Randy Mitchell Photograph Image/jpg Area Veterans Were Honored During A Special Assembly At The Allen Schools This Past Monday. Among Those Recognized For Their Service Were Jearl Knighten, James Su

It was a quiet night at Monday’s monthly Allen School Board meeting as the board heard from school administrators on several items. All board members were present and there were no action items on the agenda. Administrative Reports Elementary and junior high principal Jeff Hiatt and high school principal Tony Wellington delivered administrative reports to the board. Hiatt spoke about an OTISS Grant. OTISS (Oklahoma Tiered Intervention System of Support) is Oklahoma’s intervention model for identifying and

2 vehicle accident sends one to hospital

A two vehicle accident this past Thursday, November 8^th , sent an Allen man to Mercy Hospital, Ada, then on to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. Ricky Mead, 67, was admitted in critical but stable condition with internal trunk and neck injuries. The other driver, 37-year-old Jeremy Howze of Stigler, was not injured. The 4:30 pm incident occurred where Highway 1 narrows from two lanes into one. Mead was driving a 2011 GMC pickup truck, and Howze was driving a 2002 Peterbilt semi-truck. The condition of both drivers was apparently normal, and they were both wearing seat belts, according to the OHP. Mead’s truck was equipped with airbags, which were deployed, but Howze’s semi-truck did not have airbags. addressing academic and behavioral difficulties that might interfere with Pre-K-12 student success. According to its website, the grant’s “Primary goal is to improve both student academic and behavioral outcomes using tiers of research-based interventions matched to the needs and levels of students. The OTISS framework uses the expertise of school professionals and parents in a proactive format that puts students’ needs first and bases decisions on data.” “This grant is the grant that gives us the personnel support,” Hiatt said. Hiatt said he would like all faculty to know what type of behavior is expected from students, and what is unacceptable. “We need to have a district-wide behavior plan,” Hiatt said. “We learned a lot. We learned the process of developing that. And I’m going to have my teachers give their input. I’ll kind of guide it, but I want them to put it together. We already have all these things, but its’ not clean, if that makes sense.” Hiatt said if a new teacher comes into the system, they should have the rules for student behavior available to them right away, and all together. Hiatt gave an update on the fundraising through several basketball festivals and praised those who helped support the effort. Through a series of basketball games for students in kindergarten, first, second, third and fourth grades, more money than expected was raised.

Money raised at the Allen home games will be placed into an elementary account and will be used for field trips, etc., for Allen elementary students.

“We made $1,800,” Hiatt said. “It was awesome, I wasn’t expecting that. Maybe I was being pessimistic, but I was hoping for about $800. All that money goes into our field trips and stuff for the kids. I’m thankful for the community stepping up and supporting that.”

Hiatt was also impressed that many Calvin residents showed up.

“I was very happy with Calvin,” Hiatt said. “Calvin folks, I mean, they didn’t have that many (players), but they came and supported it too, so we had a lot of Calvin people here.”

There are still a few games left coming in January and February.

A game is slated for 9:30 a.m. January 9^th at Stonewall between Allen and Stonewall third- and fourth-graders.

There will be a game at Tupelo between Allen and Tupelo third- and fourth-graders at 9:30 a.m. January 23^rd .

A home game is slated for 9:30 a.m. November 14^th at Allen between Allen and Stonewall third- and fourth-graders.

The final game for third-and fourth graders will take place at Allen January 30^th at 9:30 a.m.

Hiatt and the board had high praise for the Allen Marching Band.

“Our band trip, I wanna kind of brag on Mr. (Jack) Malm,” Hiatt said. “He took our fifth- and sixth-grade band kids to a philharmonic orchestra. I was really impressed. I hope the kids got something out of that, I think they did. I (received) a couple of thank you notes, that was really cool. I don’t get a lot of notes in my job. But I had a couple of thank you notes from parents just thanking us.”

Hiatt said he enjoys praise like that because he hears from a lot of people that believe the administrators only care about sports.

“My response when I hear that, I always tell them, ‘Yes, I care about sports, I care about everything. Everything we do, I want it to be good. And, Mr. Malm stepping up and doing this field trip with our young kids, I think that will kind of stay with them, hopefully.”

Board Member Jami Rinehart also complimented the band.

“This year, man, they have stepped it up,” Rinehart said. “They’re sounding -- at the end of the football season -- they were sounding great. I don’t know how he progressed them so much, but he did.”

Hiatt also talked about the recent parent teacher conferences, and was happy with the turnout.

“It wasn’t like I was sending notes home every day and doing callouts,” Hiatt said, “but we had an 89-percent turnout for 3-year-olds through third grade. And middle school, we had an 86-percent turnout. I mean that’s really good. It (all) averages out to 86.5 percent, which I round up to 87.

“That’s a good turnout,” Hiatt continued. “That tells me interest about the community that’s good. There’re schools that would die to have parents coming into your building with parent teacher conferences, so that was awesome.”

Wellington also praised Malm and the band.

“On the band issue, Jack Malm has done a fantastic job with them, so we’re just tickled to death with him,” Wellington said. “We’ve heard a lot of compliments on him.”

Wellington mentioned the football program.

“Football had a nice season for the first season back in 11-man, I thought they did really well,” Wellington said. “I told them on Friday night that I’m very proud of them and the coaching staff. They did a good job.”

He mentioned the Allen cheerleaders and a big upcoming trip.

“(The) cheerleaders are still going to the Citrus Bowl,” Wellington said. “They’re working now. They raised enough money to pay all their tickets and stuff, but they’re working on transportation now.”

Wellington mentioned the girls’ softball players’ academics.

“The girls’ softball received an academic plaque for their grade point average,” Wellington said. “(It’s the) first time they got a plaque. They’ve been getting just a certificate, so they’ve stepped it up. Their combined GPA was like 3.67, so that’s quite an achievement in itself.”

He spoke of the Veteran’s Day program held Monday.

“The Veteran’s program today, the young man who did the speaking told me after it was over, he said, ‘I’ve been to several of these in the last few days, and this was by far the best and most organized one I’ve been to,’” Wellington said. “He was very complimentary of our kids. Mrs. Maxwell helped put it together. FFA was involved, Mr. Walden, student council was involved, FCCLA was involved ... They did a really good job with that, we’re really proud of their work.”

Paint Scheme

There was discussion on paint colors for the interior of the new gymnasium.

Sherwin Williams paint will be used. A black and yellow color scheme was recommended to the school, however, Wellington said, they won’t be having anything to do with yellow, as some rival schools use the color.

School Board and administration will have the final say on the paint scheme for the interior of the gymnasium -- which is subject to change -- but seemed to prefer black and “Vegas Gold.”

Concerns Over Vaping

Wellington voiced concerns about a new vaping/e-cigarette device.

“I actually got an email warning letter the other day talking about (a device) called JUUL,” Wellington said. “It’s like a flash drive, it looks like a flash drive that you put in a computer, but it is a vape machine. Teachers see them and think it’s a flash drive. It’s a big deal, so we’re going to talk to them (students) about that.”

Consent Agenda

The board discussed and voted on items in the consent agenda.

Among those items were:

- The fiscal year 2018-2019 purchase orders/ encumbrances: general fund number 215 through 223 ($8,324.37); building fund number 16 through 20 ($14,750); child nutrition fund number 35 through 37 ($7,500); 2017 Bond Fund number 1 ($10,000); sinking fund number 1 through 4 ($162,492.50).

- Treasurer’s report.

- Activity Fund report.

- Fund raiser amendment.

- Travel Request: TR-18.

- Declare an attached list of items surplus for sale, trade, or other disposal.

The board approved all items on the consent agenda.