TPS OKs payments for 'friendly' lawsuits, renews superintendent contract
Jan. 18—The Tahlequah Public School Board of Education discussed the status of two "friendly" lawsuits, along with the superintendent's contract, during a meeting Jan. 17.
A motion and vote to approve payment to both plaintiffs in the Rallow v. Tahlequah Public Schools and Walker v. Tahlequah Public Schools were made.
"We had two employees who were underpaid, and because they were underpaid in years prior to this year — you can't pay last year's bill on this year's money, so there had to be a judgment, so we could pay them what they were actually owed," said TPS Superintendent Tanya Jones.
Jones said the lawsuits centered on two JROTC instructors who were underpaid for about three years.
"There's a partnership with the U.S. Army and money comes in, and it was not purposeful, but something was just underpaid and we realized that. To get them back to the amount they were supposed to be owed those years, we had to work with attorneys to do this friendly suit," said Jones.
The superintendent's contract for Jones for the next three school years was also approved after the meeting reconvened from the executive session.
"I'm super-glad they felt like I was doing a good enough job to go ahead and offer me another three-year contract," said Jones. "If all my wishes came true, I would stay in this position until I retire, and this just gets me going in that direction."
A quote for a backhoe was also approved. It will be used to replace the school's current piece of equipment, which is in poor shape.
Several pieces of surplus from Tahlequah Middle School, Greenwood Elementary, and Heritage Elementary were approved by the board. Two overnight trips were also given the nod: for FFA members to go to the Oklahoma Youth Expo, March 8-16, and to the Oklahoma State FFA Convention, May 1-3.
The approval for a trip for the Tahlequah High School academic team to go to the state academic meet was granted. The team had qualified at regionals Saturday, Jan. 14, and the state meet will be Saturday, Jan. 21, which means the board could not reconvene in time to approve the overnight stay.
Several job transfers, employments, resignations, and termination were carried out at the meeting, along with the approval of the job description for a special services coordinator.
"We have had a special education director the last few years, and we still will, but we are going to combine another district-level director job and the special ed director job and hire a coordinator who works underneath that director, so they'll work together," said Jones. "It was a job description we didn't already have, and if we add a brand-new job, we have to have the job description board approved."
Various supplemental service agreements were accepted, including providing Greenwood and Cherokee elementaries with Oceans of Possibility with Mad Science of Central Oklahoma.
Jones said the program, which will take place Feb. 1 at Greenwood and at a to-be-determined time at Cherokee, is a parent involvement night for the district's elementary schools. She said the program will involve hands-on science experiments for children in the after-school program, along with their parents.
To start repairs on the high school cafeteria kitchen roof, the board approved an agreement with ARMKO. Jones said a completion date for repairs has not been projected, because the school is waiting for metal for not only the cafeteria roof, but for repairs at the Pre-K and middle school and for completion of the new indoor athletic facility.
Two other agreements were also reached. The first allows the school to host an intern in the licensed professional counselor program at Northeastern State University for the 2022-'23 school year, and the second is for an evaluation of the new Mental Health Awareness Training Grant by CARE Consulting Group.
"The Mental Health Awareness Training Grant is a SAMSA grant, so it is a federal grant," said Jones. "In any federal grant, you have to have an external evaluator and this is the company we will work for with that. They help us do the reporting and do the evaluating of the federal grant."
A facility usage agreement was also discussed and accepted with the boys' and girls' fifth- and sixth-grade basketball league to allow for the use of the boys' and girls' lower gym for practice on select days.
What's next
The Tahlequah Public School Board of Education will meet again Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at the Board of Education Conference Room.
