The Weatherford Public School Board of Education accepted the resignation of Weatherford Middle School Assistant Principal Chris Farris during a special meeting Thursday morning.
The board also voted to table the executive session to discuss hiring a replacement for Farris as recommended by School Board President Dennis Green.
In other news, the board approved the adoption of three new Oklahoma State School Board Association policies, which are based on recent legislation, for the 2021-22 school year.
The board adopted OSSBA policy EGG, which is required by House Bill 1775. This policy prohibits the district from teaching:
• One race or sex is inherently superior to another
• An individual is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive based on their race or sex
• Members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex
• An individual’s moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex
• An individual bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex
• An individual should feel discomfort, guilt or distress based on their race of sex
• Meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race to oppress members of another race
This policy also creates a complaint process for parents to report teachings against this policy.
The board adopted OSSBA policy DBH, which is required by Senate Bill 121. This policy requires the district to provide clean, private rooms – other than a toilet stall - for lactating employees and “reasonable” paid break time during usage of the room. The break time also may run concurrently with any other paid or unpaid break time provided by to the employee.
The board also adopted OSSBA policy EJB required by Senate Bill 21. This policy requires the district to provide suicide awareness and training to all staff and faculty during the 2021-22 school year. Students in seventh grade and up also will receive this training during the 2022-23 school year.
The board accepted ACT Mosaic and Pre ACT for the 2021-22 school year. Superintendent Jill Henderson said the ACT Aspire program the district utilizes is getting rid of the summative assessments.
The district now will be switching to Mosaic by ACT for students in third grade through eighth grade, and use PreAct for students in eighth and ninth grade.
The student will have two interims per year with “data days” for each interim. Henderson said this switch will save the district about $20,000 a year.
The board also approved the switch to the TLE Tulsa model evaluation tool for the 2021-22 school year.
Henderson said the teachers and administrators wanted to make the switch because the Tulsa model is less stressful, easier to do and allows for more conversation compared to the Marzano model, which the district has used for years.
Board Member Dawn Keller said she has evaluated and been evaluated through both models and agrees the Tulsa model is less stressful and does a better job of creating conversation.