Randy Mitchell Allen Sports And Academics Were Talked About Thursday, March 7th, At The Regular Meeting Of The Allen Board Of Education. The Meeting Is Normally Held On The Second Monday Of Each Month But Was Held On Thursday As This We

Allen sports and academics were talked about Thursday, March 7th, at the regular meeting of the Allen Board of Education.

The meeting is normally held on the second Monday of each month but was held on Thursday as this week is spring break.

During administrative reports, Junior High/High School Principal Steve Butcher spoke about the accolades. He began by speaking about the All-District Football team.

“First, they have some superlative players who are above the All-District level,” Butcher said. “Brogen Goodson was Outside Linebacker of the Year, Jack Todd was Lineman of the Year and Jagger Caldwell was overall Athlete of the Year for our district.”

First Team All-District players are: Brogen Goodson, Jack Todd, Jagger Caldwell, Emmett Koonce, Dillon Blessing, Garrett Nix, Brayden Tatum, Easton Ledo and Bodee Garrett.

Second Team All District are: Kale Horton, Curt Carlos, Adam Sawatsky, Sedrick Lindsay, Riley Tomb, Jake Matthews and Gus Matthews.

Honorable mention are Kayd Bell and Lance Johnson.

“[Kayd Bell and Lance Johnson] these two guys got injured early, but the coaches thought that they would have contributed significantly had they not been injured, so that’s why they’re on the honorable list,” Butcher said.

Butcher then spoke about girls’ basketball.

“Girls’ basketball was 24-4 this year,” Butcher said, “pretty impressive.” The board agreed.

“They were Conference Runnerups, they were District Champions, Regional Consolation Champion and Area Consolation winner,” Butcher said. “All Conference players are Addison Prentice and Cherish Woodward. Honorable Mentions were Ava Laden, Stoney Cully and Kaylee Davis.”

Butcher spoke about the Boys’ Basketball team, which had 25 wins and one loss in the regular season, then had two losses in the State Playoffs.

“They were the Conference Champions, District Champions and they were in the finals of the Consolation bracket of the area tournament.”

All Conference Players are Brayden Tatum and Garrett Nix. Honorable Mention are Easton Ledo, Keithon Howard and Gus Matthews.

Additionally, Butcher announced that Ava Laden was selected to be a recipient of the Scholar Athlete Award.

“She got a monetary scholarship award, and it’s based on her outstanding academic achievement and her excellence in basketball, softball and track,” Butcher said.

Butcher said the most significant award recently won by the girls’ basketball team was to be recognized as the Academic State Champions for Class A Basketball.

“Our girls’ basketball team was recognized as the Academic State Champions for all of the schools in Class A,” Butcher said. “They had the highest GPA, it was 3.981, so that’s a state championship for the girls.”

Just after Butcher finished speaking, Girl’s Basketball Coach Dottie Slabaugh carried in the trophy to show the board. Board members were very impressed. The names of the players and coaches will be engraved onto the trophy, and it will eventually be placed in the trophy case.

Also, during administrative reports, Superintendent Jeff Hiatt mentioned that, including Thursday, there’ve been 130 days of school and 35 school days left.

“We’re nearing the end of school,” Hiatt said. “With that being said, these next weeks, we’re going to have activities from baseball, softball, we’ve got cheerleading tryouts, field trips, end of the year banquets, state testing ... Obviously, we’re going to be busy, pretty much every night.”

Hiatt also updated the board on some of the issues stemming from the September hailstorm.

“We still have one bus, our black activity bus, in the shop,” Hiatt said. “You probably haven’t seen it at ballgames because it’s been in Tulsa. The air conditioners were damaged because they’re on top of the roof and they’re still working on them.”

Hiatt said the Suburban was damaged, but has been drivable, so it’s being used until the school system gets the new one. Once the new one arrives, the current Suburban will be taken to a shop to repair hail damage.

Hiatt said the school system has received insurance money to repair the building roofs that were damaged by the hail, but new problems have been detected, so the system should receive additional money.

Hiatt said he is hoping that the roof construction can begin before school is out for the current school year.

“The goal is to have all new roofs before school starts next fall for sure,” Hiatt said, “but I’d like to hopefully get started before school is out this year.”

Hiatt spoke about some current matters in the Oklahoma Legislature.

