From the August 11 Grove School Board meeting

 

 This edition will contain some highlights from the meeting but not notes on everything that transpired.

You will find the full meeting notes in a draft on the next agenda.  Sign up to receive agendas on the school website at www.ridgerunners.net/ .  You will receive a notice of meetings automatically when you sign up.   

  First, I would like to highlight something that was later in the meeting but is important for future meetings.  

The Regular Board Meetings will be held in various locations as follows: 

                                        September's meeting, moved to High School Library

                                        October's meeting moved to Grove Middle School Library 

                                        November's meeting moved to Grove Upper Elementary Library

                                        December's meeting moved to Grove Lower Elementary Library 

                                        January's meeting will be moved to Early Childhood Cafeteria.

Doug Brown Supt. led us in prayer, meeting was called to order and the pledges were said.

Superintendent's Report

The cash balance of our district is looking good.

The Back to School Celebration for teachers and staff was  enhanced by $165,000 worth of donations from the community.  This created an enthusiastic and uplifting atmosphere for our teachers and staff. There were more vendors than ever before. 

There was a meeting with the bonding agent to see if we can use left over money from the roofing projects on other things the schools need.  If the projects fall within the scope of bond, the extra money can be used for safety projects or other areas of need.

The staff number this year is 353.

Enrollment is up over last year and more students are enrolling every day.

Improvements over the summer to facilities were mentioned.   

8 HVAC units were replaced and more will be replaced shortly.

The PAC fire alarm system was "fixed" but is now not working correctly.  We are still on it!

The State of Oklahoma still has not released this years' appropriations.  

 Business

GH2 Architects LLC  presented a lengthy evaluation of the proposed playground improvements funded by the 2024 bond.  The bottom line is that bids came in much higher than expected so there will need to be some parts of the project deleted and done differently but still be effective improvements.  (See New Business at the end of this post.)

The Consent Agenda was agreed to.  One item in the Consent Agenda was the approval for the establishment of an activity account #969 Karen Haas Memorial Scholarship Fund.  Mr Hass was present and told us he wanted to establish fund in memory of his wife for the purpose of training people wanting to become teachers. 

The joint use of City of Grove, Cherokee Alliance, and the Grand Area Creative Alliance for the use of Ridgerunner Stadium to host the Grove Area PowWow on the tentative date of 5/15/2027 and consideration of a request to waive the associated district facility use fees was approved.

The Board approved moving the next five board meeting to various locations in the district.  (See beginning of my post.)

Action to build a batting cage/bullpen at the Grove High School softball facility was approved.  This project will not cost the school anything and is in accord with Title IX.

New Business

The board approved the playground equipment bid so the project can proceed .  Other bids were rejected. (Note:  the architects are still working to see what can be accomplished while staying within budget to provide safe and attractive areas for play as stipulated in the bond.)

Until next month, 

Pam Jarrett