Alva schools prepare for new special-education monitoring cycle and create coach handbook; facilities planning continues

District staff told the board that the Oklahoma State Department will implement a new six-year monitoring cycle for special education and that Alva Public Schools has been selected in the first cohort. Staff said federal law requires states to monitor districts at least every six years and that the state is now carrying out that federal requirement at scale. Staff said the state requested updates to five board policies and 44 procedures; the board was shown redlined policy language and staff said one update adds ESY (extended school year) language and another reframes a special-education policy as a “child find” policy. The policy updates were described as primarily wording changes and ‘‘people-first’’ language improvements; staff said procedures are still being finalized and the policy changes were presented for board consideration.

Administrators also described a forthcoming coach/athletics handbook intended to standardize logistics and discipline across sports programs. The handbook will compile procedures on practice plans, lesson plans, scheduling, major-discipline handling, and other routine functions so that coaches moving between sports will have consistent operational guidance. Staff said drafts grew to more than 50 pages while modeling similar manuals from other districts; they expect to present the handbook to coaches before the end of the school year.

Superintendent-level staff provided a facilities update: architects are working with principals to develop needs for a new school building and the district will convene its capital-improvement committee and meet with the district’s bonding company within the next two weeks to prepare for public conversations. On roofing, administration said they obtained two industry opinions that indicate full roof replacements are needed at one or more buildings; staff located manufacturer date stamps on a Duralast roofing system to confirm age for depreciation and insurance discussions and said they are coordinating with OSIG (Oklahoma School Insurance Group) and contractors on next steps. Staff also listed summer maintenance items (power washing, exterior painting at Washington School) and said transportation saw 62 activity trips in April.

The board received reports from principals and activity leaders about student recognition, field trips, state testing completion, FFA and music contest results, and spring athletics; staff highlighted scholarships (approximately $439,081 estimated for the senior class) and multiple students named to president’s leadership programs at state universities.

No formal board action was taken on the monitoring procedure proposals or the coach handbook during the meeting; staff indicated some policies must be in place this week to meet state timelines and that the handbook would be presented to coaches soon.