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The Delaware County Journal | www.grandlakenews.

com
Wednesday, August 20, 2014 | A6
NEWS
Candy Woodruff
news@delcojournal.com
COLCORD, Okla. Te
two-member town board
of trustees here voted to ac-
cept an $84,000 REAP grant
through the Oklahoma Water
Resources Board during their
regular meeting on Tues.,
Aug. 12, but their vote wasnt
without hesitation.
Te money is earmarked
for refurbishing the towns
56-foot tall aged water tower,
inside and out, and the trust-
ees were concerned about
the possibility of leaving
the towns residents without
water during the two-month
long project.
What are we going to do
for water while theyre re-
furbishing it? asked trustee
Cody Gibby.
His query was met with
replies from town Water Su-
perintendent Wade Chesney
and his assistant Tomas
Beck that they dont have a
choice. It has to be done is
the answer, said Chesney.
But according to project
engineer Greg Armstrong,
they neednt be concerned.
Armstrong, who was in
Colcord on Tursday last
week to examine the towns
existing pumps and perform
a study, said that he believes
modifcations can be made to
keep the water pressure at 25
psi, an adequate level, even
if the tank is of line. But, he
also said that he believes it
would be easier and more
cost efective to postpone
the project until the project
currently underway to tie
Colcords water system into
Rural Water District #11 can
be completed. I plan to ask
(the OWRB) if we can wait to
start, said Armstrong. Either
way, the town will have water,
Armstrong vowed. I would
never leave a town without
water for two months, he
said.
Te grant application pro-
cess for refurbishing the tank
was begun more than a year
and a half ago. Te scope of
the project includes cleaning,
inspecting, re-painting inside
and out, installing a new inlet
pipe, repairs to the roof and
the ladder, and installation
of a new level indicator. Te
entire project is expected to
cost $84,210.
Colcord board accepts $84K grant
CANDY WOODRUFF / DELAWARE COUNTY JOURNAL
The two-member town board of trustees in Colcord, voted
to accept an $84,000 REAP grant through the Oklahoma Water
Resources Board during their regular meeting on Tues., Aug. 12
Candy Woodruff
news@delcojournal.com
COLCORD Its not ofen
that students get excited
about school board business,
but Mondays meeting of the
local board of education has
students hungry for an af-
frmative decision.
School board members on
Mon., Aug. 18, discussed the
possibility of contracting with
a food service company in an
efort to save money and give
the students better meals.
If a kid is well fed, theyre
going to do better in the class-
room, said School Superin-
tendent Bud Simmons, who
said that the district spent
$118,000 on pre-packaged
meals and cafeteria employee
salaries during the 2012-2013
school year. Were talking
thousands of dollars in sav-
ings, the superintendent told
the board.
On hand at the meeting
were representatives of two
food service companies that
have expressed an interest in
bidding for a contract with
the district. Representatives
of Keystone Food Services,
an Oklahoma company, and
OPAA Food Service, a Mis-
souri company, explained
how they can help train the
districts existing employees
and provide menus and fresh
ingredients for them to use at
a lesser cost than the district
is currently paying for its pre-
packaged fare.
Greg Frost of OPAA told
the board that his company
has already done a feasibil-
ity study for the district
and, according to the study,
the savings would be in the
neighborhood of $25-40,000
dollars annually.
Superintendent Simmons
said an advertisement for bids
has already gone out, and the
bids are due back by Septem-
ber 8. He told the board that,
ideally, he would like Novem-
ber 1 to be the start-up date.
In other school business,
the board approved allow-
ing Grand Savings Bank to
use the school logo on debit
cards. Tey also approved
using existing teachers as ad-
junct teachers to fll in for the
six teachers who retired and/
or resigned at the end of last
school year. Although some
of them have never taught
the subjects that they will be
teaching at least part-time
this year, Assistant Principal
Sandy Shackleford assured
the board that those who
arent teaching in their regular
subjects have already been
paired with a teacher who
does teach in that subject for
mentoring.
Te board also voted to
raise the amount they pay
for substitute bus drivers and
substitute teachers. Te dis-
trict will now pay $25 to $50
per day for substitute drivers
and $50 to $75 per day for
substitute teachers.
Colcord school board chews
on food service contract
CANDY WOODRUFF / DELAWARE COUNTY JOURNAL
OPAA Food Service representative Greg Frost gave a Power-
Point presentation explaining the benefits of outsourcing the
districts food service during the Mon., August 18, meeting of
the Colcord Board of Education. Shown (L-R) are: Superinten-
dent Bud Simmons, school board member Billie Jones, mem-
ber Donnie Craghead, clerk John Dunn, Vice President Mike
Wofford, President David Ramsey, Principal Robert Hampton,
Assistant Principal Sandy Shackelford, and board Secretary
Tony Downing
news@delcojournal.com
Te Jay Board of Educa-
tion made a number of
last minute employment
additions at their monthly
meeting Turs., Aug. 14.
