Woodward, Okla. — The Woodward Board of Education members visited with the local principals in depth during their monthly meeting on Monday about the scheduling of a district-wide flex day .

According to Superintendent Tim Merchant, the flex day is necessary for teachers to be able to communicate and discuss the new requirements for the common core curriculum.

"It has become more evident that we have to have time for our teachers to meet with each other to get the curriculum set for this new program (common core)," Merchant said. "From the outside it doesn't look like a lot of change, but there is. It not only moves how you teach but when you might actually teach a certain subject."

To create time for teachers to review all the changes that will come with common core teaching, the superintendent asked the school principals to determine which day might be best to start classes late.

Mondays and Wednesdays were the two days that seemed to work the best for all locations, and after several minutes of discussion Merchant recommended to the board that all schools in the district start 30 minutes late on every Wednesday during the school year.

The school board promptly approved the schedule change.

To go along with the late start on Wednesdays, Merchant said that busses will run 30 minutes late on those days.

However, the release times at the end of the school day should remain the same.

And the total number of classroom instructional time that students receive will not be negatively affected, because the district is already scheduled for more than the required 1,080 hours of instruction, Merchant said.

For parents who have concerns about scheduling issues that may arise from the new flex day schedule, Merchant said they need to talk to their principals to see what options are available for them on Wednesday mornings.

Woodward High School Principal Kirk Warnick said that he knows flex days can be implemented successfully.

Warnick said the high school has previously implemented it's own flex day on Mondays to allow for a tutoring time to help students that might be lacking in a certain subject and want extra instruction.

"This program has worked very well for us," Warnick said, noting that the school has been using the flex schedule for the past couple of years.



OTHER BUSINESS

Other action topics the board voted and approved the 2012-13 school year schedule, which includes at least 1,080 hours of instruction time as per school policy.

The board also accepted a radio broadcast bid from Z92 KMZE to cover school sporting events, both at home and away.

Z92's bid, which was the only one received, outlined that the station would contribute $16,144, paid in 4 installments, to the district's activity fund in return for exclusive broadcasting privileges.

Merchant thanked the radio station for its long and continued support of Woodward Public schools.  He said Z92 has been providing broadcasting services to the school district for 24 years.

The school board members then met in an executive session to discuss filling open staff positions.  When the board members returned to open session, they voted to approve the hiring of the following personnel:

• Patricia Pribble, Cedar Heights Custodian

• Tana Isbell, Cedar Heights Special Education Paraprofessional

• Rachel Winter, Middle School Special Education Teacher

• Laura Newby, Middle School Reading Teacher

Gerard Myles, Detention Center/8th grade alternate education teacher/coaching

Cory DeLong, High School Assistant Wrestling adjunct coach

Dennice Harris, WECC Music and Movement Paraprofessional

Sarah Kamolz, WECC 1/2 day Art Paraprofessional

LaWanda Woodard, WECC Cafeteria Worker

Amanda Eisenbise, Horace Mann Special Education Paraprofessional

Debbie Booth, Bus Driver

The board also approved the hiring of the sports extra duty positions for coaching staff throughout the district.

Under its consent agenda, board also approved the certified teacher and certified administration salaries on Monday night.



ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS

Tom Fisher, assistant superintendent, also gave a short report on the many projects that were still going on around the schools.

"The wind damage repairs at the early childhood center are complete, the work at the middle school will be done by the end of the week and other requests are being taken care of daily," Fisher said.

Merchant said that the district teachers have a busy schedule in this last week before school starts next Monday, Aug. 20.

He said the teachers held their first districtwide meeting of the year on Monday, which went very well.

For the rest of the week, Merchant said, "The teachers will be working on student data, breaking down the common core and meeting with the principals to work on the common core and to get a better understanding of the new teacher evaluation systems."

The superintendent also briefed the board about a possible increase in student population.

"It is hard to tell right now, but it is looking like our enrollment numbers are up for this year," Merchant said.

However, he said they would not have an official enrollment count till after school has started.