Allen Schools administration will be busy over the summer looking to fill several coaching positions which have been, or will be soon be, vacated.

Superintendent Jeff Hiatt said head football coach Stephen Caldwell resigned Monday. Caldwell accepted an assistant coaching position at Ada High School, Hiatt said.

This came several weeks after girl’s head basketball coach Jeremy Strong resigned, also accepting an assistant job at Ada High School. After an executive session Monday at the regular meeting of the Allen School Board, the board accepted the resignations of Caldwell and Strong.

All board members were present.

Also, Allen Schools will be searching for a new head softball coach.

The temporary contracts for four faculty members at Allen Schools were not renewed and will expire at the end of the current school year. However, those whose contracts expire will be allowed to reapply, if they wish.

Among the four whose contracts will expire is girls’ softball head coach Jeff Parnell whose employment with Allen Schools will end on the last the last day of school.

The system will also be searching for an assistant boys’ basketball coach, and baseball coach as well, according to Hiatt.

Parent Voices Concern

The parent of a student who was reportedly injured a few weeks ago at Allen High School during an altercation spoke out at the meeting.

Prior to the parent speaking, the board, at the behest of the parent, Justin Clifford, watched a video which was recorded via cell phone in the lunchroom, apparently by an onlooker.

The video reportedly showed a verbal altercation between two girls, one of which then allegedly punched the other in the face. Clifford said his daughter required reconstructive surgery on her nose after the incident.

Clifford said he was not satisfied with the punishment the student who punched his daughter received, which, per school policy, was three days of suspension.

Clifford said after visiting with Hiatt concerning the incident, he didn’t feel the matter was resolved the way he thought it should have been resolved.

“I feel like it was an assault,” Clifford said. “And I don’t feel like it was handled like an assault.”

Clifford also said he felt like two girls who fi lmed the incident, then allegedly shared it to social media, should have received some punishment.

“Because, first of all, they lied to him (Hiatt),” Clifford said. “Second of all, he got a statement that they lied to him. As far as I know, there was nothing done.”

Clifford said he would like to see changes in how situations like this are handled at school.

“I just feel like there’s some stuff that wasn’t handled correctly, and I want it to change,” Clifford said.

Clifford said he’d like the board members to put themselves in his shoes and asked how they would feel if it was one of their children.

Board Clerk Jami Rinehart said she understood why Clifford might be mad.

“I’m not mad,” Clifford said.

“Well, at the beginning,” Rinehart said. “I mean, I would’ve been mad if that was my daughter. I get that, I understand that.”

“I’m more frustrated because nothing was done,” Clifford replied. “I feel like I got nothing.”

Rinehart said the board would most likely change policy but couldn’t change what happened to the student.

“I appreciate you coming to us and letting us know how you feel, and kind of what you’re expecting,” Board President Jeff Maloy said. “I know we can’t make any policy changes right here, right now. We’re going over our policies this summer, and we will defi nitely take all this into consideration with new policies.”

Maloy said they can’t go back and enforce policy that wasn’t in place at the time.

Executive Session

As well as accepting the resignations of Caldwell and Strong, the board also accepted the resignations of Jessica Potter and Sonny Stevens after the second executive session.

At the recommendation of Hiatt, the board rehired all remaining probationary teachers, subject to reassignment as needed. Those who were rehired included Georgia Gray, Kristy Hiatt, Deborah Lewis, Jack Malm, Jan Rutherford and Jonathan Walden.

Also at Hiatt’s request, the board approved rehiring all remaining temporary teachers, subject to reassignment as needed. Those who were rehired included Alexis Huffman and Cassidy Malm.

The board also approved rehiring support staff which included Gina Alcaida, Crystal Bear, Becky Boyd, Becky Dyer, Amber Goodson, Juanita Riddle, Johnna Shires, Patricia Spray, Donna Tatum, Debbie Vinson and Trisha Wainscott.

Also approved for rehiring in the cafeteria were Denise Gonzalez, Robert Huggins, Kim Mann, Teri McCarn, Bonnie Stephens, Lacy Williamson and Candice Wilson.

Those rehired in maintenance and custodial included Gerald Beeny, Juanita Hamilton, Rosie Postoak, Jimmy Wilson, Retha Wilson and Melissa Wood.

Mark Jones was rehired for information technology and Mary Pat Sappenfield was rehired as federals program director.

Hiatt also recommended the board hire Jolene Bakken as the elementary special education teacher. The board approved.

Hiatt also recommend the board hire Becky Dyer and Denise Gonzalez as custodial staff to help out during the summer break. The board approved.

Consent Agenda

The board approved the consent agenda which included the fiscal year 2018-19 purchase orders/ encumbrances -- the general fund numbers 271 through 299, $73,555.01; building fund numbers 33 through 35, $3,730.98; and the sinking fund number fi ve, $14,175.

The consent agenda also included the treasurer’s report, the activity fund report, a fundraiser request for Allen Cheerleaders ad sales, travel requests for fiscal year 2019 and service agreement renewals for fi scal year 2020.

Action Items

The board also approved all action items, which included a senior trip to Oklahoma City on May 15; a contract with OSSBA to update policies for fiscal year 2020; hiring Falcon Audio to install a sound system for the new gymnasium; adding Amy Mayhue and Chris Grimm to activity fund signature card; and reopening several activity fund accounts -- including football, powerlifting, cheer, softball, baseball, basketball and track.