Advanced classes and teacher assessments were among the items discussed Monday at an Allen School Board meeting.

During the meeting, at the end of administrative reports, Board Member Kelly Hurt asked a few probing questions of administrators. The questions led to lengthy discussion between Hurt, High School Principal Chris Grimm and Superintendent Jeff Hiatt. The conversation was as follows:

Hurt: Are we going to have AP (advanced placement) classes or are we going to try to do remote classes for advanced type courses? It’s something we’ve talked about, and that’s something I’d really like to see us doing for our students.

Hiatt: We can do some science and math AP, but because of numbers and staff, the option that we’ve been talking about is probably doing some kind of virtual-type situation. It’s ...

Hurt: And that’s fine, but what’s the plan?

Board Clerk Jami Rinehart: But we already have some doing that, correct? Don’t we already have some doing those college prep-type classes online?

Grimm: I’m not against AP, and I think it’s a great thing, but we’re going to have to use a, like right now, we’re teaching one trig class, two algebra II’s and three geometry’s, I believe. And, in order for us to get say an AP calculus class in there, or another advanced math class, we’ve got to have another teacher. And that’s where it really puts us in a bind. Science is the same way. You know, we’ve got (a lot) of business people, we can teach any type of business class you can dream up, because we’ve got the people who are certified in it. Same way with history. It would be a lot easier to have an AP history, but we probably don’t have many lining up on an AP history class. Kind of where I’ve been pushing them, and getting here, there was already several who were doing it, it was the concurrent enrollment, kill two birds with one stone right there. It’s kind of advanced from the high-school student perspective, but it also gives them that college credit, gets them a duel-credit there. Because they can go to East Central (University) and take college algebra and be a step up on that, have that requirement out of the way, and it will count for one of their three math credits here.

Hurt: And that’s great if they can pass it. I mean that’s a wonderful thing if they’ve gotten what they need here to be able to move on to that, but the question in my mind for that approach is, ‘Can they take that step? Have they gotten what they need here? Do we need to give them something that’s intermediate to that?’

Grimm: Most of the kids that are taking like the college algebra have already had algebra I, geometry II and possibly trig. And I’ll also throw this at them; I know three free tutors for math, between me, Ms. (Ronna) Clark and Ms. (Lesli) Costner. That gives them that little safety net there. If they flunk, it’s because they didn’t come ask for any help either. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. When I went to college, I was just kicked out at East Central, ‘There you go buddy, get with it.’ Yeah I probably could’ve stopped by to see my old math teacher, but she really didn’t have time to mess with me. At least if they can get a little taste of it without it costing them the farm to go, because as a senior and junior too, they’re getting 12 hours, they get six in the fall, six in the spring and I think that they’ve opened that up to 18 total hours that they can get free tuition, you know they’ve got to cover all the other costs that’s involved there, but ...

Hiatt: But now if you’re a senior it’s free. There’s legislation that used to be, they’d pay for it as a junior and they took that back when the budgets were tight. But there’s legislation, I haven’t heard where it’s going, they’re possibly pushing that back to where kids who are juniors, that can be paid for where it’s not on their own.

Hurt: So, going back to all the business talent we have, are you planning to do any AP type stuff for business?

Grimm: I don’t know if there is such a thing for business.

Hiatt: We’re career tech, we’re teaching what they tell us to teach.

Grimm: There’s not any more that’s traditional accounting, you know business math, business law-type classes, out there. I mean these people we’ve got are all, like he (Hiatt) said, are career tech-type business. It’s kind of like, Ms. (Dottie) Slabaugh is teaching the, what the kids refer to as computer classes, but it’s got a fancier name than that, but they’re doing the Office Suite, between Excel and Word and Power Point and I forget what the fourth one is. You know, they go through that stuff. It was back when I was in high school when they kind of started phasing a lot of the accounting type classes out of there, what I would call business classes.

Hiatt: The other thing is when they do preenrollment, we put all those classes on the preenrollment and kids pick what they want to take. That’s the problem we run in to, you get like two or three kids who want to take a chemistry class. Well, we can spare a teacher for three kids, but we can do virtual is what I’m looking at. There’s virtual and there’s blended. Blended is where they’re on-site with an instructor, but they’re using computer curriculum, but there is somebody there with them one on one. Virtual is where they are home. So there’s two different possibilities that we’re looking at.

