Sand Springs Board of Education meeting focuses on pandemic, virtual schooling
/The Sand Springs Public Schools Board of Education met in a special meeting Tuesday evening at Charles Page High School. Prior to dealing with official district business, the Board handed out a Sandite Spirit Award to the Fitz Family.
“The teachers always talk about how wonderful you guys are, how wonderful your kids are. They say the Fitzes should just keep having children,” said Board President Whitney Wagers.
Karen Biggs, a teacher at Limestone Elementary, nominated the family, and Wagers read aloud Biggs’s comments on the nomination form. “The Fitz family have been such a blessing to Limestone. They work behind the scenes to support our school. Many of our teachers’ Donors Choose projects would not be completely funded without the generous donations from the Fitz Family.”
Virtual Academy Director Jay Rotert was presented with a Coin of Excellence. “He has done a phenomenal job,” said Vice President Mike Mullins. “There’s like a 1066 kids in Sand Springs schools right now that are either in full time virtual or blended virtual schools.”
“Last year in our virtual academy we served right at 300 at any given time,” added Superintendent Sherry Durkee. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that number more than tripled this year. “This man did nothing less than something miraculous to get them all enrolled.”
“The biggest obstacle honestly was the time period right before school started because we had a lot of parents who were up, until the last minute, undecided about what learning option they wanted. We had a pretty big influx of kids at the last minute.”
Durkee also discussed the district finances. “There is not a day that goes by that Greg Morris and I don’t think about the state of the budget…We’re taking about a $1.8 million reduction from last year based on state revenue.”
The district suffered roof damage during spring hailstorms and just recently received a report from their adjuster. According to Maintenance Director Mike Bynum, the district sustained $1.5-2 million in damages, which will be covered by the insurance.
The hottest topic of the evening was district protocols regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to Durkee, only 3.58% of individuals in the district are currently being quarantined due to the infection or exposure. The number combines both students and district personnel.
Board member Bo Naugle was skeptical of the district’s contract tracing methods and criticized the decision to cancel football practices and games for the entire 8th and 9th grade teams early last month after individuals involved with the program tested positive.
“We’re disrupting kids’ education because we think that they were exposed,” said Naugle. “Not everyone on the football team tackles the same person. Not everyone on the wrestling team wrestles the same person. We need to figure that out before we start sending the whole teams home. We’ve already done it, we’ve already messed that up.”
Durkee said that she had discussed with CPHS Head Football Coach Bobby Klinck the possibility of videotaping tackle drills so that contact could be better identified at an individual level. “I understand the frustration…I understand that we need to get better at that…but I promise you that it is a little tricky to say the least.”
The Board approved out of state travel for the high school dance team to fly to and compete at Dance Team Nationals in Orlando in February. Durkee encouraged the Board to approve the item with the caveat that they could change their minds down the line if pandemic conditions look too risky to go forward.
Naugle said he would rather let parents make that decision rather than cancel it outright. “I don’t think it’s our position as a board or as a school system to determine if a kid can go to a dance competition or not. That should lay solely on the parents. If the parents feel that the kid can safely go to this competition, then we should support them 100%. We should not sit here and say that a kid could or could not go, even if the parents feel like they’re safe enough to go.”
In other news:
The Board accepted the resignations of two teachers: James Martinez at CPHS and Sallem Tullis at Garfield.
The Board approved Donor’s Choose grants to Megan Cabe, Carole Cothran, Celeste Thompson, Megan Sowers, Jennifer Reeves, Kami McCable, Beth Russell, Amy Garrison, and Marlene Elifrits.
The Board approved scores of appointments to various boards and committees.
The Board approved the employment of six new teachers and four new paraprofessionals.
