made the trek throughout the halls.

Who everyone would be had been kept a secret through this year, like in previous years, but that might be changing for future parades.

“It’s such a secretive deal, no one will tell anybody what they’re doing, and so we didn’t figure it out until about two days ago that we had two different groups doing the same thing,” Southard said.

Classic Mario Kart standards like banana peels and turtle shells made an appearance.

And for one character, the double P did double duty: It stood for Princess Peach and for Pilot Point.

Representatives from the office staff, special education teachers as well as the science, ag, English and math departments participated in the Halloween costume contest.

“Happy employees are better employees, so we do fun stuff like this,” Southard said. “They enjoy it and, I think, in the end, they’ll do a better job in the classroom.”

It’s not just something for the employees. It’s a way for the students to see their teachers “are humans,” Southard said.

“They’re not a teacher 24/7,” he said. “... They do like to have fun. The kids enjoy it.”

An office aide confirmed that.

Nate Bell said the 2019 parade was “even better than last year’s.”

“It’s not very different for some of them,” he said about getting to see the staff members play around. “Most of them are usually goofy, but it’s cool seeing the ones that are usually serious being goofy.”

Each year, the overall costume winner gets a day off, Secretary Angie Price said.

“They can’t split it,” she said if a group wins.