Hurt: So is that going to be available next year?

Hiatt: Well, I’d like to, we’re in the process. We’re going, we’re looking at schools.

Hurt: Can that be available next year?

Hiatt: Virtual, yes to answer your question.

Hurt: Is that a goal?

Hiatt: That is a goal.

Hurt: Is that a goal we think we can achieve?

Hiatt: Yeah, we can do it. Now, I just want to stress that everybody I’ve talked to on the virtual end of school, those kids don’t perform very well on tests. And, basically a lot of these schools are using it to fight Epic, because they are losing kids to Epic (Charter School -- an Oklahoma City-based online public school). But Epic doesn’t have to show their test scores, their dropout rate, it’s all shielded. And these schools I’ve talked to that have gone virtual, it’s keeping kids from dropping out, but they’ll tell you, they’re not going to do well on the test, because they’re on a computer, the computer’s teaching them. Now I’ve had people say that if you have a really, really smart kid, they can do that path to get out of high school quicker and get on with their life and college, so it kind of works for the really smart ones or the really low ones, but the middle kids, they say it doesn’t work as well. If we do a blended program, you can structure it to where kids, like if they have a job, they can come in early, leave early, go get a job. It’s different. But to answer your question, yes we’re looking at all that because the world is changing. We’re losing kids to Epic.

Hurt: We just shouldn’t let perfection be the enemy of progress. Even if it’s imperfect, I’d like to see us start doing that, because, even if it’s not ideal, just having an opportunity for them to be exposed before they get to college is huge. Because if they leave here, and the first chemistry they’ve ever had is at college, that to me is an issue. It would be a lot better if they got exposed just a little bit. You know, even if it’s not ideal, a start is helpful.

Hiatt: Well, like chemistry, calculus ...

Hurt: Yeah, calculus, absolutely.

Hiatt: ... that’s kind of the two ...

Hurt: Physics.

Hiatt: ... in most schools, pre-calculus is more important than trig, a lot of people will tell you. For a lot of college classes, pre-calculus kind of gets them ready.

Grimm: Right now the highest math we’ve got is the trig, one semester, and pre-calc advanced math, for the second semester of it.

Hiatt: And those kids do well in college algebra. I mean, those kids that go through that program of Ms. (Ronna) Clark’s have done really well in college algebra.

Hurt: So when they leave this school, do they know what a derivative or an interval is?

Grimm: No, they’ve never heard it.

Hurt: They’ve never heard of that? That’s a problem.

The Rest

Hurt said if STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) is the future of the work force, kids leaving Allen schools without it will be at a definite disadvantage.

“And they’ll never be able to break free of that,” Hurt said.

“And it’s convincing those kids of that,” Grimm said. “You know, ... a big hurdle is convincing them that they really need this stuff. And I don’t think they really completely understand it until they hit the front door of some place like East Central and it kicks them in the face. And they think, ‘Loafing around my senior year is not paying off right now.’”

Hiatt said that trigonometry and calculus are tough classes, and when kids start struggling, the teacher feels the pressure, especially when parents get upset that their child isn’t making an A-grade in the class.

Grimm said in his world, algebra II was harder for most students than trigonometry was.

“What scares kids about trig is they can’t spell it,” Grimm said, “that’s why we call it trig. But trig is probably the most used math out there across the board, they just don’t know they’re using trig. Because it’s a spin-off of geometry, it’s just a little more detailed. But people probably use more geometry and trig and don’t even know they’re using it.”

“Every carpenter is a master at geometry, whether they know it or not,” Hurt said.

Hurt said that’s the stuff that he wants to see Allen Schools do a better job of selling, if it has to sell it.

Career Tech

Grimm said the push toward the Pontotoc Technology Center is filling some of that gap.

“Because they’re giving them real work experience over there,” Grimm said. “They’re not just staying in the classroom, they’re actually out there doing the fabricating, the welding, and going out and seeing some of these real work places.”

“And if our kids go to the technology center, and then want to go on to OSU Tech and Okmulgee, if they go through that program, they’re a year ahead of someone who didn’t go through the program,” Hiatt said. “They’re starting on level two. They can graduate a year earlier than everybody else that just goes straight to Okmulgee. A lot of that is just getting information out to the kids. I’ve noticed we’ve had lot of kids going to OSU Tech, and, there’re some awesome jobs they’re kicking out over there. I guess we did a good job selling that, because we do have a lot of kids going.”

