Parents at Brookhaven Academy have devised a cool way to introduce the private school’s new headmaster and football coach to the community.

They’re hosting an ice cream social Sunday at 2 p.m. in the school cafeteria. The get-to-know-you event will be held in conjunction with the school’s annual prayer walk through campus.

Parents of BA students are asked to bring a gallon of their favorite ice cream — homemade or store bought — to share with others. Bowls, spoons and toppings will be provided.

The public is invited to attend meet Head of School Jason Case and head football coach Ron Rushing as well as assistant football coach Chris Calcote, sixth-grade teacher Kaitlyn Bozeman, administrator and math instructor Kim Cruise, and seventh- and ninth-grade English instructor Elizabeth Ellis. Rushing will serve as athletic director of the school and will also be teaching geometry, precalculus and trigonometry, while Case will also coach girls’ basketball.

Case, a former principal at West Lincoln Attendance Center, said he is looking forward to the new challenge at BA.

“I just want to please God in all that I do,” he said. “I’ve been put in this position and I’m going to do the best to please him. I’m a believer in prayer. If God’s not included, things don’t work well.”

Rushing has a realistic expectation for his team for the upcoming season.

“Our immediate goals are to win that first game, then a district game, and hopefully after that things will start to snowball,” he told The Daily Leader.

This is the school’s first year to do an ice cream social. “We had an idea for a potluck lunch, but people are so busy, we thought we’d just do ice cream,” said parent Leah Smith.

Enrollment at the tuition-based Christian school that serves K3 through 12th-grade is at 460 students this year, which represents about 230 families, Smith said.

Parents and visitors will have about an hour to mingle with each other, Case, Rushing and the other teachers before the prayer walk begins.

Smith looks forward to the prayer walk, which begins with a group prayer in the cafeteria. Then individuals are free to roam the campus to pray at the various buildings.

Smith and her husband, Dustin, were both students at BA. They have three children there this year — a senior, a third-grader and a second-grader. They’ll pray in their children’s classrooms and other buildings where the students may have classes or assemblies.

“It’s just a really nice time,” she said. “It’s not organized so everybody can go at their own pace. I like to go to my kids’ classrooms and pray for them for the school year.”

Everyone moves at their own pace. “Some people stay for a long time, some don’t stay long at all. It just gives us an opportunity to pray over our school,” she said.

Smith said the school staff and parents are excited to have Rushing and Case at BA.

“We didn’t think we could get Coach Rushing,” she said. “It’s God’s grace. He’s a good man. He’s trying to instill bigger values than just playing football. He’s a good role model for our boys.”

Case, a Brookhaven native, has a great reputation and is a good fit for the school, she said.

“He’s a man of integrity. He’s a man of his word,” she said. “He tells the kids, ‘Set the bar high for yourselves. Don’t settle for mediocre.’”

Case served as principal of the West Lincoln for 15 years, with a total of 30 years in public education. He graduated from West Lincoln in 1982,  got his Bachelor of Science in education from Delta State University in 1986 and his master’s degree in instructional leadership from University of Southern Mississippi in 1997. Case started his career as a basketball and baseball coach teaching science and biology at South Natchez High School.

During his time at West Lincoln, the school was recognized as a Superior Performing School/Star School by the Mississippi Department of Education. West Lincoln was also recognized nationally in 2012 as being a National Blue Ribbon School.

His bid in 2015 to be elected superintendent of the Lincoln County School District was unsuccessful.

He and his wife, Mary Karen, have four children. Julie Case teaches high school math and coaches cross country at North Rankin High School, Jay Case is a basketball coach at Richland High School, Jared Case is a senior accounting major at Mississippi College and Jana Case is be a 10th-grader at BA.

Mary Karen Case teaches third grade at Loyd Star.

This job marks a return to BA for Rushing, who left Cathedral High School in Natchez after a successful six-year head coaching run from 2010 to 2015, which included three MHSAA region titles and a 2014 MHSAA Class 1A state championship.

Rushing’s first football job was at the academy, where he worked from 1999 to 2003.