McAlester students entertain school board at meeting

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McAlester Public Schools Board of Education members listen to a band performance by Parker Intermediate band students Monday evening at the regularly scheduled board meeting. David Steidley, in yellow shirt and tie, is directing the band. Photo by Rachel Petersen
McAlester Public Schools Parker Intermediate student Devin Ward displays the front cover of the Downey McAlester / Pittsburg County phone book. Ward won an art contest and his drawing is now on the cover of every Downey phone book distributed throughout Pittsburg County. Photo by Rachel Petersen
State Department of Education’s Daniel Craig, second from left, presents McAlester High School with a Century of Excellence banner Monday evening at the regularly scheduled MPS board meeting. Pictured from left are MHS Principal Randy Hughes, Craig, MPS Board President Ann Walker and MHS Vice-principal Stephanie Holt. Photo by Rachel Petersen

December 13, 2011

By Rachel Petersen Staff Writer The McAlester News-Capital Tue Dec 13, 2011, 11:20 PM CST

McALESTER — Students from Parker Intermediate’s arts program had the opportunity to demonstrate their artistic abilities for the McAlester Public School Board Monday evening at the regularly scheduled monthly board meeting.

Shortly after the meeting began, at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Parker Principal Marcus Crittenden spoke to the board. The principal was scheduled to give the board a presentation regarding education at Parker. “I’ve brought about 25 of my best friends with me ... to show you do rather than tell you,” he said.

At that point in the meeting, a group of Parker band students began performing songs for the board under the direction of David Steidley, band director.

When the band finished, Crittenden introduced Parker student Devin Ward, who entered and won an art contest. “A picture he drew is on the cover of the Downey Pittsburg County Phone Book,” Crittenden said. When asked by the principal what inspired him to draw the picture, Ward responded, “What inspired me to do this was the spirit of Oklahoma — Native Americans.”

Finally, a vocal group of students from Parker sang the song titled “Fireflies” for the board.

Superintendent Tom Condict thanked Crittenden for his demonstration and thanked the students for their performances. The board then moved to the next agenda item, communications.

Condict briefed the board regarding a letter from Gina Kazerooni, program manager of the Commodity Distribution Unit of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. The letter reports that during the recent Commodity Compliance Review, all procedures reviewed met government standards and no corrective action is needed at this time.

At this point in the meeting, State Board of Education’s Daniel Craig presented McAlester High School with a Century Accreditation banner for being an accredited educational program for 100 years.

Condict then discussed a cell phone tower ground lease. “We’re still working on this,” the superintendent said. Condict then briefly discussed the school budget before turning the floor over to Deputy Superintendent Dr. Marsha Gore, who spoke about the school improvement plan.

“We have a district-wide school improvement plan just about ready,” Gore said. “I think we should have it for the board to look at within a week ... and should be ready for the January agenda.”

After Gore finished with her report, the board unanimously approved the consent agenda, including:

• Approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of Nov. 14 and the special meeting of Nov. 29.

• Approval of financial reports, including: November encumbrances for child nutrition and building funds; November activity fund reports; November treasurer’s report; November investment report; and November budgeted revenue summary.

• Approval of declaring dumpsters as surplus.

The board then moved onto agenda item titled “business not previously considered. Board members unanimously passed the following items:

• Approval of proposed board objectives for 2011-2012; and

• Approval to rescind the Sept. 12 action to adopt a site transitioning plan for grades 2 through 12 beginning with the 2012-2013 school year.

The board then tabled the next agenda item: Consideration and possible action on a request to form the new Young Democrat Club at McAlester High School and Puterbaugh Middle School.

At this point in the meeting, the board went into executive session. Upon coming out of executive session, Condict told the News-Capital that the following agenda items were approved, including:

• Approval of the resignation of the following non-certified personnel for the remainder of the 2011-2012 school year: Brandie Lordahl, Felicia Nye and Kendra Zachary.

• Approval of the resignation of certified staff member Karla Brock effective at the end of the 2011-2012 school year.

• Approval of the resignation of the certified staff member Frankie Falwell for the remainder of the 2011-2012 school year.

• Approval of a proposed certified extra duty position description for fifth and sixth grade basketball coordinator, and a proposed addendum to the extra-duty and coaches salary schedules for the remainder of the 2011-2012 school year.

The next regularly scheduled monthly board meeting is set for Jan. 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the Cafetorium at the Old McAlester High School at 200 E. Adams Ave. in McAlester. The meetings are open to the public.

Contact Rachel Petersen at rpetersen@mcalesternews.com.

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