The Clark County Board of Education approved the gym floor design and bleacher colors for the George Rogers Clark gymnasium and athletic fields project 4-1 after Board Chair Gordon Parido halted off-topic discussion during its regular meeting Tuesday.

Board member Scott Hisle opposed the motion.

During public comments, Heather Penichet expressed her concern over Hisle’s posts to his school board Facebook page, Scott Hisle, School Board. Hisle made three posts to the Facebook page on March 17. The first post, at 12:34 p.m., showed the design featuring the side-facing cardinal, which was the only design up for approval during the meeting, alongside a design featuring the letters “GRC” at center court.

A second post, at 12:37 p.m., featured two student-designed options with a front facing head and a front facing cardinal with wings.

The first post received 381 votes, and the second post received 303 votes. A third post, at 3:41 p.m. March 17, showed all four designs and garnered over 95 comments from viewers.

In the comments, Hisle explained his reasoning for the posts.

“At this point the only designed (sic) that is in front of the board for consideration is the one with the side facing cardinal logo,” Hisle wrote. “I wanted to put forth the three other alternatives to get a sense of what folk’s opinion was on the matter.”

Penichet told the board Hisle’s posts were unscientific and confusing.

“I immediately thought of your five basic questions, who, what when, where and why,” Penichet said. “Who approved this poll and knew about it ahead of time? What was the purpose of bringing up the design for discussion when most of us that fought so hard for the sports complex had followed closely the progress and believed this decision had already been decided. When did all of this come about? The proposal of a new floor?

“When did the board decide to open the discussion up for public vote? Where are we headed now?”

Penichet also questioned why the board would ever consider a new logo or design that would compromise the consistency and overall aesthetics of the facility; however, the board was not considering a new logo during Tuesday’s meeting.

Nick Hounshell, the designer of the front-facing cardinals in two of the designs Hisle posted, also spoke during public comments at the meeting.

Hounshell, a senior at GRC, disagreed with Penichet, saying the poll was a good idea to get the community involved. Hounshell said many groups and organizations in the school are already using his designs; he donned a black T-shirt with his design during the meeting. Hounshell said the design before the board, the side facing cardinal, looked too similar to other schools’ cardinal mascots.

The University of Louisville, Mayfield High School, Livingston Central High School, Nelson County High School and more all have side facing cardinals in their mascot logos.

“I think my logo … it’s just very unique, which GRC is a unique (school), so I think we deserve a unique logo,” Hounshell told the board.

Another reason the board should consider alternate designs, Hounshell said, is because the students deserve a voice in the process.

“Students are going to be the ones playing on it … cheering on teams,” he said.

When the board arrived at the item during the meeting, Parido asked for the superintendent’s recommendation.

Supt. Paul Christy said he recommended the design that was in front of the board based on talks with the athletic directors, coaches, administrators and booster club sponsors. Parido then made the motion to approve the designs presented to the board. Board member Sherry Richardson seconded the motion.

Parido then opened the floor for discussion; Hisle attempted to respond to the public comments, but Parido shut it down with approval from Board Attorney Brian Thomas who said with a motion on the floor, board members could only discuss the topic of the motion.

“Mr. Hisle, can we just go ahead and stay on task right here,” Parido said. “Right now, we have a motion on the floor.”

Hisle said he thought the motion was premature because there’s a lot of interest in alternative designs that the board was not considering.