Randy Mitchell Allen School Board Held A Special Meeting Thursday And Hired Two New Teachers. Hired Were Shania Morgan And Tina Henry. Both Were Interviewed By The Board During Executive Session. Morgan Will Teach Pre-k. She Previously Taugh

Allen School Board held a special meeting Thursday and hired two new teachers. Hired were Shania Morgan and Tina Henry. Both were interviewed by the board during executive session.

Morgan will teach pre-k. She previously taught at Stonewall Schools.

Henry will teach fourth grade, and previously taught at Ada Schools.

Eligible to Apply

In action items, the board approved changes for a school wellness policy and tobacco-free campus policy. Superintendent Jeff Hiatt said the school system in 2016 received a small grant for a tobacco-free school policy. He said the system is again eligible to apply, however, the old policy must be amended.

Hiatt introduced Becky Roe of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

“So basically, (in 2016), you guys passed a model wellness policy,” Roe said. “The policy is any school that’s part of the national school breakfast and lunch program has to have a wellness policy in place, and we make sure that all the state and federal language is in there.”

Roe told the board that there are a couple of modifications since the last policy passed.

One being the system not having anything in the policy about afterschool physical activity in the spring, and the other concerned staff wellness. Roe said the change to the latter is not a lot, just more detailed.

Roe said since the old grant was made available, there has been an increase in revenue available.

“Since you guys received the incentive grant, there’s been an increase,” Roe said, “and you’re eligible for an additional $12,000. With that, we have to have a model policy in place. And when I rechecked, since those changes were in place, your policy is not at leader or model.”

Roe explained to the board why TSET is offering these grants.

“In Oklahoma, our obesity rates are skyrocketing,” she said. “We’re at about 34 to 35 percent with obesity. And our tobacco rates are really high. And we’re trying to get kids healthier by not using tobacco, because our number one causes of death are preventable. And that’s cardiovascular disease and cancer.”

Administrative

reports

Administrative reports were delivered by Hiatt and Amy Mayhue, elementary school principal. Chris Grimm, junior high/ high school principal, was unable to attend the meeting.

Jeff Hiatt

Hiatt began by mentioning that the city of Allen will be celebrating Independence Day on July 6, as it is a Saturday.

“They’re going to do stuff at the park all day,” Hiatt said, “and then move out to the softball field about late afternoon. I think there (will be) some softball games. The adult leagues are going to play on the softball fi eld. They’re going to have a concession stand, and have some food trucks, maybe. And then they’re going to shoot fi reworks south of the ball fi eld.”

Bond Update

Hiatt mentioned the gym and the elementary school are close to being ready for inspections by the state fi re marshal.

“The junior high, they won’t give me a ‘for sure’ that it will be ready (in time for the start of classes), but in my mind, I’m thinking about it not being ready for (the start of classes),” Hiatt said. “We got the lights on today ... they’re hanging cork boards and light boards in the rooms, so the ceilings are in. The walls are in, the walls are painted ... so it’s been moving pretty quick.”

Hiatt said once the projects are complete, he’d like to have an open house for the public to attend.

“Even if it’s after school starts,” he said, “just set a night where, if they want to, they’re welcome to come, walk the premises, and look at it. Once we know when that might be, I’ll get back with you ... I think they’ll be impressed once they get in and actually see what’s inside of them.”

Hiatt had high praise for new hires.

“I want to brag on Mr. Grimm and Ms. Mayhue, they’ve been up here all summer,” Hiatt said. “Mr. Grimm is still under contract until June 30 at his old school, but he’s still coming up here working on schedules, getting to know the new coaches. I mean, there’s a lot going on at the high school trying to fi gure out where we’re going to put teachers. He’s planning on having a schedule in July. We’re not going to wait and throw a schedule out at the last minute. We’re going to have a schedule and everybody’s going to know what it is.”

Baseball Field

Hiatt mentioned the condition of the baseball field and said it should be ready to play on by next spring’s season.

“I you drive by and look at it now, it looks like there’s no grass,” Hiatt said. “There is grass, it’s there, the Bermuda’s there. I think once we get warm weather and keep it watered, I think it’s going to go. It looks really good. That was my guarantee, that we’re going to have baseball games there next spring.”

