During a special meeting Monday, the Okmulgee Public School Board of Education discussed their efforts to push more content that will help keep parents and students informed about what’s happening on their campuses.

Board member Mike James also spoke about OPS needing to “tell our own story,” and Superintendent Renee Dove emphasized the efforts to post more on the school’s social media sites, as well as reach out to local news agencies.

She invited Dunbar Principal Clayton Vaughn and Vice Principal Scott Bein, as well as ELA teacher Raelynn Warren and one of her students, to talk about one of the programs they wished to highlight called Divine Learning.

“What it basically does is it’s project-based learning, which means they have a problem to solve,” Vice Principal Bein said. “They have to work together and they have to create a project, they have to deliver a product, they have to talk about their product, all of those have standards within the ELA program.”

Students spent the last hour of the day learning about Divine Learning and doing projects that aligned with the program’s educational goals. The first project encouraged students to create something for a children’s playground. On another project, students learned about what goes into owning a pizza company, which Ms. Warren spoke more about.

“They were to research ‘how does a pizza shop owner use math?’ If they write about it, they were to research it, write how they use math in their business, and then some of the students even took it upon themselves to go home and make their own pizza boxes,” Warren told the board.

After returning from an executive session, the board approved the hiring of two LPNs: Lashon Tuggle and Makelti McGowan. The resignation of Tammy Smith, RN, was also approved, following the hiring of Jennifer Hammon, RN, at the regular meeting earlier this month. They also approved an update to a board policy concerning support staff salaries and wages.

During New Business, Superintendent Dove announced there may be a new board clerk. Board member Vickie Jones announced the recent success of the Okmulgee Junior Football Association at competitions in Tulsa and Bristow.

— Also approved at the meeting: • Minutes from the regular meeting on October 10, 2023

• All items on the consent agenda • Schedule of regular meetings for the OPS board for the 2024 calendar year