Durant School District Assistant Superintendent Josh Perrin spoke during a recent school board meeting about students who have enrolled in Durant or transferred to other schools.
He said the school district is roughly 45 students down from this time last year.
“I kind of wanted to see where our students are going and how many we’re losing,” Perrin said. “Here in Durant, we had 73 that went out for various reasons.
“So, as of today, we have 694 transfers, students who are coming in. So, 73 going out, 694 coming in. This time last year was 658, so we’re up about 36, down 45 total from last year, but we’re up 36 on our transfers and then transfers that have been approved just for this year is 176. So, we had quite a few in the district already and then we’ve added an additional 176 and we had some that graduated last year.”
The board approved the alternative education plan for the 2026-2027 school year. Superintendent Mark Moring said this is a plan that must be approved every year to receive funding for the Vision Academy.
“It’s about $45,000 which actually is a drop in the bucket compared to what it costs for our Vision Academy,” Moring said.
Moring spoke about two longtime educators, Bud Lowrance and Mary Ann Stewart, who passed away recently. Lowrance was principal at the high school for 16 years, and Stewart served 28 years with the district as a teacher and librarian.
“So, remember those families in your thoughts and prayers,” Moring said.
The board accepted the following resignations: Lorenda Hicks, DHS special education teacher (retirement); Daurah Buchanan, GW first grade teacher; Terry Bourne, Durant Schools director of maintenance (retirement); Leslie Whorton Durant Schools maintenance employee (retirement); Jessica Manning, DMS secretary; Johnathun Atwood, DIS special education teacher assistant; Janae Mejia, DIS special education teacher assistant; LaTrista Minor, WI special education teacher assistant; Michelle Torres, NWH special education teacher assistant; Lila Barnes, GW special education teacher assistant; Makayla Biggerstaff, REL pre-kindergarten teacher assistant.
Employment of the following reading interventionists was approved: Tamela Wingfi eld, REL; Suzanne Caldwell, Jennifer Crouse and Shawn Cress, NWH; Donna Hailey, Nancy Johnson, Melissa Phelps and Sheri Cavender, GW, and Laura Clark, Mary Wingfield and Juanita Daniel, WI.
Amanda Cresse, DHS; Christine Herrin, Deborah Lamb and Neurine Schomer, DIS, and Miranda Lowe and Traci Tipton, GW, were approved as part-time reading interventionists. Madison Thompson, NWH, and Karma McDonald, WI. were approved as Indian education tutors.
Employment of the following was approved by the board: Joli Jorgenson, special education instructor at DHS; Alissa Andrews, special education instructor at DHS; Trevor Golden, history teacher at DHS; Tim Cox, seventh grade math teacher at DMS; Callie McCollough, first grade teacher at GW; Caleb Gentry, job coach at DHS; Kimberlyn Esparza, special education teacher assistant at DHS; Sheila Smith, secretary at DMS; Chasity Holloway, special education teacher assistant at DIS; James Hearn, special education teacher assistant at DIS; Rebekah LeRoy, library aide at DIS; Christopher Dunn, special education teacher assistant at WI; Kirsi Curry, special education teacher assistant at WI; Lani Horner, special education teacher assistant at WI; Victoria Salgado, special education teacher assistant at NWH; Victoria Edwards, special education teacher assistant at NWH; Vickie Scott, special education teacher assistant at NWH; Holli Hendrix, special education teacher assistant at NWH; Breanna Keeler-Sneed, special education teacher assistant at GW; Kymberly Berry, special education teacher assistant at GW; Skyla Coulter, special education teacher assistant at REL; Philip Wesley and Jon Shepard, transportation employees.