There was discussion about how many students attend career tech or college concurrently.

“We’re trying to push them toward the technology center or concurrent enrollment if they are a junior or senior,” Hiatt said. Because they can sit up here and take an easy elective, and that’s not really getting them ready for life after they graduate, so we’re trying to push them so when they do graduate, they’re already hitting the ground.”

Teacher Assessments

Hurt asked Grimm how teacher assessments were coming along.

“Are they getting done?” Hurt asked.

“They are,” Grimm responded. “They will be complete, on time.”

“Okay,” Hurt said.

“We have until the end of April, but I’d like to have them all done in the next month,” Hiatt said.

Grimm asked if the game plan is to re-hire teachers in April.

“I’d like to, yes,” Hiatt responded.

Hurt said teacher assessments were something that hadn’t been done in a while. Hurt specified in-class assessments.

“Right,” Grimm said. “I’m just telling you by expressions and comments that’s been made from teachers, not that they know that I’m catching their expressions, but I am. They were a little surprised to see me show up.”

Hiatt indicated that part of the situation is letting teachers know that administration isn’t out to get them, but to help them.

Grimm concurred.

“It’s kind of like the drug testing,” Grimm said, “I’m not out to get the kids by drug testing them. I want to give them an out, and make them better, teachers included. Yes, they may have the upper hand on me say in English, yes I can write, I can read ... I’m a math guy. I can still do the English, but I couldn’t teach it. You know I’m not going to try and tell them ... part of their job is knowing what their state standards are. And getting that stuff down and making sure they are covering it. I’ll have to print off a copy and show you a blank form of the things we have to check off on.”

“Well, especially if we have new teachers, young teachers or new to us teachers, I’d like to see them assessed a lot sooner than a year, so if there’s issues, they can be addressed,” Hurt said.

Grimm said on a probationary teacher (non-career status the first three years employed as a teacher in the system), administration must observe them in each of the first three quarters and then give an evaluation in the fourth quarter.

“So that’s happening then?” Hurt asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Grimm responded. “And then on the career teachers, we just have to observe twice officially with the document, and then we evaluate them once. So, at the very least, by law we have to be in there three times and document it and give them their evaluation, and then career teachers just twice. But I’ve been in every classroom.”

“Not anybody specifically, but are you pleased with what you’re seeing?” Hurt asked.

“Overall, yes,” Grimm responded. “Even those who have had a few issues here and there, they’ve taken advice and tried different things, trying to make adjustments. You know, they’re not turning a deaf ear. They’re willing to learn. I realize it’s easy to think that because somebody has been around here that they’re just about crusted up in their chair that they’re not willing to change, but, they’re teachers, most all of them are willing to change.”

“Well, good teachers don’t need to change,” Hurt said. “I mean, not necessarily.”

Grimm said even a good teacher could have a deaf ear to any sort of criticism.

“And a lot of them automatically assume it’s going to be negative criticism,” Grimm said. “And it’s not, we’re trying to make it constructive.”

Frayne Black

Before entering into executive session, Hiatt recognized Board Vice President Frayne Black’s eight years of service on the board. Black chose not to run for the seat again. Before Hiatt presented a plaque of appreciation, he offered a few words.

“I appreciate you putting in the time,” Hiatt said. “Hopefully, it’s been more good than bad.”

“Oh, it has,” Black responded.

“But through it all, hopefully you feel like, as you’re leaving, things are better now than when you got here,” Hiatt said. “I feel like since I’ve known you, and where we are now, that I can honestly say that, and I’ve only been with you for three years. I appreciate all your time.”

“Thank you, sir,” Black replied.

Hiatt presented the plaque which read, “Presented to Frayne Black In Appreciation for Your 8 Years of Outstanding and Dedicated Service to Allen Public Schools as a BOARD MEMBER. March 9, 2020. Presented By Allen Board of Education, Administration, Faculty, Staff and Students.”

Black then addressed the board and administration.

