Alva Review-Courier -

Three staff members resigned and a new one was hired during the Alva Board of Education on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Board President Jane McDermott opened the meeting with board members Karen Koehn, Larry Parker and Kevin Pingelton present. Shane Hansen was absent.

Superintendent Tim Argo announced three resignations. Resigning are Leslie Booth, a paraprofessional at Washington Early Childhood, and Haley Fowler, a high school paraprofessional. Marguerite Miele who taught special education at Longfellow Elementary also resigned.

The board members vote to approve Jeremy Jones as a certified teacher. He was hired earlier as an adjunct but has now received his state certification. This will allow him to be paid the higher rate as a certified teacher.

Ethan Lyons was hired as a paraprofessional. Several times, Argo praised Hattie Potter who has been working to keep paraprofessional staff positions filled.

In the extra duty salaries, the board took action to make sure assistant coaches were paid the same across different sports. A second assistant coach position was added for boys and girls basketball with a stipend to help especially during playoffs.

Argo said the assignment schedule is mostly up to date now with class sponsors and head sponsors for activities. Tina Pettus and Steffanie Nichols were appointed as district test coordinators. Mary Tyree will receive a stipend as an e-sports sponsor, which will include gaming and STEM activities.

Financial

Supt. Argo presented the Estimate of Needs for FY24 prepared by Carroll and Associates. The document was published as a legal notice in the September 10 issue of the Alva Review-Courier. Argo explained this document is based on a percentage of actual revenue and expenses from FY23. He said he will bring the board his budget book for FY24 at the next meeting. Argo’s budget is generally more conservative and is based on trends in expenses and revenue he has noticed during the preceding year. “We’re using more of the carryover every year,” said McDermott, and Argo agreed.

Gross production tax of $132,242.04 for August was down $161,190.28 from the same month last year. Motor vehicle tax was down $3,343.89, and R.E.A. tax was down $5,357.98. School land earnings had the only positive trend with an increase of $3,653.57 in August compared to the same month last year.

The to-date revenue decrease from FY23 to FY24 is $96,904.05 while the to-date expense increase is $387,624.44, according to Argo in a comparison of the first two months of the fiscal year.

Among building fund purchase orders, the board approved a payment of $342,839.57 to Kyler Construction Group on the AHS gym HVAC project. There was one purchase order from the child nutrition fund for AHS cafeteria tables and chairs from Merrifield Office Supply for $37,366.05. Argo commented they are seeing a significant increase in the number of students purchasing lunches from the cafeteria.

Alva Schools received their initial allocation in state aid which is an increase of $310.79 per student in relation to last year. The total allocation is $1,521,596.64 compared to $1,122,154.76 last year.

The board approved several items as surplus that will be moved to the old armory/bus barn site until the school has a sale. Items include two electric typewriters from the high school office. Also listed are some computers and accessories, a Promethean board, an overhead projector and some risers.

Purchase orders from the gift fund showed scholarship amounts totaling $45,250 being sent to colleges and universities on behalf of Alva High graduates. Eleven students receiving Goldbug scholarships are attending Northwestern Oklahoma State University while ten are going to Oklahoma State University and two are going to the University of Oklahoma. Others are going to Pittsburg State, University of Central Oklahoma, Northern Oklahoma in Enid, Southwestern Christian University, Southwestern College and the University of Wisconsin. Argo said freshmen receive $500 per semester. Sophomores and juniors get $750 per semester, and seniors receive $1,000 per semester.

Contracts and Other Business

Since they have been unable to find enough speech therapists, the school board approved a contract with ProCare Therapy, an online speech pathology service. The cost will be significantly more than hiring local speech pathologists. The school will have one on staff, but ProCare will provide two therapists with one for 25 hours a week and the other 14 hours a week.

Potter said the speech therapy schedule has already been maxed out. “This is the first time we’ve ever done this due to a shortage of teachers,” said McDermott about the online service.

A contract with Share Medical Center for nursing services was approved. In addition to nursing service, the contract provides for training paraprofessionals working with students’ medical needs and making sure each site is equipped with up to date medical supplies.

Board members approved a contract with Holtzen Engineering Group, a structural engineering service, for core sampling at the Lincoln Elementary site and providing plans to repair issues at the school. The total cost is listed at $17,500. “They think it is fixable, but it could be a terrible price,” commented McDermott.

The biggest problem is the library according to Argo. He said, “Anything could be fixed but that cost could be tremendous.”

Appointed to the Internal Activities Committee for FY24 are administrator Vickie Nighswonger, Dave Foster, Jeremy Jones, Valerie Rider, Tina Pettus, Adam Lloyd and parent Ashley Ferguson. Argo said this committee will review the board policy regarding student absences for activities. The number of days a student may miss is limited. If that number is exceeded, the committee will hear appeals.

The Gifted and Talented Committee reviews the board policy related to gifted and talented students and then brings it back to the school board for approval. Members of that committee are parents of gifted and talented students Courtney Nesseralla and Amber Bosch; elementary teacher April Ridgway; middle school teacher Kasey Adair; high school teacher Cara Bradt; counselors Valarie Rider, Steffanie Nichols and Tina Pettus; and administrator Stephanie Marteney.

The board also approved an anonymous $10,000 donation to the Alva High School NFL (speech) account.

A video of the meeting may be viewed at http://www.AlvaReviewCourier.com.