Superintendent Donna Anderson discussed the teacher walkout and pay raise events of the past three weeks with the Cherokee Board of Education Monday night.
“I've been asked when I think this walkout will be over, and I don't have the answer to that,” she said. “I'm not sure where the line is – where no more will be done, and where more needs to be done, so more funds go to our kids in the classroom. It is a historic time in Oklahoma,” she said.
The superintendent said because the Cherokee School District is not on the school funding formula because of healthy tax collections in the district, the raises approved by the legislature and signed by the governor will have to be provided from the local general fund. She said with the $6,100 teacher raise, and the $1,250 support employee raise, Cherokee will have to come up with about $300,000 for next year.
Anderson said she has already started the thinking process of “where are we going to find the money.” She said they are required to give it on top of any benefit they were already giving. Cherokee already pays above the base and pays everyone's retirement.
“Because it's especially already written into our pay schedule, we are not allowed to use the retirement as part of the raise next year. I have a meeting on Tuesday with several schools about the legality of requiring about 60 schools to take on the burden of these raises, when the rest of the schools don't have to,” she said.
“I have talked with the school attorney and it might come to an Attorney General's ruling or a legal suit against the State Department and the legislature. When you ask a school to come up with $300,000 with no revenue behind that, it's not equitable for the children in Oklahoma,” Anderson said.
She indicated that Cherokee has about $200,000 they can save, and they cut almost $200,000 spending out of their budget from last year to this year.
Re-Roofing
Six bids were received for re-roofing at Cherokee schools. The tabulation sheet called for a base bid, then options of a unit price for deck replacement, unit price for insulation replacement, unit price for masonry repair and a final completion date.
Bidders include Bloyer and Son with a base bid of $595,510, Metro-Roof with a bid of $526,616, Cantrell Roofing of Shawnee at $494,830, American Roofing at $587,000, Coontz Roofing at $632,500 and Alva Roofing at $629,950. The bid approved by the board of education was the Cantrell bid. They promised to have the work completed by July 31, 2018.
Other Contracts and Changes
The board approved a plan to have parent-teacher conferences following a regular school day for the 2018-19 school year; they agreed to continue using ADPC Accounting software for all funds; and they voted to continue using the Barlow Educational Management for the Programs Management, TLE Management and Special Education Allocation Management.
Also, the board voted to approve the HB1864 method of allowing schools to document 1,080 hours as a school year instead of the 180 days method.
The board agreed to pay for tuition, books and fees for Cherokee High School students attending Northwestern Oklahoma State University for the 2018-19 school year. The vote limited the payments until such time as NWOSU reinstates the funding, or the Cherokee school district cannot afford it. They will pay for six hours per year per student.
Security System
A sophisticated building security system was approved by Digi at a cost of $143,488. Digi will install the system during the same time as the roofing project. It will be a card reader system with an alarm system. The school will be able to open up the entire campus at whatever time they want or need. It will allow a video system at the front door where a driver's license can be scanned to see if the holder is allowed on campus. It will also print out a badge to wear when you come in the building. It will also track whoever is in the building.
Speech Team Success
The Cherokee Speech and Debate team won State Runner-Up. The team had three state champions for speech and debate: Dixie Meeks and Angel Hernandez were the Debate Champions and Alex Mitchell took State in Original Oratory.
FCCLA Leadership Conference in Atlanta
Instructor Heather Gottsch asked for and received approval for out-of-state travel to Atlanta, Georgia, taking at least four students to the FCCLA National Leadership Conference. She said more may qualify but their placings will not be known until April 12. Gottsch also asked permission for several fundraisers to pay for the trip: one is a silent online auction offering items that people have donated; another will be a community dinner that could raise $2,000. Another fundraiser is the raffle of a large item where the students sell tickets and a winner will be drawn. The trip will run from June 26 through July 3.
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