“Well, what’s that old saying ... It’s been real and it’s been fun,” Black said to much laughter from those in attendance. “But I’ll tell you, it’s definitely been rewarding. And everything I’ve done in my life, if it’s easy, there’s no reward to it. And I thank everybody else on the board, I appreciate it and I think it’s in good hands. I thank y’all very much. Keep thinking about the kids and the community, and your mind will be in the right place.”

Ron Batey signed up to fill the empty seat. Since no one ran against Batey, he will be appointed at the next board meeting. The board will then vote for any reorganization, such as appointing a new vice president.

Action Items

The board discussed action items, which included the superintendent’s recommendations regarding the fiscal year 2021 Allen Public Schools calendar.

Hiatt said that although the state’s requirement that schools have to have 1,080 hours and 165 days doesn’t go into effect until 2022, Allen Schools will begin the new requirements in the 2020-21 school year.

“We kind of decided, let’s go ahead and get started doing it next year, and then we’ll be used to it,” Hiatt said. “So, it added eight days. We’re going to go an extra eight days than we did this past year. We are going to shorten the day a little bit. We were going seven-and-a-half hours, we’re going to shorten it by about 20 minutes.”

The board approved the calendar.

The board also heard a presentation concerning the fiscal year 2019 financial audit, of which they had the choice to approve or disapprove.

The presentation was delivered via telephone from the offices of Kerry John Patten, CPA.

The board approved the audit and also approved the auditor engagement letter and contract for audit of fiscal year 2020 by Kerry Patten, CPA.

The board also approved the remaining action items, which included declaring the abandoned houses located on school property at 507 E. Lexington and 509 E. Lexington as surplus, so that demolition of the houses can begin.

One More Day This Year

Also in action items, the board approved updating the OSSBA policy book; specifically amendments to this year’s school calendar.

Due to missing two days because of inclement weather -- the school had one day reserved -- Friday, May 8, will now be a makeup school day.

Administrative Reports

Administrative reports were delivered by Hiatt, Grimm and Elementary School Principal Amy Mayhue.

Grimm began by addressing the board about basketball.

“I think both boys and girls had a really great season,” Grimm said. “They both finished up this weekend. It’s not exactly how we wanted to finish, but it was still a good season overall.”

Grimm spoke about FFA.

“We got Trent Fronterhouse and Caden Howard going on $1,200 scholarships for FFA Washington Leadership Conference,” Grimm said. “That’s an all-expense paid trip. It’ll be later on in the summer. We just finished the Pontotoc County show, which will lead into the OYE starting late this week on into spring break. We had 14 that made the premium sale. I’ll just list some of our champions and maybe runnersup. Jaycee Watkins had the grand doe on goats; Kinlee Cundiff had the grand wethered goat and champion wethered goat senior showmanship; Kamlyn Cundiff had reserve grand wethered goat; Trent Fronterhouse grand wethered dam and breeding ewe; Jesse Jaques had champion doe and sheep senior showmanship; McRae Walden had champion doe and wethered goat junior showmanship.

Grimm said five students will receive their state FFA degree at the state convention: Kinlee Cundiff, Jaycee Watkins, Jesse Jaques, Colton Howard and Connor Wilson.

“And Connor Wilson and Emma Boolin were selected to perform a duet on the main stage at the state convention,” Grimm said,” which is a pretty big deal. Big, big audience. And John Cundiff and Curt Matzkvech will both receive the Honorary State FFA degree. And that’s the highest honor Oklahoma State FFA can bestow on somebody. That is a really big deal.”

Grimm said powerlifters won regionals over the weekend down at Broken Bow.

“They did regionals, and we’ve got six that qualified for state: Shawn Husband, Gage Husband, Brayden Griffith, Colton Howard, and then at-large was Quinton Walker and Dalton Craddock. So we’ve got six going to state, and that will be this Saturday at El Reno.”

“Let me make mention of these kids for perfect attendance at the Pontotoc Technology Center,” Grimm said. “In January, we had five kids who had perfect attendance: Wyatt Arnold, Emma Davis, Alex Wofford, Madalen Clifford and Raven Frazier. And then in February, we had Rodey Arnold, Wyatt Arnold, Madalen Clifford, Raven Frazier, Alex Wofford, Kylan Sanders, Alex Roebuck, Emma Davis and Taylen Mason.”

