Hirings, swim team, open house handled by school board

A couple of school vacancies were filled Monday night and four resignations accepted by the Henryetta school board.
Three board members, James Williams, Jeanie Duncan and Brandi Brown spent 90 minutes in executive session before announcing Beatrice Hodge to be hired as a first grade teacher and Tim Gillispie as the new school athletic director. Not present for the meeting were James Cox and Brandy Cunningham.
Resignations were received from Regina Ishmael, Mechelle Johnson, Chris Ray and Amber Wilcox.
Henryetta will have a swim team this next year.		 Board looking into new after school program
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Board members approved sanctioning swimming as a school sport. This is the second year for HHS to be competing in swimming
Nadine Graham coached the team last year and told the board ten students started in the first year sport. Two of them, Charee and Caprice Graham, lost out in the state finals while Jacob Cantrell missed a trip to the state meet by 12 seconds.
"Our kids represented Henryetta very well. We opened some eyes," she said.
She told the board a lot of the expenses this past year were paid for through several fundraising projects. For the coming year, she presented two options for the board, one would be paying tuition for the five-month season at the Jenks indoor facility. The other would be renting two lanes of the facility for a two-hour period during the five months.
Board members authorized the lane rental that is based on the number of athletes participating. If there are ten swimmers participating, the cost would be $11,325. That is compared to a $12,403 cost for the tuition option. If only four athletes are involved, the cost for lane rental would be $10,470. That cost would also include the cost of participating in other swim meets as well as uniforms and coaching.
Graham said she preferred the lane rental for the students since that allows her to work more closely with the students. "If we go the tuition route, they don't have the beginners starting until an hour later. Then we are stuck like last year."
She pointed out a lot of schools have closed down their pools and are renting lane time at the Jenks facility.
Board members approved a ten-cent increase on all meals at the cafeteria for the coming year.
Elementary principal Kelly Furer told the board an open house is scheduled Aug. 19 to allow parents to visit with teachers prior to the start of school the next day.
Board president James Williams said he had a concern over the open house hours originally set from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saying he has had a lot of phone calls about the hours. "Most of them are working parents who can't get there." Furer said that time could be changed. Following an administration meeting the following day, the time was changed to allow parents to meet teachers from 1 to 7 p.m.
Furer did praise the sports and life skills camp held at the school earlier this month.
High school principal Scott Bein said he is waiting for the final delivery of Chromebooks. That will put the handheld computers in the hands of all students. "We will be offering upper level science and physics this year. Our goal in high school is to align our curriculum with the state." He went on to say there will be a 40-minute period offered during the day to help students who are struggling with their studies.