On Monday, February 11, 2019 the Sapulpa Board of Education met at the Washington Administrative Building for its monthly meeting. Present were board members Sarah Havenstrite, Larry Hoover, Wayne Richards, Steve McCormick, and president of the board, Melinda Ryan.
Also present were Superintendent Ron Armstrong and Assistant Superintendent Johnny Bilby.
5th grade student Brynlee Clingenpeel from Jefferson Heights led the Pledge of Allegiance.
There were many items up for approval on the consent agenda. These included the General Fund purchase order, the Building Fund purchase order, the Child Nutrition Fund purchase order, the Bond Fund purchase order, the monthly financial reports of the School Activity Funds account, and the Treasurer’s Report on the status of Funds and Investments.
Next was the approval of two employment assignments. First was for Johnny Bilby and Kim Castaldi as the Title IX Co-Coordinators and second was for Katherine Stufflebeam as the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and 504 (Rehabilitation Act) Coordinator.
There was an agreement between OSU and Sapulpa Public Schools (SPS) for a speech-language pathology clinical externship, and another between Central Tech and SPS for a Career Exploration Program.
The final items to be discussed were a Declaration of Surplus, a Contract of Services between Sports Surface Management, LLC and SPS (this is for the football field), an Elevation Subscription agreement with SPS, out-of-state activity trips, and fundraisers.
All the items on the consent agenda were approved unanimously by the board.
The highlight of the meeting was the legislative update from State Representatives Mark Lawson and Kyle Hilbert. The focus was on the ongoing concern about virtual charter schools and whether or not they have the same regulations and requirements as brick-and-mortar schools.
Lawson stated that House Bill 1395 authored by State Representative Sheila Dills “is a great first step as we see a migration to charter schools, as far as leveling the playing field” between them and traditional public schools. The bill was set to be heard this week but is being held back to add more information. A part of the bill would require virtual schools to report all financial transactions to the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System (OCAS).
Representative Lawson has an upcoming meeting with EPIC members and offered to take a list of the board’s questions with him in hopes of getting some solid answers.
Representative Kyle Hilbert briefly spoke about vaping in schools. It will not be allowed and still continues to be prohibited under the Tobacco Act.
Next there was a vote on the new school calendar for school year 2019-2020. In an effort to bring consistency to the calendars, the new one is the same as last year’s. Their goal is to be able to plan two years at a time. This was approved.
The rehiring of auditors Sanders, Bledsoe & Hewett for the 2018-2019 school audit was approved.
The recent TTCU donation of $3,500 to the general fund was approved.
Then the board left to convene an executive session to discuss personnel evaluations and Superintendent Armstrong’s employment contract. They deemed everything to be satisfactory and no action was taken. The board returned to Open Session.
The remaining items concerned personnel. Notable was the resignation of Sapulpa Middle School math teacher Benjamin Begines.
All personnel items were approved and the meeting was adjourned.
The next meeting of the Sapulpa Board of Education will be Monday, March 11 at 6 p.m. in room 200 of the Washington Administration Building at 511 East Lee Avenue.