Hiatt indicated that District 25 Representative Ronny Johns is pushing a bill that would get raises for school support staff.

“You guys know that teachers have had multiple raises in the last 10 years, but support staff hasn’t had anything,” Hiatt said. “So, there’s a bill that gets them a raise, and I’ve heard up to $2,500 possibly. So, that would be welcome here because our support staff is crucial to keeping this school open. I don’t know if people realize that, but from the cafeteria staff to our custodians to our secretaries who handle all the directional stuff and helping people with their questions to our paraprofessionals, these people are all really underpaid for what they do, so that would be awesome.”

Hiatt said the Legislature is also mulling over a bill that would make it illegal for students to have cell phones at school. Hiatt indicated that, while he doesn’t know if such a bill would be bad or good, cell phones at school are indeed a distraction.

“They’re a distraction to learning,” Hiatt said, “it creates discipline problems, it creates zombie children. We have a lot of zombie kids where all you see is the top of their head, you never see their eyes anymore.”

Hiatt also spoke about the Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act, where Allen area residents can receive a tax credit for directing their taxes to Allen Schools rather than the state, and school officials say the process is simple.

The Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act allows supporters of public education to receive up to 50-75% in tax credit for their contributions to Allen Public Schools.

“I’d like the thank Kelly Hurt (Allen School Board President) and Steve Butcher for being the first two individuals to donate our school,” Hiatt said. “They donated $5,000 and $2,000, respectively. They’ve asked that their donations be used to purchase nutrition, supplies and equipment for a weight room. We intend to create a safe and inclusive facility that helps our students get stronger and more athletic and develop lifelong healthy habits.”

Hiatt said he wants to get the message out to the community so that residents know that there is an option where they can donate portions of their state taxes (which they would otherwise be paying to the state anyway).

“If anybody is interested, I hope they call me,” Hiatt said. “I know more about it than I did just a month ago and I can explain it to people. It’s good way for us to do special projects around the school that we just don’t have money for.”

Additionally, the board hired back all certified staff (Career Teachers), including: 1. Ronna Clark 2. Lesli Costner 3.Racquel Countryman 4. Amber Goodson 5. Tee Henry 6. Kristy Hiatt 7. Joni Hill 8. Kaci Johnson 9. Stacy Laden 10. Greg Mills 11. Julie Mills 12. Shania Morgan 13. Lisa Peay 14. Allie Plunk 15. Jessy Ross 16. Pam Sanders 17. Sue Sanders 18.Jan Scott (Rutherford) 19. Dottie Slabaugh 20. Kevin Slabaugh 21. Candice Smith 22. Lindsey Laxton (Thompson) 23. Terra Wainscott 24. Taryn Wofford (Garner) The board also hired back all directors, including: 1. Joe Bakken 2. Shannon Butler 3. Mary Pat Sappenfield 4. Josh Vaughn 5. Candice Wilson 6. Jimmy Wilson Action Items The board listened to a presentation concerning the fiscal year 2023 financial audit, delivered via telephone from the offices of Patten & Odom, CPAs. The board then approved an auditor engagement letter and contract for audit of fiscal year 2024 with Patten & Odom, CPAs.

The board also approved a change in the school calendar to make up missed days of school from bad weather and state basketball tournament to be made up on April 19th and April 26th.

Consent Agenda The board approved the consent agenda, which included the minutes of the February 12, 2024, regular meeting; the fiscal year 2023-2024 Purchase Orders and Encumbrances: General Fund numbers 272 through 277 ($2,466.60); Child Nutrition Fund #38 ($827); Treasurer’s report; Activity Fund report.

The consent agenda also included New Board Policies: CKAJ, EHBDBA, EIAD, EMI, & EMDB; Supplemental Appropriations Form 307 for fiscal year 2024 for Building Fund - $1,543,942.32; Supplemental Appropriations Form 307 for fiscal year 2024 for General Fund $169,962.17; Temporary Appropriations for the fiscal year 20242025: General Fund $6,750,000; Building Fund $640,000; and Child Nutrition Fund $795,000; Renewal of memberships, services and contracts for fiscal year 2024-2025: OT Solutions (Occupational Therapy), OKTLE (Teacher Evaluation Instrument), SYLOGIST (Student Information and Accounting System software).