Employees top students in softball game

The last time Skush Poodri, 16, saw his Carson High School deans it was in a disciplinary session. They met again Friday on a whole new playing field.

Although Poodri said he's committed to improving his behavior at school, he still had a vendetta to settle.

"It would make it more fun to beat them," he said.

Members of the Native American clubs at the high and middle schools challenged school district employees to a softball game at the John L. Harvey Field at Western Nevada College on Friday.

Club adviser Debbie Painter said it was an opportunity for the kids to see their leaders in a different light.

"It's a way for the two teams to interact in a way they don't get to during the rest of the year," she said. "They see that just because they're administrators doesn't mean you can't approach them."

Roman Smokey, 15, said it was "kind of weird" to see his teachers and administrators outside of school, including Carson High School Principal Ron Beck, who flaunted brightly colored floral shorts and blue high-top tennis shoes.

But is was something Smokey said he could adjust to.

"It's better to see them out here than in school," he said. "They're the boss in school."

He was hoping to reverse that dynamic on the field, but it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be.

"I didn't think they were going to be that good, but they're pretty good," he said.

It may have been the informal coaching from Kinkade DeJoseph, a fifth-grade teacher at Bordewich-Bray Elementary School, that gave them the edge.

"This time, when you hit it, run," he teased Susie Kane, an administrative assistant to associate superintendent Sue Keema, who also played on the team. "Just a little advice. There are two steps to this process."

DeJoseph said he was eager to play against some of his former students, but that wasn't the real reason he signed up.

"Honestly, I really wanted to play on this field," he admitted. The field worked to his advantage, where he hit three home runs.

Joe Girdner, a dean of students at Carson High School, spends most of his time focused on discipline. It was good, he said, to change that role for a couple of hours.

"It's a great thing to have fun with the kids," he said. "The hard thing about my job is I don't get to have much positive contact with kids. Not as much as I'd like."

Still, he said, he "absolutely" wanted to win.

And they did. The final score was school district 27 to 11 for the Native American Club.