Alva school board approves practice facility contractor

The Alva Board of Education voted to hire Rick Scott Construction Inc. of Ponca City to complete the work on the Indoor Practice Facility – Phase II at a cost of $544,900 minus a removed alternate of carpeting and floor finishing of $18,857. Architect Roy Easley will be paid 7 percent for his services, which comes to about $38,000.

Easley said the Scott Construction will be notified immediately, and then they have ten days to start on the project. He said the timeline for the project is 120 days, with a penalty of $250 per day for exceeding that. He said it should not be difficult to complete the project in the allotted time.

Other bidders included RSM Development Inc. at $732,600, Kline Mechanical Contracting Inc. at $638,000 and Sports Facility Resources LLC at $593,981.

A project cost breakdown was provided by Scott Construction:

General Conditions – $25,128

Storm Drainage – $24,784

Concrete – $86,472

Carpentry and Drywall – $27,363

Ceramic Tile – $15,298

Painting – $5,778

Specialties – $15,547

Plumbing – $65,278

HVAC – $184,812

Electrical – $75,573

Superintendent Steve Parkhurst said he called several other schools where Scott Construction Inc. had completed projects and heard excellent reviews. Board member Jane McDermott said she heard similar praise in a few calls she made, as did architect Roy Easley.

Sickness Affects Schools

The continuing upper respiratory illnesses and the flu bug has affected the Alva schools. For example, absentees because of illness caused 1,039 fewer meals to be served in the last month. Superintendent Parkhurst said he and the other administrators have been keeping a close eye in the event the entire system needs to be shut down for a few days to halt the spread of illness. In general, each school site is seeing 90–93 percent attendance. However, one day 22 teachers were absent, either because of their illness or illness of their own children. At one time, the student absentee rate hit 11–12 percent.

In finances, Parkhurst said the State Department of Education reported the Alva District had too great a money carryover last year and proposed a penalty of $19,000. The superintendent said he was familiar with other schools that had appealed such a penalty and were successful, so that is what he is planning to do. He also noted that gross production revenues are down to $185,000 from a previous month of $220,000.

Longfellow librarian Heather Hall appeared before the board and told about some STEM projects they were executing with their students in building tiny rockets. The rockets were used to interest the students in science and math courses. They said they were appreciative of a donation of soda straws by Sonic Drive Inn. They were the right size to be the body of the rockets after the original straws proved to be too small.

Oklahoma Legislative Session

Parkhurst said he and other administrators visited the State Capitol and reported on proposed legislation including the Governor's State of the State message. He said teacher pay raises were being proposed by everyone. He said there was talk by the governor of eliminating sales tax on groceries and eliminating the corporate income tax. Parkhurst said he wasn't happy about the governor wanting to make it easier for charter schools to pull students (and funding) away from public schools, although, he said, he didn't think it would be too great a problem in northwest Oklahoma. He said in the metropolitan areas, the effect could be significant.

The board approved a licensing agreement with Pel Industries Inc. of Rogers, Arkansas, so the firm can pay a license fee for the use of Goldbugs logos on various items of clothing such as T-shirts, hooded pullovers, sweat pants, shorts, headwear, etc. The superintendent said this request is driven by Wal-Mart, which wants to sell the products in their stores. In the past, the district has profited about $250 with the license revenue. It is not an exclusive license and may be canceled by either party at any time.

Next year's school calendar was amended and approved. An additional teacher in-service day was added the first week of school, beginning Aug. 14. Spring break is now scheduled to run March 19–23, which is a week later than the initial calendar. It matches NWOSU's spring break and the vacation break of other schools.

Two letters of retirement or resignation were received. Teacher Gail Swallow is retiring in May after 28.5 years in the Alva system. Longfellow Principal Steve Shiever is resigning to become superintendent at Leedy. The district hired Kathryn Reiman as a paraprofessional at Longfellow.

The board accepted with "appreciation" a gift of $9,000 from Todd and Mary Margaret Miller to purchase furniture for the Indoor Practice Facility.