Hudiburg Toyota and the Toyota Dealer Match Program recently presented a $5,000 donation to Townsend Elementary School.
The $5,000 donation to Townsend Elem. is a result of a special promotion that hosted on Hudiburg Toyota’s Facebook page. The school garnered the most votes among the literally thousands of votes cast, spanning support from 49 other deserving Oklahoma schools, from pre-K through high school.
The next meeting of the Oklahoma Central Parent Legislative Action Committee will be 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 at the Edmond Public Schools Administration Building, 1001 W. Danforth Rd.
The nonpartisan group has the goal of increasing parent and community awareness about legislative issues impacting public education in Oklahoma. They encourage all parents and patrons from the metro area school districts to attend its fourth meeting of the 2013-2014 school year.
Reduce pension debt is listed as the No. 4 item on Oklahoma State Treasurer Ken Miller’s policy goals for 2014.
Oklahoma Educators Association and Keep Oklahoma’s Promises (a coalition of present and future pension beneficiaries) are expressing extreme misgivings about the stated plan.
This week is the filing deadline for all state legislation. Despite not knowing the full text of any bill pertaining to pension reform, activist groups and unions such as the OEA are fighting the concepts for change being discussed.
"First of all our pension system works," OEA President Linda Hampton said. "It is definitely not broken and the Teacher Retirement System has outperformed 99 percent of other systems in the United States and it’s in the best shape it’s been in 20 years."
In his Economic Report published Dec. 31, Miller outlined the problems he sees with the current structure of the pension program.
In the first meeting of 2014, Mid-Del school board members made changes to graduation requirements and discussed how to deal with a budget deficit.
"In July, we were at $39.8 million and at midterm now, we are at $38.8 million for a loss of $1 million from July until now," Supt. Pam Deering said during the Jan. 13 meeting. "However as we look at our chargeable income and how much that changed, it comes out that the amount that we are really down is about $500,000."
This news did not come as a shock to the board who had budgeted based on the possibility of loss.
"I want you to be proud. We have budgeted $38.7 million so we were on top of it before it happened," Deering said.
Gus Coleman was an educator for nearly his entire career.
The lifelong Del City resident, who has since passed away, worked in every aspect of the scholastic endeavor: textbook sales, teacher, coach, principal, superintendent and even college regent.
Coleman’s son, Del City attorney Steve Coleman, speaks fondly of his parent’s love of learning. Between the two of them, he said, they had a combined 88 year career in education.
But it was his father’s love of learning that was honored last month when Epperly Heights Elementary dedicated their new library media center to him.
The son called his father an advocate of literature who understood the importance of always having a library.
In his first years as a teacher, Coleman’s father took it upon himself to create a library for his students, his son said.
Stan Griel lives 20 feet from the dividing line between the Ward 4 and 5 districts on the Mid-Del School Board.
He knows this detail only by accident, of course.
A few weeks ago, Griel, who is the vice president of Community and Workforce Development at Rose State College, went to go file his candidacy for Ward 4.
He had been appointed in May to fill the unexpired term of Kevin Loudermilk, who was moving out of the district.
Griel wanted to continue serving on the board, so he went to the Oklahoma County Election Board to do just that.
The Mid-Del School Foundation applied for a community grant through The Boeing Company. The Foundation was awarded the grant which provided $21,560 and six laptops computers for the school district. The grant provided enough funds and technology for two Botball teams at each high school.
With the demand continually increasing for employees who have certificates and degrees, college completion remains the top priority in the state of Oklahoma.
That was the message delivered by Chancellor Glen D. Johnson as he presented the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education’s FY 2015 legislative agenda to an audience of lawmakers, community leaders and educators at Rose State College’s campus in Midwest City. The chancellor’s comments on Dec. 16 were part of his annual legislative tour.
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education recently voted to request $76.3 million in new state appropriations during the upcoming legislative session. The total budget request for FY 2015 is 7.7 percent higher than the current year’s appropriation.
On Feb. 11, 2014, Mid-Del Public Schools is asking voters to stand behind a bond issue to fund various projects, including one to build the district’s fourth safe room.