Praise for Coaches

“I want brag on our coaches,” Hiatt said. “The Slabaughs (Kevin and Dottie) have been doing basketball and softball. I didn’t get to any of the softball games, I did go to a basketball game. They went to several skills camps recently, including one in Ada this past week. I went over there, it was like 30 schools. It was pretty cool, schools from all over the state. They said they are using the time just to build chemistry with the kids and get to know them. They haven’t even put their system in yet, they’re just using (this time) to get the kids in the gym and hang out with the kids, so that’s been pleasant.”

Hiatt said he recently visited Stuart to watch baseball.

“Coach (Mike) Edwards has been going to a lot of baseball games,” Hiatt said. “I’m proud of him for stepping up. Our football coaches, I want to brag on them, too. They’ve been down there every morning. Coach (Rob) Green, coach (Jared) Green, coach (Zach) Sullivan and coach (Greg) Sanders, all four of them have been down there and they seem to be getting along really well. The reason I wanted to bring that up is because most of these people are new and there’s a lot of excitement with the new people, I like that. It’s contagious. So there’s a lot of excitement around here right now.”

Amy Mayhue

This week, I’ve been in Moore at OTISS (Oklahoma Tiered Intervention System of Support) training for the OTISS Summit,” Mayhue said. “I’ve been there with LeeAnna Williams and Kristy Hiatt and Stacy Laden. We had a great week, we really learned a lot. We have some great ideas to bring that back here. What was really neat is they got to know me a little bit better. We got to talk about things that I am passionate about, things that I would like to see. It was good to know that we were on the same page, that we wanted the same thing. And that was really important to me this week. So we’re ready to jump in and get started.”

Mayhue spoke of interventions to aid students who may have fallen behind in their curriculum.

“We’re working on some really neat intervention opportunities for third, fourth and fi fth (grades), and adding that to their schedule,” Mayhue said. “We’re working on what that’s going to look like. It’s really fun for me to get back into the instruction part, I’ve kind of missed that for the last three years. And that’s where my passion is anyway, so it’s been really neat for me to kind of mess with the minutes and try to fi gure out where we can get the most bang for our buck. It’s coming together, it really is. Chris has been wonderful to work with me on the schedule for fifth grade and make sure they have time for their basketball athletics and their P.E., and he’s working with you and the coaches, so we’re getting that all worked out, and I’m really excited about that.”

Consent Agenda

The board approved the consent which included transferring of remaining funds from the Choctaw Nation Summer School Program from the activity fund to the general fund for payroll expenditure ($53,748.42); fiscal year 2018-19 purchase orders/encumbrances: general fund numbers 320 though 321 ($8,330); child nutrition number 57 ($300); fiscal year 2019-20 purchase orders/ encumbrances: general fund numbers 1 through 127 ($707,458.99); building fund numbers 1 through 20 ($172,523.59); child nutrition fund numbers 1 through 23 ($33,850).

Also included were the appointments of Brenda Robertson as treasurer and minutes clerk to the board; and Lisa Cundiff as encumbrance clerk for fiscal year 2020.

The board also approved allowing Hiatt the authority to increase purchase orders for fi scal year 2020 by $250; and, effective July 1, 2019, Hiatt appointed as purchasing/ receiving agent, district representative in all matters concerning state and federal funds, including PL 874, child nutrition, surplus property, title programs, REAP, Johnson O’Malley, career-tech, Carl Perkins, E-Rate, mineral royalty, and Insurance and other items of district concern for fiscal year 2020.

The board also approved fiscal year 2020 travel request – TR-12; and fundraisers for FFA and band.

Other Action Items

Also in action items, the board voted to approve of state required certifi ed teacher raises of $1,220. The raises will be added to the state minimum teacher salary schedule.

Hiatt said that there are some schools that prorated it and gave the teachers on the high end a little bit more, and the teachers on the bottom got a little bit less, but it averaged out to $1,220. Allen schools will not do that.

“I think just for simplicity, for fairness, we just give everybody a $1,220 raise,” Hiatt said. “Another thing they funded, I found out the state funded, they said, $1,000 of the $1,220, so the $220 is mandate that’s not funded, but they’re putting more money into the formula. So, they’re saying that extra $220, you’re going to get it through the formula anyway.”

The board also approved the extra duty stipends for fiscal year 2020.