Alva Public Schools have had no luck in finding speech therapists to fill openings in the district. The school board approved contracting for online services with Chatterbox, but that company was unable to find a therapist. Monday night, Dr. Tim Argo, superintendent, told the board that Hattie Potter was able to locate another company, TinyEYE, that came up with a therapist. School board members approved a one-year contract with TinyEYE Therapy for $71,760. Although the contact for the company was from Canada, the therapist lives in Oklahoma, Potter said.

Board members at Monday’s meeting were Jane McDermott, Karen Koehn and Shane Hansen. Kevin Pingelton was unable to attend, and Larry Parker has resigned. The school board is accepting letters of interest from anyone interested in filling Parker’s position. Candidates must live in school district 3.

In personnel matters, Argo reported that Gracie Gilliland has resigned as a paraprofessional at Longfellow Elementary.

The board approved hiring three non-certified employees. Jesse Gihlchrist and Sandra Ibarra will assist with students at Longfellow Elementary while Ricardo Rivera will be working at the high school.

Three extra duty assignments were added. Gina Wilson will assist with middle school basketball for seventh and eighth grades while Sasha Kirkpatrick will assist with sixth-grade basketball. Sean Stephens will be the band assistant.

Superintendent’s Report

Supt. Argo said he met Thursday with the school’s construction manager and architect to give them a list of the school’s priorities for future projects. He said the plans include three possible ways to mitigate the problems with the Lincoln building: a new building, remodeling to add classes at Washington and Longfellow, or building something at the Lincoln site. He said the agriculture instructors expanded on future improvements at the ag farm. Argo said future plans for projects are in a “holding pattern” until they know the results of core sampling at Lincoln Elementary.

He said the adjustor finished looking at the district’s roofs and will have a report in a couple of weeks.

Teachers of the Year have been named at each of the Alva school sites. They are Janelle Hammer at the high school, Carly Williams at the middle school, April Ridgway at Lincoln, Dawn Self Hill at Longfellow and Brandi Peace at Washington. A district teacher of the year will be named from these five at a later date.

Strategic Plan Update

Lincoln Principal Jenny Webster and Washington Principal Madison Williams gave a presentation on the Culture and Community part of the school’s strategic plan. Each of the schools has implemented Parent Square which allows a school-wide means of communicating with parents through texts and emails. Surveys from each of the schools will be going out to parents. Some have already been sent, and other schools will follow. Later a teacher climate survey will be sent out to all district teachers. The survey results will be shared with the school board members.

Each of the school sites has chosen at least two action steps for this portion of the strategic plan. The principals took turns discussing what is happening at each of the sites. For example, at Lincoln Elementary they have started a writing club. About 25 students spend time at lunch or during recess with Title I teacher Julie Benningfield. She helps them with creative writing and art projects. Webster said it has boosted a lot of excitement for writing.

Financial Reports

Supt. Argo told the board that revenue continues to be down compared to last year at this time. Gross production taxes are down $355,456, motor vehicle tax is down $7,522.53 and REA revenues are down $22,098.22. He continues to monitor the situation. He said the school budget should be okay for this year, but he’s concerned about future budgets.

Comparing this year to the FY23 school year, Argo said revenues are down $128,386.76 compared to the same time last year. Expenditures are increased by $565,000. He attributes the increase in expenses to teacher pay raises and inflationary costs.

Looking at General Fund purchase orders, Argo noted $1400 spent for batteries from O’Reilly’s to be used in cleaning machines. Spraying of all school sites by Peak Environment cost $1,400. The executive search fee of $8,000 to Oklahoma State School Boards Association is for the superintendent search.

In the Building Fund, $10,000 has been allocated for A-Z Construction for repairs to another area at

Lincoln School where the floor appears to be buckling. Argo said those repairs won’t be started until the results of the core sampling have been received. Harrison Energy Partners was paid $897.10 for high school chiller maintenance.

In the Donation Account, there are two expenditures for the high school and middle school vocal programs. This donation for fine arts came from Alva State Bank. About $1,600 was spent on sheet music and another $853 went for miscellaneous other materials for the vocal program.

Other Business

Board members approved a lease-purchase contract with Alva State Bank for a 2024 National Ultra Coachliner Bus renewable each year for three years. Argo said the school’s bus fleet is getting older, and this will allow replacement of an older bus. The board members were able to tour the activity bus last summer. Alva State will hold the title to the bus until the end of the lease-purchase contract when it will be owned by the school. Argo said he checked interest rates with all local banks, and Alva State offered the lowest rate. The bus is not expected to arrive for five to eight months due to manufacturing delays. The school won’t be expected to start payments until the bus has been delivered.

The board approved dates of regular school board meeting for the 2024 calendar year. Most of them fall on the first Monday of each month.

An election resolution was approved calling for a school election for Office 4 on the school board, currently held by Karen Koehn. Candidate filing will be from 8 a.m. on Dec. 4 through 5 p.m. on Dec. 6 with the primary election to be held Feb. 13, 2024. A general election, if required, will be held on April 2.

Alva FFA sponsor Chad Blocker requested out-of-state travel for students to attend the Kansas Beef Expo Livestock Judging Contest in Lyons, Kansas, on Dec. 7-8. Board members approved the request.

Supt. Argo said a new opioid abatement grant has become available next year. However, a letter of intent has to be filed with the Oklahoma Opioid Abatement Board on behalf of the school board by Nov. 8. With this letter, the school will have the opportunity to file for the grant next year. Board members approved the letter of intent.

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