The $10.405 million bond, which includes two propositions, one for safety, security and technology projects, and another for transportation, was approved by board of education members Monday, Dec. 9.
In Prop. 1, the school district is asking for just over $10 million for projects that will benefit students at every school, school officials said.
New security vestibules, electronic door access, fencing, security cameras, lighting and instructional technology equipment are included in Prop. 1.
Christmas music, voices and bells will ring throughout the Del City High School auditorium Saturday, Dec. 14.
Starting at 7:30 p.m., the Oklahoma Choral Artists, conducted by John Blackwell and accompanied by pianist Jean Shackleton, will present "Welcome, Yule."
Joining the OCA in this musical celebration of Christmas will be the choirs of Del City High School, directed by Brenda Mechling, the Edmond Youth Chorus conducted by Leah McDonald and the Oklahoma City Handbell Ensemble directed by Silver Woodbury.
Thanksgiving is a time for us all to look back on the blessings we have been given throughout the year and give thanks to those who have made our lives better.
These students and teachers in the eastern Oklahoma County have gone out of their way this holiday to make a difference in our community.
At Choctaw High School, the National Honor Society, Giving Tree Project and Key Club members are showing their thanks throughout the community.
Patty Dennis is National Honor Society sponsor Under her care, students have gone to the Regional Food Bank, helped with the tornado clean up, and several other projects to make the community better.
Dennis said, "I think it’s important that good kids get to know one another."
Dennis also helps bring in toys and basic need items for the Giving Tree Project.
The controversial A-F report grading system was the center of debate Tuesday, Nov. 19 during a meeting hosted by the Oklahoma Central Parent Legislative Action Committee (PLAC) at the Deer Creek Administration Building.
And, by the end of the almost-hour event, the overflow audience and discussion panel members came away with one thing in common.
There is still a wide divide whether the new system works or needs to be changed.
"I think there is a philosophical divide (about the grading system)," said panel member Joel Robison and chief of staff for the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
PLAC is a nonpartisan group with the goal of increasing parent and community awareness about legislative issues impacting public education in Oklahoma.
Dent Source of Oklahoma City recently awarded the STEM Club at Pleasant Hill Elementary the funds needed to begin their STEM Club studies. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Club sponsor and teacher, Tegan Sexton, said that the funds have been used to purchase a Lego Mindstorms NXT kit, which students use to construct creative robots. Students will also use the accompanying software to program the robot to complete various tasks.
Recently, Darian Faulkner of Dent Source visited Pleasant Hill to see the students as they were introduced to the Lego Mindstorms kit. The students were amazed and extremely eager to begin working with the bricks. Pleasant Hill would like to offer their continued gratitude to Dent Source for their support of local education.
More than 75 people were on hand to hear Steven Crawford paint a financial picture of Oklahoma’s education system during an hour-long talk Tuesday.
Mid-Del Public Schools hosted the second meeting of the Oklahoma Central Parent Legislative Action Committee, in which Crawford was the guest speaker.
Parents were joined by educators and administrators in attendance from various metro school districts.
Crawford, executive director of both the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Association and the Oklahoma Association of School Administrators, explained the logistics of how school districts receive funding and from what sources. He listed ad valorem taxes, county 4 mill, school land, gross production, motor vehicles, REA tax and state aid as sources.
The Mid-Del Public School Foundation was one of two statewide selected as selected as recipients of the 2012 Outstanding Program Awards for Local Education Foundations sponsored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.
The awards, which recognize innovative programs sponsored or administered by public school foundations in Oklahoma, will be presented at the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence Fall Forum for Local Education Foundations and Youth Mentoring Programs on Oct. 23 in Norman. Receiving plaques and monetary awards of $1,000 each will be the 2011 Technology Initiative sponsored by the Claremore Public Schools Foundation and the Homeless Student Education Fund sponsored by the Mid-Del Public Schools Foundation.
These are all signs of construction, and currently in the Mid-Del school district, they are showing up everywhere as work progresses on numerous bond projects approved by voters in September.
The biggest projects included in the $90 million bond are two new elementary schools - one at Soldier Creek on SE 15th Street and Douglas, and another on Key Boulevard at East Side Elementary - both in Midwest City.
