Sand Springs board honors students and staff; district prevention coordinator outlines suspension-reduction program

The Sand Springs Public Schools Board of Education on Oct. 6 held a special meeting to present awards to students and staff and to hear an update on the district's prevention and suspension-reduction work.

Board members presented multiple student and staff recognitions, including awards named in the meeting as the Ceriod Award (student recognitions) and a transportation award described as the Peggy Center (transportation) award. Board members asked selected staff and teachers to join them at the front as recipients and nominators were acknowledged.

The meeting then moved to a briefing from Caitlin Moulton, the districtwide prevention coordinator, who described the program she launched after the district received an opioid-abatement grant from the state attorney general's office (as stated during the meeting). Moulton said the position is new this year and that she has worked to build a tiered intervention menu, classroom prevention curricula and a suspension-reduction program for secondary students.

Moulton told the board that, since the 2024-25 school year pilot, more than 600 different students received evidence-based prevention work. She said the district expects at least 1,400 students to receive some form of evidence-based prevention this school year and that at least 70 students have used a repurposed office space for support so far this year. She also described a 'work-assistance' suspension-reduction program open to students in grades 6 through 12 and said hundreds of students have already participated in that program this year.

"I created a tier intervention menu essentially...the prevention side of what I do is in the classroom," Moulton said. "Last year...over 600 students, different students have received some sort of evidence based prevention...by the end of this week, I have a production class coming up, and I've been expanding to all the elementary schools. I know at least 1,400 different students will have received some sort of, evidence based prevention in education." (Quote as spoken in the meeting.)

A teacher who spoke during the recognition portion praised the group of students honored by the board. "Anytime we need anything, they're there. They do anything we ask. Normally, before we even ask and before we know we need something done, they're there going, what can we do?" the teacher said during the ceremony. (Quote as spoken in the meeting.)

A board member framed Moulton's suspension-reduction work as a critical intervention, citing a link discussed in the meeting between long suspensions and dropout risk. "If you want to look at the correlation between a 45 day suspension and a dropout rate, it is so high... those students naturally and now the middle school is gonna be a huge change too because I can assure you if you have a 45 day suspension in middle school, it's probably a 90% chance that they end up being dropped out," the board member said. (Quote as spoken in the meeting.) The board member described Moulton's follow-up procedures and goal-setting worksheets as tools to keep students engaged and to shorten out-of-school suspension periods.

Moulton also said she presented at the OSSDA COSA Leadership Conference and is scheduled to discuss chronic absenteeism with legislators in the coming weeks, per remarks in the meeting. She described using grant funds to purchase rapid-response kits and to create an open-door space for walk-ins and self-referrals.

No formal votes or motions were recorded on these items during the special meeting; the session focused on recognition and informational updates. Board members and staff signaled support for expanding prevention and suspension-reduction services across grade levels and for continued data collection and follow-up.

The board did not provide detailed budget line items or a specific implementation timeline during the presentation; Moulton described existing grant funding and donor support but did not specify total dollar amounts in the meeting record. She said she would continue program expansion into elementary schools and continue meetings with state-level groups and legislators.

As of the Oct. 6 meeting, the district planned further rollout of classroom prevention lessons and the suspension-reduction program across secondary sites; staff will continue to report progress to the board at future meetings.