When the Geary School Board met in regular session Monday, the principals started things off with their updates.
Ashley Johnston, the elementary principal, said her students had celebrated many things lately. Those included friendship day, an ongoing t-shirt fundraiser, dental screenings and Bison Pride. Two students, she said, had graduated the Lexia reading program and were moving on to the next program, while the other students were making great progress in their reading pursuits.
Jim Rainey, the middle school and high school principal, noted the basketball season had ended at the regional level, but both baseball and softball were getting underway. FFA students were getting prepared for Oklahoma Youth Expo and at SkillsUSA competitions, Luke Posey had placed third in customer service, beaten out by classmate Connor Bernhardt who placed second in customer service. He also told the board that the junior senior prom has been scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. April 5 at the Boots and Chaps venue near Geary. The theme this year is Euphoric.
The board moved to place its president, vice president and clerk on the signature cards at the various banks used by the boards. They will not have access to the accounts, but because they often sign checks, the institutions wanted a verified signature to compare to in case of a discrepancy.
It also agreed to a lease between the City of Geary and the schools for the ballfields. That lease will run until the end of June.
The ballfield situation has long been a bone of contention between the parties. The fields are owned by the city and used by the schools. This creates a situation where even when the district wants to make improvements to the fields, it cannot legally do so because the state auditor has previously warned the district not to spend district money on a property it does not own.
Board member Taylar Burns made the suggestion that the school take photos of the facilities so that the condition of the property was documented before the beginning of the ball season. “It would just be to protect the district,” she said.
Superintendent Sean Buchanan agreed that it was a good idea for both the city and the schools.
Following an executive session, the board accepted the resignation of Michael Petrone, a computer science teacher at Geary High School.
Buchanan told the board during his update the construction of a new building was almost complete, and the hope is it will be done in the next few weeks. There had been some weather delays, but now the school was looking ahead to move in dates.
Buchanan also noted that the Geary Education Foundation was renewed and revitalized. It looks for ways to support the teachers, staff and students and advance the educational process, Buchanan said. “It is really a nice thing to see.”
When it came to the bus leases for the upcoming school year, the superintendent made the suggestion that the schools only needed two buses instead of the three that had previously transported students. That was, he said, because more students now live inside the town limits and there were more walkers than bus riders. He also said that one could be an activity sized bus, rather than the standard 71- passenger model.
Reducing the number of buses will save $27,500 and using the smaller bus will save an additional $5,000 annually. These figures do not include the reduced cost of fuel consumed by using the smaller model bus.
The board will next meet at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 7 at the meeting room in the back of the Stegall Long Fieldhouse.