Amy Mayhue

Mayhue began by saying she and teachers are preparing for the upcoming testing season, saying they will soon begin taking small groups of students and assisting them in areas of need prior to testing.

“We’ll be doing that for two weeks to three weeks before testing starts,” Mayhue said. “Mrs. (Kristy) Hiatt and I are working on the testing schedule making sure the kids are in the right groups where they need to be, making sure they their accommodations are in the right place and all of that. Right now, we’re just trying to get ready and get the kids ready as best we can before they take that test.”

Mayhue said there isn’t a lot of fluff going on right now as they are focused on the upcoming tests.

“I got the TSET grant way back to help our playground, and we met with our playground rep and we have actually started that process,” Mayhue said. “So hopefully this summer, you’ll see some changes in the playground. You’ll see some prettier painted things and even some new items on the playground. We’re really excited about that and thankful for that grant that’s made that possible.”

Mayhue said she was proud of her teachers during this year’s parentteacher conferences.

“Our teachers worked really hard to get parents here,” Mayhue said. “For the fall, they had like an 89% rate of contacting parents. I’m pretty proud of that. That’s either face to face or they made a phone call. They know that I want them to try face to face as many times as they can until they’ve exhausted all efforts, and then they make a phone call. So 89% in the fall, but this spring we had 86%. Usually, in the spring, we have a lot less parent involvement. In the fall you usually have a little more because they kind of want to meet the teacher, they want to see the classroom and that kind of thing. But in spring, they usually kind of lay off. So our teachers worked really hard, they had 86% contacted and 85% of those were face to face. I was very proud of that.”

Mayhue said they will soon begin starting enrollment for the next school year.

“March 31 ^st we’re going to start sending out for K through five (fifth grade) to go ahead and get preenrolled for the fall, and then on April 1 ^st is our big Headstart event for our new 3 year olds and new 4 year olds,” Mayhue said. “So, if you know any 3 year olds or 4 year olds, please send them our way. That’s one thing we’re really trying to push, we really need a big class of our 3 and 4 year olds. So any student who will be new to Allen, even if they went to Chickasaw Nation Headstart, and they’re coming here as a 4 year old, we want them to visit on April 1 ^st and see us and get enrolled that day, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.”

Jeff Hiatt

Hiatt began by praising teachers.

“I’m not going to lie, they’re looking forward to spring break,” Hiatt said. “January to spring break is a long haul. Our teachers are working hard. This is the time of year when the kids want to shut down, so they’re fighting that. We can’t give in. It’s easy to give in, but we’ve got to hold the line and push to the end of the year.”

Hiatt said he’s received many compliments on the new gym, even from out-of-towners.

“Allen people have bragged on it, but it’s nice to hear people from out of town come in, or if I’m somewhere and they mention, ‘Hey, I was at your gym it was really nice,’ talking positive, so that’s been a good thing. And, like I’ve said all along, I hope this will instill pride in our kids, because I want that culture up here where our kids are proud of what we’ve got, and we take care of it. Which reflected when we went over to Ada and we filled the gym, it was amazing. To have that many people be there on an afternoon was very impressive. A lot of people were bragging about that. I’m just real proud of our community, our kids, and our teachers right now, and I’m just thankful for what we’ve got. I just want to push forward.”

Consent Agenda

The board approved the consent agenda, which included the 2019-20 fiscal year purchase orders and encumbrances: General fund numbers 240 through 246 ($59,154.32); building fund numbers 46 through 53 ($11,338.93); child nutrition fund number 44 ($4,000).

The agenda also included the treasurer’s report, the activity fund report, fundraiser requests for FFA and softball and a softball team overnight stay during spring break at Broken Bow Tournament.

Executive Session

The board entered into executive session to discuss personnel decisions.

Upon returning to the meeting, the board rehired Amy Mayhue as elementary principal; Chris Grimm as junior high/high school principal; Jimmy Wilson as maintenance and transportation director; Mark Jones as technology director; Candace Wilson as cafeteria director; Brenda Robertson as administration assistant/ treasurer; and Lisa Cundiff as encumbrance clerk and activity fund director.

The board also accepted the end-of-school year resignations of Jack Malm as band teacher, and Cassidy Malm as fifth grade teacher.

The immediate resignations of Jodi Porter, paraprofessional; and Kim Mann, cafeteria worker, were also accepted.