Marble City School's recent troubles, including an ongoing investigative audit and a still-employed superintendent accused of taking $100,000 in school funds, may prompt the Oklahoma State Board of Education to take action in their Thursday board meeting.

Marble City School Superintendent Larry Couch, 54, was charged earlier this month with one count of felony embezzlement of public funds. He is accused of taking $100,000 from the school for a personal land deal in Sequoyah County, according to court records. Couch remains employed at the school - a detail about which State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett has voiced concern.

Garrett said Tuesday that the state school board will discuss in an executive session of Thursday's meeting the pending investigation at Marble City School and possible action.

The meeting is set for 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Oklahoma City. Garrett said the board will discuss the issues in the board's executive session, and afterward decide whether to take or not take action.

What action will be taken is not known, but Garrett emphasized Tuesday that closing the school is not on her agenda.

"This is not about consolidating schools," Garrett said. "This is about bringing law and order to the school district."

Currently, staff from Garrett's office is overseeing the operations of the school.

"I still have people there...checking out various things," Garrett said.

Garrett sent a team to the school on Friday after a judge last week dismissed a restraining order filed by Garrett's office to prevent Couch from being on school property or acting as superintendent. Garrett indicated last week that she was told the restraining order was cancelled because it was a civil case interfering with a criminal case.

MEETING HAMPERED

Garrett's latest move comes as a planned Marble City board meeting was hampered after Couch filed a temporary restraining order against one of the board members, Raymond Bolin, preventing Bolin from attending the special meeting. Bolin's questions about school expenditures eventually led to the discovery of the missing school funds.

Couch alleged in the order that the meeting was illegally called and was going to result in his termination.

Only one of the three school board members, Tim Farris, showed up for the meeting, resulting in a lack of a quorum. Your TIMES was unable to reach Mary Flute Cooksey, board president, for comment about her absence. But over 50 residents and local officials were on hand to hear from the school district's attorney, Bryan Drummond of Tulsa.

During a gathering of residents outside the locked doors of the school on Monday, Drummond explained why the meeting was not occurring. Drummond explained that Couch had an injunction against Bolin, prohibiting Bolin from attending the meeting, which Couch alleged was illegally called.

Drummond emphasized that the meeting was meant as a means for the school board to discuss whether or not to take steps to initiate Couch's dismissal - not to fire Couch. As of last year, Couch earns $87,000 as superintendent of the school of about 160 students, officials said.

Drummond said Fourth Scoufos of Sallisaw, Couch's attorney, called Bolin and asked him to put off the meeting for a week. When Bolin refused, Couch sought a restraining order.

He said that in order to terminate an administrator or superintendent, the school board must first have a meeting to discuss possible grounds for the person's dismissal. The board then takes those allegations and puts them in letter, which is sent to the superintendent. The superintendent would then have 10 days to request a due process hearing, in which evidence would be put on regarding why he should be dismissed and why he shouldn't be.

"The meeting tonight was to see if that process should be started," Drummond said.

Drummond said Monday's meeting plans were contrary to Scoufos' motion that alleged Bolin and others were trying to dismiss Couch. See a related story in this edition of Your TIMES for comments from Scoufos about the restraining order against Bolin and Couch's not guilty plea.

ATTORNEY TALKS CONSOLIDATION

During the Monday meeting, Drummond broached the subject of Garrett closing the school and consolidating it - something Garrett on Tuesday called "not a possibility."

"We already know Sandy Garrett is very interested in this situation," Drummond said. "She has authority over all the school districts."

He explained that school districts have to be accredited to stay open.

"She has authorization to jerk the accreditation and consolidate with another school," Drummond said.

Drummond said Garrett's office could also come and take over the school until the issue is resolved.

Drummond said his firm, Rosenstein, Fist & Ringold of Tulsa, represents over 300 school districts in Oklahoma, but he has not seen a situation like the one in Marble City.

"I have never seen antics like this," he said.

State Rep. Glen "Bud" Smithson (D-Sallisaw), who was present Monday at the school, promised residents that he would do everything he could to keep the school open. He added that he didn't know if Couch was guilty, but questioned why missing funds weren't caught in the school's annual audit.

Drummond replied that not every document is inspected during the annual audit, just a random sampling. Farris also said he thought the auditor would catch anything.

When residents questioned Farris about his stance on the charge against Couch, Drummond intercepted the question, saying that board members can't decide if Couch is guilty of the allegations.

Cherokee Nation Councilor Janelle Fullbright said she was concerned because the majority of the school's students are Native American.

"We don't know if he is guilty or innocent," she said of Couch. But she referred to a 2002 case at Central School in which a school official was charged with embezzlement. In that case, Fullbright said, the official was suspended with pay, pending the outcome of the case.

She noted that there are ways school officials can go around the school board and take money from the school if they want to do things illegally.

"We do not want to lose this school," she said.

LEGISLATOR WEIGHS IN

State Sen. Jim Wilson (D-Tahlequah), whose district includes Marble City, said Tuesday that he was not concerned about the school being closed or consolidated.

He said that usually consolidation occurs when a school goes broke, which is not the case in Marble City.

The Office of Accountability indicated that the school spends the most money per student on average each school year in the district. For the 2005-6 school year, the school spent $10,098 per student, compared to the state average of $6,882.

Wilson said as long as the school has a school board, can hire staff, and has funding, consolidation is probably not going to be an issue.

"I don't think that's a concern yet," he said.

He noted that most rural schools receive federal impact aid for their Indian population. In Marble City, 77 percent of the student population is Native American, according to the school's 2006 report card.

"My thought is that the state department will work with them to keep them going," Wilson said. "I do not believe there will be any aggressive action to close this school."

CONSOLIDATION 'NOT POSSIBILITY'

Garrett seems to share Wilson's sentiments.

"That's not what I'm about," Garrett said, referring to closing schools. "I want them to focus on the situation."

Garrett said she spoke to Wilson and relieved his concerns about the school being closed.

"We represent, hopefully, the interests of the taxpayers and the children of that district," she said.

She said the school board could decide not to accredit the school for certification, but she can't arbitrarily close a school district.

If the school district does not meet accreditation standards, then the school doesn't get state aid. That sort of action would include any situation of fraudulent numbers given to the state school board to be accredited.

"We're about cleaning up that school...ensure no unlawful violations are happening," Garrett said, adding, "It's about law and order."

As far as Couch's restraining order against Bolin, Garrett would only say, "I think the politics are happening there in Sequoyah County."