Poteau School Board fills vacant seat
Poteau First Baptist Church Pastor Troy George was unanimously appointed to seat No. 5, which had been filled by Matt McBee until he moved out of that district, during Monday night’s meeting at the Bert Corr Administrative Building.
Prior to George’s appointment, the board met in an executive session for 27 minutes in which items discussed were George’s appointment, other personnel matters and real estate. When the executive session ended, Poteau School Board President Ranada Adams said the there were no motions made or votes taken during the executive session.
In other personnel matters, the board approved the resignations of Poteau Public Schools Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Vallerie Martin, Poteau Schools vocational/ agriculture teacher Crystal Shipman and maintenance man Jerry Beal and the hirings of Shannon Barnes as the new CFO, former Heavener soccer coach Billy Adrean as the new Poteau soccer coach, Randy Steelman as the new aviation teacher and Justin Payne as an adjunct teacher and vocational-agriculture teacher full day.
Pansy Kidd Middle School teacher Nikki Steelman got awarded her site’s Teacher of the Year Certificate by Adams, since Steelman was not present at December’s meeting when the other sites’ Teachers of the Year winners were announced.
In his report, Poteau Public Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. John Turner had Operations Manager Devin Cochran give facility updates, in which Cochran said the Bob Lee Kidd Civic Center is still waiting on its fire alarms which should arrive this week. Turner said that requests have already been made for using the Bob Lee Kidd Civic Center, once all the maintenance work is done.
Cochran also let the board know about the gas leak at the Poteau Theater, which he said he talked with Arkansas Oklahoma Gas (AOG) about the issue. Earlier in the meeting, Cochran said that the school’s insurance should be able to take care of most of the cost of the repair, but he said the biggest obstacle right now is how to go about repairing the leak. Currently, there is no heat available at the theater. The board approved to surplus three items — the old Costner Stadium scoreboard, the old softball field scoreboard and a rotted metal ramp. Cochran said the new Costner Stadium scoreboard should arrive in early February.
The board approved three out-of-state activities — the pom squad to go to a marching/ auxiliaries regional dance competition Jan. 28 in Tyler Texas, the freshmen and seventh-eighth grade basketball teams to go to a tournament next week in Van Buren, Ark., and the Seventh-Eighth Grade Academic Center’s Reading Club to go to Books-A-Million in either April or May in Fort Smith, Ark.
The board approved an update to the school policy regarding restrooms. Turner explained to the board that boys are expected to go to the boys restrooms and girls to the girls restrooms, but thanks to the recommendation by the Oklahoma State School Board Association (OSSBA) the update to the policy now will state that if there is someone who is uncomfortable going to a boys or girls restroom that they can go to a special facility as an independent.
Turner also said there will be more updates for the board to consider by the Feb. 13 meeting.
The board approved the fundraisers for the rest of the school year as well as approved appointing Poteau Public Schools Superintendent’s office secretary Kelly Watson as the newlyformed Poteau Schools Rodeo Club sponsor. Turner said her stipend will be determined at a later time.
In her final meeting as CFO, Martin read the financial report, in which she told the board the ending balance of the general fund was $1,706,494, the building fund at $926,149, the child nutrition fund at $792,208, the bond fund at $534,890, the sinking fund at $58,613, the insurance recovery fund at $37,289 and the activity fund at $630,963.
In her final encumbrances report, Martin told the board the general fund was $131,128, the cafeteria fund at $87,200 and the insurance recovery fund at $6,350.