Allen Public Schools received a grant recently that will allow the system to purchase meat from local sources.

Superintendent Jeff Hiatt discussed the matter September 14th at the regular meeting of the Allen Board of Education.

“We basically get free meat for the cafeteria,” Hiatt said. “The grant basically is trying to get schools to use local products instead of buying it from companies that are hauling it in from wherever it was processed.”

Hiatt said the school system will be purchasing beef from a local producer -- Rocking TM Branded Beef -- and the beef will be processed by a local company -- D&D Meat Processing Inc.

Both are eligible under the rules of the $25,000 grant, which is provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Hiatt indicated D&D will also be able to acquire pork for Allen Schools.

The grant must be used by the end of the calendar year, and can be used within the school system such as for lunches, etc.

Board President Kelly Hurt asked if some of the meat could be used for events such as a steak supper for the teams or if the senior class wanted to do a fundraiser with a steak supper, to which the answer was yes.

“We can use it within the school, we can’t use it outside the school,” Hiatt said, “for instance, like a booster club, no. If the basketball team wanted to do it, if the senior class wanted to do a little fundraiser, we could let them use it ... as long as it’s going back to a school activity.”

Also talked about during the meeting was additional money coming from a class action lawsuit. Allen Schools entered into a class action lawsuit against JUUL Vaping back in November of 2020. Allen was one of 1,500 school districts involved. JUUL lost the lawsuit and Allen was awarded $8,325.

Hiatt indicated the school system received a letter that Allen Schools would receive an additional $2,524 from another company involved that only recently settled.

Hiatt also spoke about security updates including door replacement in some areas, and also about placing signage that will make it easier for first responders to locate specific school buildings and the rooms within during an emergency.

Threat at Football Game

“We had a threat at the football game Friday (September 8th),” Hiatt said. “We had a student say he heard a kid say he was going to go home and get a gun. So, that had a lot of people, a lot of people went into a panic, to be honest. A lot of parents, the kids ran to their parents, and we had both Allen police officers here, an Allen Schools resource officer and Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office deputies.”

Hiatt indicated the threat was taken seriously and a sweep was conducted, but nothing was found or occurred.

Hiatt said in response to the event, the administration decided to eliminate public access to certain areas, most notably a portion of the northeast corner where many kids and students hang out during football games.

Hiatt indicated that there are many youths who hang out there that don’t even attend Allen Public Schools, with many being from other towns or counties.

“I had one bow up to me” Hiatt said. “... So, what we decided to do, we already have the six-foot tall fence around the baseball infield, we’re ... going to extend the fence of the baseball field all the way behind the bleachers, basically to the baseball scoreboard. You’ll still have plenty of room, the people who sit on that side will still have plenty of room to move around, the people that sit in their lawn chairs will still have plenty of room behind them. And so honestly, like if they want to let their kid throw a football behind them and risk getting hit in the back of the head, that’s on them, but they’re not going to have the whole field to do it. So, there will still be room over there, but there won’t be any room for gang activity in fields. And if they’re sneaking in from the north side, we’re going to see them, because it’s all lit up...”

Many schools are on high alert after a recent incident at a Choctaw High School football game where a 15-yearold boy shot and killed a 16-year-old boy. Several other people were also injured as a result of that incident.

“The law enforcement officers at the Allen game were very thorough,” Hiatt said “I mean, they took it very serious, so I appreciate them.”

“Did we give a big thank you to everybody?” Hurt asked.

“Yes, yes we did.” Hiatt responded.

Consent Agenda

The board approved the consent agenda which included the minutes of the August 14, 2023 Regular Meeting; the fiscal year 20232024 Purchase Orders and Encumbrances: General Fund numbers 149 through 191 ($41,189.47); Building Fund #22 ($11,000); Child Nutrition Fund numbers 30 through 33 ($70,000); Treasurer’s report; Activity Fund report; Estimate of Needs for the year ending June 30, 2024; fundraisers for fiscal year 2024 (Band, Basketball Boys, Basketball Girls, Class of 2025, Class of 2026, FCCLA); Travel Request- TR-12; Surplus Technology (52 Chromebooks and 14 desktops).

Action Items

The board approved all action items, which included: - Sanctioning outside booster clubs for fiscal year 2024, including Football Boosters, Basketball Boosters, Baseball Boosters, Cheer Boosters, Softball Boosters, Ag Boosters and Native American Club Boosters, pending officer election results by 9/30/2023.

- Transferring $200 from activity account “Class of 2023” to “Class of 2024”.

- Approving the Altria settlement from the JUUL case of $2,524 with Frantz Law Group.

- Oklahoma State University PAX agreement and stipend for elementary counselor paid by Oklahoma State University.

- A co-op with Calvin Public Schools for girl’s slow pitch softball for spring 24 season.

Executive Session The board entered into executive session, and upon returning, accepted resignation of Susan Dorsey, cafeteria worker, then hired Kelly Wolf for the same position.