By Roger Pugh
Contributing Writer
Okarche school board members accepted the resignation of school superintendent Rob Friesen Monday at the monthly meeting of the board.
Friesen formally submitted his resignation in a letter to board members. He has been superintendent here for the past seven years.
Friesen said he has accepted the superintendent’s position in the Thomas-Fay-Custer school district. That district set a special meeting for Wednesday to officially hire Friesen.
The Okarche board went into executive session for about 20 minutes to discuss the resignation, and when the board reconvened after the private session, the resignation was accepted without comment.
Thomas-Fay-Custer school district has about 482 students enrolled, while the enrollment in Okarche Public Schools is just under 400. Friesen grew up in Thomas. Before coming to Okarche, he was Principal at Amber-Pocasset.
“It was a difficult decision but going home to do what I do was a hard opportunity to pass up,” Friesen said. He also noted that he feels Okarche Public Schools are “a first-class operation.”
“The board and the community have been great and very supportive,” he added.
The outgoing superintendent’s last day will be June 30 and he said the board is now accepting applications for a new superintendent.
In his resignation letter Friesen said he thanked the board for the opportunity of working here and told the board members how much he appreciated the support the board has given him during his time in Okarche.
In other board business, Friesen told the board he is not expecting many school matters to be considered by the Oklahoma Legislature in the upcoming legislative session. He said the biggest push may be concerning four and five-day school weeks.
He also reported that four Okarche staff members will attend training in Kansas City, MO in February.
He said the program attendees will be trained to help schools improve test scores. He said the four will then teach the rest of them what they learned at the training.
In his financial report, Friesen told the board the district has collected just over $5 million so far this year and has spent about $2.253 million. He said, overall, the district is about $500,000 ahead of last year.
He noted the district recently received a big ad valorem tax check and he expects the check will go up even more next month.
“We are in good (financial) shape,” he told the board. The superintendent also said the district is also in a good position in its building fund.
Board members voted to put the district’s new tobacco policy into the district handbook. The policy adopted last month, imposes tough discipline on students using tobacco, E-Cigarettes or vaping products. Included are fines imposed by the town of Okarche which increase with each violation.
“These are steps to help stop it (tobacco use), Friesen told board members.
Friesen advised the board there currently are not enough players to field a junior high baseball team. He said one solution might be to allow sixth graders to play on the junior high team. He noted that sixth graders are allowed by the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Association to participate in junior high sports, but they may not play in any game with or against freshman players.
Board members also asked if the sixth-grade boys were allowed to do this, would that require the district to allow the girl’s softball team to do the same.
Friesen said Okarche would have to also let sixth grade girls play on the junior high girls’ team.
There was also discussion about talking to the junior high boys not now playing to see if some additional players could be encouraged to come out for the team. Friesen said he would talk to both the baseball and softball coaches and would look at all the possibilities to put together a team.
High School principal Lisa Munson told the board the baseball team had supplied enough Christmas gifts for 30 residents at the Boys Ranchtown in Edmond, while the BETA Club prepared 36 “goody” bags and delivered them to the Meals on Wheels program in Kingfisher which delivers them to Okarche area residents.
She also reported the Okarche FFA chapter of the 355 chapters across the state that made it to the State meet in Opening and Closing Ceremonies, placed in the top 10 in clays and the top five in AFR.
