Board adjuncts Chickasha High computer science instructor while state certification issue is resolved

The Chickasha Public School District Board of Education approved an adjunct appointment for Christopher Peschel to teach computer science (course code 4780) at Chickasha High School after the state certification system misclassified his assignment under a career-technical code.

District staff explained that Peschel has taught the class all year. When administrators submitted an emergency certification request for next school year the state’s system keyed computer science to a career-tech code (8007), which created an accreditation flag. To address the immediate accreditation issue, staff recommended and the board approved adjuncting Peschel under the 4780 computer science code while the district works with the Oklahoma State Department of Education to resolve the code mapping for future certifications.

Administrators said they have been in communication with the state department and that emergency certification requests had been moved up this year to allow faster processing. Staff said the department has not given a firm timeline for turnaround on certification fixes, and the district may need to adjunct Peschel again if the state does not resolve the issue before the next school year.

A motion to adjunct Peschel was made and seconded and the board recorded its approval. The board discussed uncertainty about state turnaround times for certifications and noted anecdotal variability in processing.

No change to Peschel’s assignment or classroom responsibilities was described; the action was an administrative personnel authorization to align state reporting and accreditation codes.