Randy Mitchell Brad Wofford, The Newest Member Of The Allen Board Of Education, Was Sworn In Monday At The School Board’s Regular Meeting. Wofford Beat Former Allen School Board President Kelly Hurt For Seat 4 In The April 2nd Electio

Brad Wofford, the newest member of the Allen Board of Education, was sworn in Monday at the school board’s regular meeting.

Wofford beat former Allen School Board President Kelly Hurt for Seat 4 in the April 2nd election.

After Wofford took the oath, the board took action regarding the annual reorganization.

Board members elected Frankie Bell as Board President, and Mike Todd as Vice President. Ron Batey was elected to remain Board Clerk.

Also at the meeting, the Teachers of the Year were announced.

Elementary Teacher of the Year is Pam Sanders, who teaches fourth grade. Sanders is a longtime educator, has taught from kindergarten through high school, and is also a library media specialist.

“I’m excited for her,” Elementary Principal Amy Mayhue said. “This year has been a pretty tough year for her. She has a lot of kids (29) in a small classroom, so I’m happy for her to get this recognition.”

High School Teacher of the Year is Ronna Clark, who teaches math.

“She’s an excellent teacher,” High School Principal Steve Butcher said. “She comes in every morning 30 minutes early and announces to the kids that she will be there for free tutoring if they will come in. And she usually has two or three (students) that show up.”

Auxiliary Employee of the Year is Josh Vaughn, who is the IT Director for Allen Schools.

“The thing about Josh is, it doesn’t matter who asks him to do something for them, he just takes care of it,” Butcher said. “And it’s not like a week or two weeks later, he’ll get it done the day you ask him. So, he was an excellent hire, and brought a lot of things with him that we didn’t know we were getting ... and it’s really been exceptional. So, I’m glad his peers recognize all the extra things he does.”

Vaughn also announces baseball games, which he does on his own.

The Support Staff Person of the Year is Becky Dyer, a Paraprofessional at the elementary school.

“She’s done a great job at her job,” Mayhue said. “She does after school, she also does concessions, she’s a bus driver ... pretty much, she can do it all. And she is always really reliable, always at work. Sometimes I wonder why she walked in the door because she’s not feeling great, but she pushes through, because she knows the kids need her and knows that we need her, so we’re grateful to have her.”

All of the employees of the year will receive a two-night stay in Branson, Missouri.

Previous Meeting

During the board’s March meeting, after executive session, the board accepted Band/Music Director Devan Bettencourt’s resignation, effective at the end of the year.

Also at the previous meeting, the board hired four new teachers.

Mike Minton was hired as band and vocal music teacher. Minton is from Tecumseh and has over 30 years of experience teaching band, vocal and drama.

Alec Bryan was hired as junior high and high school mathematics teacher. Bryan is currently a teacher at Lexington Public Schools.

Jenny Nickell was hired as elementary teacher. Nickell is a teacher at Calvin, but lives in Allen.

Elizabeth Henthorn was hired as an elementary teacher. Horn is currently a teacher at Konawa, but lives in Allen.

Administrative Reports

Butcher spoke to the board first and began with Monday’s eclipse.

“Today, we had kids out looking at the eclipse,” Butcher said. “They thoroughly enjoyed that, and it was an amazing thing to see.”

Butcher said there are tons of FFA activities ongoing.

“They go somewhere just about every week,” Butcher said. “We have really good kids in the program, and Mr. (Aaron) Purkins just does a fantastic job with them.”

Butcher also updated the board about sports happenings, including that the softball team will play in a tournament April 18th. Allen will play Colbert in Game 1 at 1 p.m. The loser of that game will then play Tushka at 2:30 p.m., while the winner of Game 1 will play Tushka at 4 p.m. The semifinal game is at 5:30 and, if needed, another game at 7 p.m.

Baseball will host Wetumka and Indianola at Allen April 18th, 19th and 20th. Pairings will be determined.

The junior high has one more track meet at Atoka, April 11th.

