Jason And Jerrod Day Care At High School Gives Mead Basketball Player More Time To Spend With His Little Brother

Every school day, Jason Galles drives with his brother Jerrod to Mead High School.

That may seem typical for a high school senior and his younger brother, but what makes this atypical is that Jason - an 18-year-old Panther basketball player who stands 6-foot-6 - towers over his baby brother.

Three-year-old Jerrod Galles attends preschool located in a portable near the school that once housed special education students now attending Mt. Spokane High.

“It’s a nice setup,” explained Panther basketball coach Jim Preston. “The district did it for teachers and parents.”

Jason, whose mother Milane is an employee of the district and whose father Mike is a contractor, began taking Jerrod to school with him this year as convenience for the two-career family.

“My mother asked me if I would and I didn’t mind,” said Galles, “Jerrod and I get along great.”

Then Jason quipped, “Besides, he’s a chick magnet.”

The two arrive at Mead at 7:30 a.m. and join Mead students in the “pit,” a central gathering place at the school where they are a popular pair.

If Jerrod is in a good mood, he might entertain the crowd with a Japanese rendition of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” or scenes from “The Lion King,” said his older brother.

Before high school classes begin, Jason takes Jerrod to his day care. A couple of times a week they eat lunch together.

“People don’t give me a bad time,” said Jason. “The girls think he’s cute and the guys are friends with him.”

Depending upon what time he practices basketball, Jason or his mother takes Jerrod home.

Jerrod is too young to sit through many of his brother’s basketball games, although he has befriended players on the girls’ team.

Galles is the tallest in a family of four brothers including Jeremy, 14, and Justin, 11.

He didn’t take up basketball until junior high, concentrating instead on soccer.

It wasn’t until his sophomore year that he began to get playing time. Galles played in every varsity game as a junior. He was one of eight returnees, six of them regulars on this year’s team.

His young brother will root them on, but must eventually change allegiances.

The family lives in the Mt. Spokane side of the school district and his brothers will become Wildcats.

So when Jason graduates this spring, Jerrod will have to find another ride to school.

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