With school already in
session the board approved
the hiring of the following
people:
Brian Henson-High
School Science Instructor
Mike Moore-High School
Baseball Coach
Marcy Phillips-Elementary
Instructor
Lana Pearson-Elementary
Instructor
Travis Cloud-Elementary
P.E. Instructor
Melissa Kirby-as a Para
Professional
Matt Walker-Wrestling
Lay Coach
Tey also reassign two
people already employed.
Eric Bryant from 2nd
grade Instructor to Upper
Elementary Librarian
Chris Bozarth from
Elementary P.E. Instructor
to Assistant High School
Principal.
Te board also approved
Video on Demand to live
stream the Jay high school
football games this season.
In the other action the
board approved the follow-
ing actions:
Approved fnancial as-
sistance for the All-National
Honor Ensemble program in
Nashville, Tenn. in October.
A license agreement with
LRG Prep, LLC for the 2014-
15 school year.
Nathalie McClelland,
Director as purchasing agent
for Grand Head Start.
Interagency agreement
between Cherokee Nation
Head Start and Jay Public
Schools.
Approved a school hours
policy of 1,080 hours for the
2014-15 school year.
An agreement with
Danielle Decker, SLP-CCC
for independent contract
service.
Revise the Jay Board of
Education Student Residency
policy.
Te board also approved
the hiring of numerous peo-
ple for the Grand Head Start
positions across the area.
Te next scheduled board
meeting of the Jay Board of
Education will start at 7 p.m.,
on Turs., Sept. 11 at the
administration building.
Jay Board of
Education
adds personnel
at meeting
Staff reports
news@delcojournal.com
OKLAHOMA CITY Leach
Elementary School teacher
Lisa Price recently attended
a teacher-training workshop
hosted in Jenks by the Okla-
homa Energy Resources Board,
and walked away with hundreds
of dollars in free classroom sup-
plies. Now, she is encouraging
other Oklahoma teachers to sign
up for the free program.
OERB workshops instruct
teachers how to use one of the
OERBs eight energy and science
curricula in their classrooms.
Te curricula provide teachers
from kindergarten through 12th
grade hands-on science lessons
to educate their students about
the oil and natural gas industry.
Te high school curricula also
incorporate Language Arts and
Social Studies.
Te OERB provides free,
state-standard-aligned curricula
to educators across the state of
Oklahoma, said OERB Educa-
tion Director Carla Schaepe-
rkoetter. Oil and natural gas
industry professionals teamed
up with teachers to write the les-
sons. Tey are fun and engaging
for the students, and teach them
a variety of subjects like geol-
ogy, earth science, history and
language arts.
OERB workshops are free
of charge, and train teachers in
how to appropriately use the
curricula in their classrooms.
Upon completion of the work-
shop, teachers go home with a
free box of supplies, worth up
to $700, a teachers guide and
are mailed a $50 stipend for at-
tending. Teachers who complete
a curriculum also receive a free
feld trip for their classroom,
and six hours of professional
development credits.
Te feld trip is a really excit-
ing beneft for the teachers, said
Schaeperkoetter. Many times
they tell us that this is the only
feld trip their kids get all year.
Otherwise they wouldnt have
the resources to take them.
Te OERB is in its 18th year
ofering these free workshops.
Te hands-on curricula reach
students at all ages and grade
levels. Te OERB provides the
Little Bits program for early
childhood education, Fossils to
Fuel and Fossils to Fuel 2 pro-
gram for elementary students, a
Petro Active program for middle
school students and CORE
Energy for high school students.
Each curriculum uses lab ex-
periments, reading assignments,
games and more.
Price teaches 1st grade at
Leach Elementary School. She
attended the workshop to learn
how to implement the Little Bits
curriculum in her classroom.
For more information on
OERBs education programs, or
to sign up for a workshop, visit
www.oerb.com and click on the
For Educators tab.
Te OERB was created in
1993 by the Oklahoma Legis-
lature and is funded through a
voluntary one tenth of 1 percent
assessment on oil and natural
gas producers and royalty own-
ers. Te agencys purpose is to
conduct environmental restora-
tion of abandoned well sites and
to educate Oklahomans about
the importance of the petroleum
industry.
Leach educator given nearly
$350 in free school supplies
COURTESY PHOTO
OERB workshops instruct teachers how to use one of the OERBs
eight energy and science curricula in their classrooms. The cur-
ricula provide teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade
hands-on science lessons to educate their students about the oil
and natural gas industry. The high school curricula also incorpo-
rate Language Arts and Social Studies.

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