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Tahlequah school board approves routine business, personnel appointments and staff stipends; enters executive session for superintendent evaluation
Summary
The board approved minutes, monthly financials, surplus declarations, policy updates, renewal of a sublease, multiple instructor appointments, and staff stipends; the board then entered an executive session for the superintendent evaluation under Oklahoma law.
At its July meeting the Tahlequah Public Schools Board approved a series of routine business items and personnel actions and moved into executive session to continue the superintendent evaluation.
Minutes and financials: The board approved the minutes from the June 16 meeting and voted to accept the monthly financial report. During the financial presentation the deputy treasurer reported June fund balances, including a general fund balance of $11,180,619.70 and a building fund balance of $7,528,008.74; the deputy also compared month-to-month utility costs and noted some decreases in June.
Policies and handbooks: The board reviewed and approved minor revisions to the district’s bullying and harassment policy and the associated incident report form, citing recent legislation that required an update. Members added a header to the updated handbooks clarifying that newly adopted district policies will control in case of any conflict between policy and handbook language.
Contracts and leases: The board approved renewal of a sublease agreement (dated Feb. 1, 2026) with the Cherokee County Economic Development Authority for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027, as required under the agreement’s provisions.
Personnel actions and instructors: The board approved several instructor appointments for the Capital Technology Center (Tahlequah campus) and ICTC campus adjuncts, including Andrea McElmurray as anatomy lab instructor and Dan Sisk and Amanda Butler for advanced math and science courses; Jessica McKinney and Nisha Edwards were approved as adjunct anatomy instructors.
Staff stipends and corrections: The board approved staff stipends for full-time and part-time employees and named specific staff to receive stipends, including Belinda Travis (elementary librarian), Lauren Luker (school nurse), Faith Griggs (speech pathologist), Jennifer Walker (alternative education teacher) and Alton Jones (technology specialist). The board also corrected a printed agenda entry to show Nancy Hendricks as a full-time, retired certified THS employee rather than part-time.
Executive session: The board voted to enter executive session under 25 Oklahoma Statute section 307(B)(1),(2) and (7) to conduct part two of the superintendent evaluation related to finance and board-superintendent relations; the board later reported no votes or polls were taken in the executive session.
Votes at a glance: The meeting used roll-call style votes for each motion. Example outcomes recorded in the meeting transcript include: approval of the June 16 minutes (Ayes: Miss Hires, Miss Hoffman, Miss Crawford; one abstention recorded), approval of monthly financials (Ayes recorded), approval of surplus items, consent docket approval, policy revision approval, sublease renewal approval, multiple instructor approvals and staff stipends approval (Ayes recorded for each).
