At the end of Monday, June 18th's special meeting, Dr. Jim Davis, who has served in seat 1 on the board since February 2011, announced before the meeting was adjourned that it would be his last and he was stepping down from his seat. 

“From the time I got on the board, I never wanted to serve past the time when I had children in school,” he said. Now that my kids have graduated, I feel someone else who has children in the district should step in and take that role.” 

Davis said his departure is coming at the right time. 

“The new board member will be involved with the search for the new superintendent and that gives you continuity for that team moving forward,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it. I got to meet a lot of great people and to see the school grow and improve. We are on a good path. It’s time for someone else to step in.”

Bradley said Davis would be difficult to replace. 

“Dr. Davis has been a fantastic board member,” Bradley said. “Although I understand his reasoning, I’m sorry to lose his influence and leadership. He’s been dedicated to the post for more than seven years, often coming to meetings after 12 hours shifts as an emergency room physician. He’s asked hard questions and made decisions based on what’s best for the kids and the staff.” 

The Board of Education has 60 days to appointment a candidate to fulfill the remainder of Davis’ unexpired term. To be qualified to serve on the Mustang Board of Education, the candidate must be resident of, and a registered voter of, the seat (ward) for at least six months immediately preceding the filing period. The individual must possess a high school diploma or GED, with no criminal record consisting of felonies or misdemeanors involving embezzlement. A qualified candidate also cannot have a relative to the second degree working in the district. 

Anyone interested in serving is encouraged to submit their name and contact information to Brenda Dunn, superintendent’s secretary, at dunnbr@mustangps.org or 405-376-7399. To see the board seat map, stop by https://filecabinet5.eschoolview.com/4D818B71-3141-44BB-99FE-E5A71F367638/Board%20Offices.10.10.11_4w.pdf. 
 

In a special meeting Monday, the Mustang Board of Education voted to name Deputy Superintendent Charles Bradley as the new interim superintendent of Mustang Public Schools. Bradley has been with the district for 19 years, first as a science teacher. He has served or filled in in multiple capacities from assistant principal to transportation director. He’s been the deputy superintendent for 6 years. Dr. Sean McDaniel, who served as superintendent for six years, resigned to take the top job at Oklahoma City Public Schools. 

The Board also voted unanimously to hire the Oklahoma State School Boards Association to lead the search for Mustang’s next superintendent. The OSSBA will conduct a nationwide search, recruit candidates, conduct background checks, answer inquiries and more. 

Board President Chad Fulton asked what would happen should the board decide an internal candidate was the correct choice while the search was being conducted. Shawn Hime, executive director of the OSSBA, suggested that even if the board wanted to choose an internal candidate, it would be better to stick with the process. 

“My recommendation will be for everyone, for credibility’s sake, if you’re interim, or someone internal goes through this process and they come out in the end as the best candidate, I say it gives them more credibility with the community and with your teachers,” he said. “They weren’t hand-picked. They didn’t get special treatment.” 
 

The former president of the Mustang High School football booster club, The Touchdown Club, has been charged in Canadian County District Court with one count of embezzlement. Raymond Craig Davis Jr., 48, has been charged with fraudulently appropriating approximately $10,000 belonging to the Touchdown Club. 

“We are saddened to inform our patrons that an individual, whom we entrusted with leading the Touchdown Club, is believed to have mishandled funds,” said Deputy Superintendent Charles Bradley. 

Mustang Public Schools has been working for two years on sanctioning all of the district’s booster clubs. Originally, the booster clubs operated as independent entities with no school oversight. The sanctioning process has moved them under the district umbrella where the Board of Education can request records and help with the record keeping process. 

Now that the booster clubs are sanctioned, the district has implemented a procedure of choosing three for an independent audit of their financial records each year. During this process, independent auditors contracted by the district and Mustang Schools financial staff found thousands of dollars not accounted for in the Touchdown Club’s accounts. MPS contacted the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office to continue the investigation with a forensic auditor. 

Although Davis has been charged, the investigation continues to ensure no one else was involved. The district will continue to cooperate with the investigation until it reaches a conclusion. 

Bradley said he is disappointed that a parent entrusted with a program to benefit kids could have allegedly mishandled and embezzled funds. 

“It’s not the school district this individual is accused of stealing from, it’s the kids,” he said. “The athletes and the parents gave of their time and talents to raise money earmarked to go back into the program and back to the kids. It’s inconceivable to me that a parent could violate the trust of other parents and then take away resources the athletes themselves worked for.”  

Bradley is thankful Mustang Public Schools started the booster club sanctioning process during the 2015-2016 school year. 

“The sanctioning process has given the district a layer of protection that we didn’t have before,” he said. “It was helpful in this instance and we are thankful for the support from the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office.” 
 

After a long discussion, the Mustang Board of Education voted to increase armed security around the district at Monday’s regular meeting. MPS currently has two school resource officers (SROs) on the south side of the district through the Mustang Police Department and two Canadian County Sheriff’s deputies on the north side. 

Charles Bradley, deputy superintendent, presented three options to the board. A modified version of the second option was chosen which adds a third CCSO deputy, plus six additional security personnel from a third party private security group. The board compromised after a request by Board President Chad Fulton, and in addition to the third deputy and private security officers, the motion ordered the district to add its own head of security to work with all three agencies and provide a point of contact and someone to coordinate coverage. 
 

Mustang Public Schools has reached a new rank in the upper echelon of school finance with a second increase in the district’s bond rating in the last two years. Standard & Poor's, a nationally recognized credit rating organization, upgraded the district's bond rating from AA- negative to "AA- rating with a stable outlook” in 2016. After reviewing the district’s financial stability and economic outlook plan in the spring, Standard & Poor’s upgraded the bond rating in May to AA. 

Zack Robinson, the district’s financial advisor through BOK Financial Securities, said the rating change will have a positive impact that will translate directly to taxpayers. Robinson said he believed there were only two school districts in Oklahoma that have a better rating than Mustang Public Schools after the upgrade.