Randy MitchellThe Allen Board Of Education Took Action Tuesday On A Resolution Providing For The Issuance Of General Obligation Bonds, And Also Hired A New High School Principal.Board President Kelly Hurt Said Just So That Everyone Knows, These Are No

The Allen Board of Education took action Tuesday on a resolution providing for the issuance of General Obligation Bonds, and also hired a new high school principal.

Board President Kelly Hurt said just so that everyone knows, these are not new bonds that the board is unilaterally passing, the bonds are a continuance of the bond issue passed for the new gym and other improvements.

It is part of the bond issue passed by voters in 2017 where the Allen school district will, over time, issue $7.5 million in bonds to pay for the new gym, renovated and added classrooms to the junior high school, and the building of new elementary school classrooms.

The board received bids for the $930,000 General Obligation Bonds, then, per law, awarded the bonds to the lowest bidder Tuesday.

“In front of you, you’ve got a record of bids,” said J.C. Leonard, a bondsman from Stephen H. McDonald and Associates that handle the school system’s bonds. “We’ve got three bids here today on the 930,000 building bonds dated August 2022. Just to note, this includes our series 2022 of 465 as well as 2023 of 465, so we went ahead and sold two series together because it doesn’t really affect that millage or hurt you in capacity in any way. And we’ll look at that every year moving forward depending on where you are growth wise, and all that, of how we’ll sell those bonds moving forward.”

Leonard indicated when they sold bonds last year, interest was below 1%, but the Federal Reserve has raised rates several times this year and is expected to do so several more times this year as well.

The lowest bid came in from First Bankers Banc Securities Inc. out of Saint Louis, Missouri, with a net cost of $91,733.80 and an average rate of 3.903566.

The other two bids came from Country Club Bank in Prairie Village, Kansas, with a net cost of $93,525.70 and an average rate of 3.97987; and the other was from Legacy Bank in Hinton, Oklahoma, with a net cost of $99,875. and an average rate of 4.25.

New Principal

The board entered into executive session, and, upon returning, hired Steve Butcher as junior high and high school principal. Butcher is the superintendent of Lakewood Christian School in McAlester. He will be leaving that position and will begin at Allen Schools Friday.

Administrative Reports

Superintendent Jeff Hiatt updated the board on some things that are and will be taking place at Allen Schools over the summer.

He said flooring will be replaced at the elementary school.

“They’re going to start tearing out Thursday,” Hiatt said. “It’s going to be a big project.”

Hiatt said they are working on getting all doors at Allen Schools working prior to the new school year.

He mentioned a house that the school system bought. The house, the property of which borders school property, will be torn down and the rubble hauled off. The land will be cleared of trees and shrubs as well.

Hiatt indicated the school system would like to keep the schools’ buses in a fenced area rather than just an open parking lot where they sit now.

Hiatt said they will be getting wired internet to four buildings on campus that are not currently wired.

Hiatt mentioned that the junior high building, the old gym, the field house and the ag building aren’t wired with internet.

“With our field house and our ag building, we use wireless to get the internet out there,” Hiatt said, “and it’s worked, but the with the junior high, we’ve got so many classrooms over there, just a twoor three-second delay messes everything up. So, we’re planning to run a fiber line from this building (Administration building) to (the junior high, old gym, field house and ag building) to get all these buildings that are wireless, wired.”

The project will take place after the old house is torn down.

Revamped Website

Allen Public Schools will have a revamped website.

Allen Schools IT Director Dylan Batungbacal updated the board on the matter.

In addition to an improved webpage, parents, students and others will be able to download an app to their phones rather than go through an internet browser.

Batungbacal said when he looked at the old website, he felt it looked bland.

“It didn’t seem like anything popped, it didn’t look organized,” he said.

After Batungbacal showed the board all the improvements, Hurt approved.

“I like it, I like it a lot,” Hurt said. “Good job.”

The new website will go live Friday.

School Safety

School safety was also discussed at the meeting and has been ongoing.

Hurt said the board wants the community to know that the school system is interacting with law enforcement all the appropriate people to make sure they have everything covered to have a safe school, which includes assessing input to be prepared and proactive.

Included in that is a survey meant for four groups of people.

“The board is looking into conducting a survey,” Hurt said. “And, it will basically have four components to it. We want to do an outreach to our community to get their feedback and give them an opportunity to have some input into the school, because what we’re really looking at doing is, assessing where do we really stand, understanding what we’re doing well, understanding what we’re not doing well, and getting some ideas on things that we can do better.”

Hurt said they are in the process of developing the survey, which will differ for each intended group -- teachers, parents, recent graduates and current students.

“We’re going to be doing that to get some really good feedback and get a better feel for where we are, and try to use some of that to do a better job and create a better school.”

Consent Agenda

The board approved the consent agenda, which included the fiscal year 2021-2022 Purchase Orders and Encumbrances: General Fund numbers 297 through 299 ($7,070.50); Child Nutrition numbers 48 through 53 ($28,656.73); Transportation Bond number 1 ($7,118.96); the fiscal year 2022- 2023 Purchase Orders and Encumbrances: General Fund numbers 1 through 108 ($782,960.62); Building Fund numbers 1 through 5 ($138,773.59); and Child Nutrition Fund numbers 1 thru 21 ($59,750).

The consent agenda also included the appointments of: Brenda Robertson as Treasurer and Minutes Clerk to the Board; and Lisa Cundiff as Encumbrance Clerk and Activity Fund Custodian for fiscal year 2023.

Also included, effective July 1, Jeff Hiatt will be 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, Insurance and other items of district concern for fiscal year 2023; and Hiatt will have the authority to increase purchase orders for fiscal year 2023 by $250.

Also included in the consent agenda will be the renewal of memberships, services and contracts for fiscal year 2022- 2023: Crossroads 1010 LLC—Special Ed Testing; Haywood Public Schools— Special Education Director; an overnight High School Band Camp at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford on July 10-15; fundraisers for fiscal year 2022-2023: Band and Football; math and science credits for Allen students completing courses at Pontotoc Technology Center for school year (2022- 2023), ending June 30, 2023.

Action Items

The board approved the only action item on the agenda, a transfer of $9,000 from the Activity Fund -Extended Day account to the General Fund.