May 13, 2024 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:  The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m.

Discussion:  Superintendent Purdy asked Gary Wallace, high school principal, to introduce the GHS 2024 valedictorians.  There are eleven valedictorians this year and ten of them were present to introduce themselves and talk about their future plans.  Next, Athletic Director Andy Brown presented the athletes that competed at State this spring.  For girls golf, Lylah Riedl, Addison Stavig, and Mercedes Vasquez competed at State.  For boys golf, Gavin Martinez competed at State.  For track, Grady LeGrange, Pedro Gomez, Harrison Oakes, Zab Brown, Tesfaye Lire, and Adam Sium competed at State.  Coach Brown also noted that Emily Raudales and Carla Tum were selected for All-State girls soccer.  Congratulations were given to all these students on their achievements.  
Next, Principal Wallace was asked to introduce the 2024 Teacher of the Year for Guymon.  Maegan Joy is an instructional coach at the high school and won Teacher of the Year.  She thanked everyone and stated she was excited about Guymon and the teachers in this District. 
Lastly, Superintendent Purdy spoke to the board about storm shelters.  Several of our schools are designated as storm shelters and have been for years.  After a recent meeting with the Texas County Emergency Management Director, it was suggested that we make some changes.  Some board members felt that we need to continue to offer them as shelters, while some felt we need to better educate the public about these outdated structures.  The consensus was to stay open as shelters with updated signage and have a 3-5 year plan for eliminating the older schools as shelters.

Discussion:  The District currently has $1,283,708.31 left over from the previous bond because of cost savings and financial management.  The track is in bad shape and does have some safety concerns.  The last time cracks were filled in the track was about five years ago.  The last time it was actually re-surfaced was prior to 2005.  We don't host track meets because of the condition of the track.  Texhoma, Goodwell and OPSU all use our track for practices as well as Guymon.  Beynon Sports Surfaces is a part of BuyBoard, a national purchasing cooperative that Guymon School District is a part of.  BuyBoard has to abide by the Oklahoma Competitive Bidding Act in all their contracts.  They charge a 2% fee of the contract amount.  Board members questioned the timeline for the work to be done.  If approved, Coach Brown stated they would tear out the track this summer and lay the new surface in the spring.  There were concerns about how the community would react to this.  We would need to clearly communicate to the public that because we were good stewards of the last bond funds, this is leftover funding that could be utilized.  A new building and fence would cost extra money at the District's expense.  That would need to be discussed in the future.  Board member Mata stated that we are a 5A school, and we haven't hosted a track meet since 2009.  He stated we have been sitting on this too long, and we need to move forward. Board member E. Hernandez stated we need to immediately start an information campaign to get the word out on what we are doing, why now, and where the funds are coming from.

Discussion:  The board entered into executive session at 6:58 p.m. to discuss the employment, hiring, or resignation of support and certified staff as listed in Appendix A, as authorized by 25 O.S. Section 307(B)(1) and to discuss the support staff rehire list for the 2024-2025 school year, as authorized by 25 O.S. Section 307(B)(1).  Those present in executive session were Alphonso Mata, Elvia Hernandez, Carla Hernandez, Charity Hitch, Superintendent Purdy, and Assistant Superintendent Melissa Watson.  No action was taken by the board of education.