The high school track teams have two meets left: against Davis on April 19th and Velma Alma on April 23rd.

The regional track meet is April 27th, and the state meet is May 3rd.

Butcher mentioned baseball tournaments, the high school team will play at Roff April 11th (today), 12th and 13th; and the junior high will play at Atoka Wooden Bat April 11th (today), 12th and 13th.

Graduation will be 7 p.m. on May 10th at the gym.

Butcher said the athletic awards and banquet for ninth through 12th grade will take place at 6 p.m. May 6th.

Additionally, the junior high and high school band concerts will take place on May 3rd.

Amy Mayhue

Mayhue said they are currently in full testing mode at the elementary school.

“Our ... testing starts next week,” Mayhue said, “so, Mrs. (Kristy) Hiatt has been working part of our schedule and trying to get us ready for that, so that’s kind of the main focus of everything. Another part of it is our field trips. We do a lot of spring field trips, so there is a lot of planning and organizing of people and transportation and all those things.”

Mayhue said one of the biggest things going on at the elementary school is the Read-AThon.

“If you’ve seen that going on, (it’s our) biggest fundraiser of the year,” Mayhue said. “As of today, we hit $7,560. I have one more week, so we’ll see. I’m excited, because that’s bit below what we had for last year for the full time. So, I’m hopeful. They’ve read about 12,725 minutes they’ve been clocked so far. What I love about this fundraiser is, it focuses on reading, it pushes the reading. And what I love about it being right before testing is, it’s kind of helping our kids build that endurance. So, when they get to testing, it’s not going to overwhelm them so much, because they’ve been reading, trying to win for their class.”

Mayhue said it also gives the kids a positive outlook.

“I’ve got teachers walking by my office, and they’re saying, ‘My kid is home reading, and they won’t quit,’” Mayhue said. “So, that’s always a good thing to kind of encourage our kids to read at home, what they want to read.”

Mayhue said a fun day will be held May 2nd.

“We do an all-day fun day for our kids,” Mayhue said. “That’s all planned by teachers, and it’s usually like inflatables. It’s not a field day, it’s more just getting out there and playing together and having fun together and celebrating the year.”

Mayhue said they will have the fifth-grade promotion (which will include the awards for fifth graders) on the Monday night before graduation.

A d d i t i o n a l l y , Mayhue said awards assemblies for HeadStart through fourth grade will be on the last day of school.

Jeff Hiatt

“We did get our new vehicle to replace the Suburban that was totaled in the hailstorm,” Hiatt said, “so that’s kind of a big thing around here.”

Hiatt spoke about state laws that were previously passed that go into effect this year, for the upcoming school year.

One being that Allen Schools must offer computer science to all kindergarten through eighth-grade students. Hiatt said the system will try to do it without hiring a new teacher, by doing things such as embed it into the curriculum, etc.

“And then we have to offer it to high school students,” Hiatt said. “Now, they don’t have to take it, but we have to offer a computer class to high school students, and they said it could be web design, which is approved, so we’ll probably do a web design class.”

Hiatt said the system must also offer four AP classes, rather than three.

Action Items

In action items, the board approved adding the new president and clerk to the signature card at Farmers State Bank.

Also in action items, the board approved Patricia Spray’s ( paraprofessional) resignation due to personal reasons; and also approved a Senior Class Trip to Andretti Indoor Karting & Games in The Colony, Texas, April 29, 2024, for Class of 2024.

Consent Agenda

The board approved the consent agenda, which included the minutes of March 7, 2024, Regular Meeting; the fiscal year 20232024 Purchase Orders and Encumbrances: General Fund numbers 278 through 287 ($9,077.20); Treasurer’s report; Activity Fund report; Renewal of memberships, services and contracts for fiscal year 2024-2025: Summit Rehabilitation dba Prohab Therapy Specialists (Physical Therapy), Renaissance Learning – Star Reading, Star Math, Star Early Literacy and Accelerated Reader.