Points of Pride
Highlights of the 2007-2008 School Year
The 2007-2008 school year in Putnam City included many reasons for pride. Below are some of the year’s highlights.
Students
• Two district students were named Academic All-Staters. In the 22 years in which the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence has named Academic All-Staters, 101 Putnam City students have been so honored. That’s the second-highest total of any school system in the state. Selection of scholars for this honor has been described by University of Oklahoma President and Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence Chairman and Founder David L. Boren as “Oklahoma’s most rigorous academic competition.”
• Ninety-four district students were named Oklahoma Academic Scholars by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Putnam City, the state’s fifth-largest school district, had the third-highest number of Oklahoma Academic Scholars.
• Four district students were named National Merit Finalists. In the last 22 years, 207 district students have been National Merit Finalists, one of the highest totals among state school districts.
• Eighty-one students from Putnam City high schools earned the designation of AP Scholar from the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on college-level Advanced Placement Program Exams. Just 18 percent of about 1.4 million high school students in more than 16,000 secondary schools worldwide performed sufficiently high on AP exams to merit recognition as an AP Scholar.
• A Putnam City High School student was one of seven students in Oklahoma to be named a National Achievement Program semifinalist. The National Achievement Scholarship Program is an academic competition created by the College Board to provide recognition for outstanding African American high school students.
• A Putnam City West High School student was named a Horatio Alger National Scholar, an honor that includes a $20,000 college scholarship. The student was one of 100-plus scholarship recipients selected from more than 50,000 applicants nationwide.
• Thirteen district students received the State Superintendent's Arts Awards of Excellence, the highest total of any district in the state. This is the third year in a row more Putnam City students have been honored than students from any other district.
• For exemplary records of leadership, service and activities that serve to improve the school and community, Putnam City North High School and Putnam City High School received 2008 Gold Council of Excellence Awards by the National Association of Student Councils. The two schools are among 98 schools nationwide to be named winners of a Gold Council of Excellence Award. It’s the second year in a row for each of the schools to receive the Gold Council of Excellence Award.
• Students at Putnam City’s three high schools last year earned 2,311 hours of college credit and saved about $431,000 in college costs by taking advanced placement (AP) courses and passing AP tests.
• Composite ACT scores of district students continue to be higher than national or state scores.
Staff
• Thirteen district teachers earned National Board Certification this year, one of the top distinctions for quality in teaching. The district has 62 teachers with National Board Certification.
• Teachers at Putnam City’s Apollo Elementary School each received a check for $500 as a result of a state program that rewards teachers who work in schools that make the most sizable gains in student achievement in one year.
• Dionne Liebl, a teacher at Putnam City West High School, was one of 100 educators in the country to win $25,000 and one of the most prestigious awards a teacher may earn: the Milken Family Foundation’s National Educator Award. This is the second year in a row for a Putnam City teacher to win this honor. More Putnam City teachers have earned the Milken Award than teachers from any other Oklahoma district.
• Michael Kraus, a teacher at Putnam City High School, was named as Oklahoma’s 2007 American Star of Teaching by the U.S. Department of Education. One teacher from every state receives this honor each year.
• Putnam City High School orchestra teacher Dawn Thrailkill was named Oklahoma Music Teacher of the Year by the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association.
• Melanie Pealor, assistant principal at Putnam City West High School, was named assistant principal of the year by the Oklahoma Association of Secondary School Principals.
• Apollo Elementary School Principal Barbara Crump was one of 15 elementary principals in Oklahoma to be named a district administrator of the year by the Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principals.
• Putnam City North High School Assistant Principal Pam King received an Administrator Award at the State Superintendent's Arts Awards of Excellence ceremonies. The award is given by the State Superintendent in conjunction with the Cooperative Council for School Administration.
• Putnam City North High School social studies teacher and boys’ soccer coach Tom Pecore was one of seven coaches in the nation to be named a winner of the 2008 Positive Coaching Alliance National Youth Sports Awards. Award winners strive to win while using sports to teach life lessons. Pecore was also named by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and Adidas as the "2007 State Boys Coach of the Year for Oklahoma Large Schools."
• Mark Little, Putnam City High School’s football coach, received Oklahoma’s National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Coach of the Year Award.
• Western Oaks Middle School teacher Brenda Davis was selected as Oklahoma’s Multicultural Teacher of the Year by the University of Central Oklahoma’s Multicultural Institute.
• James Pratt, a 5th-grade teacher at Putnam City’s Central Intermediate School, was selected by the Mathematical Association of America as winner of the 2008 Oklahoma Elementary Mathematics Teaching Award. Only one elementary teacher in the state receives the award each year.
• Jan Hulsey of Putnam City North High School was named “Exemplary Teacher” by the Oklahoma Music Educators Association.
• Western Oaks Middle School Principal Lynette Thompson was named Oklahoma’s Middle Level Principal of the Year by the Oklahoma Association of Secondary School Principals.
• Putnam City Health Services Coordinator Georgene Westendorf, RN, was named 2007-2008 School Nurse Administrator of the Year by the School Nurse Organization of Oklahoma.
Foundation
The Putnam City Public Schools Foundation invested $155,284 in the 2007-2008 school year to enrich and enhance educational opportunities in district classrooms. Since 1987 the Foundation has awarded over $1 million in support of student character development, parent literacy, grants for classrooms and recognition for excellent staff, students and volunteers.