By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
Candidate filing will during the first week in December for a seat on Yukon Public Schools’ Board of Education.
Board position #4 will be up for election in 2024.
The seat is now held by Brian Coulson, who was appointed in 2021 to fill a vacancy on the five-member board. He has not announced whether he will run for the next five-year term.
A licensed drug and alcohol counselor, Coulson serves as the board’s vice president in 2023. He is a 1990 Byng High School graduate.
Eligible candidates for board position #4 will file for the office between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 4 through Wednesday, Dec. 6 at the Canadian County Election Board in El Reno.
Voters across the Yukon school district will elect a member for board position #4. Board members are elected to serve five-year terms.
The YPS Board of Education, at its monthly meeting Nov. 6, approved a resolution calling for the annual board election.
A primary election will be Feb. 13, 2024, only if three or more candidates file for board position #4.
A general election will be April 2, 2024, if only two candidates file for the seat – or if no candidate receives more than 50% of votes cast in the primary.
To be eligible, a candidate must have lived in the Yukon school district and been a registered voter at an address within the geographical boundaries of board post #4 at least six months before the start of the filing period.
Other candidate requirements include having a high school diploma or certificate of high school equivalency. Anyone who has been convicted of embezzlement or a felony is not eligible.
No person is eligible or can serve on Yukon’s school board if they or a close relative is employed by the district.
MEETING DATES AND MORE …
YPS Board of Education members have approved these school board meeting dates for 2024:
Jan. 8, Feb. 5, March 4, April 1, May 6, June 3, July 1, Aug. 5, Sept. 9, Oct. 7, Nov. 4, and Dec. 2.
All meetings will be on the first Monday of the month except for January and September, which will be the second Mondays because of holidays on the first Mondays.
YPS board meetings start at 6 p.m. and are in the Dixie Ritz Memorial Board Room inside the YPS Administration Building, 600 Maple.
Among other business items approved at the Nov. 6th board meeting were:
- Authorizing incoming YPS chief financial officer Jason Johnson to sign documents filed with the Oklahoma State Department of Education on behalf of the school district during FY24.
- Declaring a 25-year-old, 10-inch radial saw and a 26-year-old, 10-inch table saw as surplus. These items were replaced with a miter saw and saw stop saw for safety.
- Out-of-state travel requests for a wrestling tournament, academic team tournament, music educators’ convention, cheerleading competition, and math conference.
- A syllabus listing academic courses offered by Canadian Valley Technology Center.
- A car wash fundraiser from the Yukon Alternative Learning Experience.
- A rental contract for Central Oklahoma Ballet to use the Yukon Fine Arts Center (Gene Cranfill Auditorium) for its Dec. 2-3 production of “The Nutcracker.”
- Submitting an opioid abatement grant award application to the Oklahoma Opioid Abatement Board at the Attorney General’s Office.
