Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
It's time now for our community connection right here on can't one the one
you trust. It's brought to you by into All Grass Motors and Arnold Lauren
Knee Camp at funeral Home and we visit with the Bartlestool Public Schools and also
the Foundation today. You know that was the name of a pop group back
in my day in the foundation. Really. Oh yeah, I can't remember
songs. I don't remember too much for the sixties, but it was fun.
We have to call here also, Blair Elli, No, we got
we got something you really like. Uh boy, we had a little bit
of fun. It's always good to know that we have money coming into the
schools. Yeah, we did, Blair. Do you want to take that
from the Foundation? Sure? Yeah. So we always love going to the
school board meetings. Were usually there to bring good news and funding for the
schools, and Monday was no different. We had Philip sixty six there with
us and presenting some funds to the schools to support our school Resource Officer program.
I'm sure the community knows by now but that the district is expanding our
school Resource Officer program, bringing in school resource officers for all nine of our
school sites. So Phillips was there to provide some training or funding for training.
So all of our school resource officers are trained police officers, but there's
obviously some specialized training that goes into dealing with students in the school setting.
So Phillips was there to provide funding for some national school Resource officer training which
will give our school resource officers the skills and tools that they need to really
do the best they can do within our schools. And mister McCauley, this
is something that started with callig. We need to do something before something happens,
and very proactive and it heads up on the board for that. Yes,
I agree, you know, it's pretty I was just thinking this morning
that a year ago we had two school resource officers in our districts and so
now we have six. So we've you know, we've we've increase that amount
in a short amount a short amount of time. And so really thankful for
our board for proving that last year to get that started. In city Council,
Mike Bailey and all the city council members past and present for proving that.
So it's it's it's truly a really feel like that's a need, not
a want, and we are excited about having three additional ones coming in starting
in August, and just to continual I think he can't get enough training in
this and it's it's they're really just part of our school. I mean,
it's really just part of what we do now, and the kids have such
great relationships. I know that I may visit a little bit later about we
had our state superintendent visit town on Friday and we were in Aaron Perry's class,
one of our She was a Richard Kane Elementary first Great Teacher of the
Year, and he read to the class and he was talking to some of
them after about what they want to be when they grow up. And I
think two of the first three kids that they want to be police officers.
And you know, you have to think just having that relationship, being around
folks like that, being around a police office or two, helps helps kids
think positively about that, which can do nothing but help our future. So
that's a kind of a long winded answer to say, yes, we've come
a long way. We want to continue to focus on safety obviously as part
of what we do, and very thankful for Philip sixty six and providing that
funding to help us training training those officers. Well, I've seen your resource
officer in action there. It came and everybody wants to pet the dog,
Everybody wants to talk to him, ask him a question, you know,
and it's like he's the most popular guy on campus. Right in this day
and age, you'd think, well, that might not be something that would
be first and forefront, but that was the first thing I noticed when I
walked in. They all take a really proactive approach. They're really trying to
build relationships with the students. The officer CODES at Ranch Heights has his own
program where he pulls out kids for fifteen minutes a day to work with them
and brings him along to do some tasks around the school. So they're really
trying to build positive relationships with our kids. Well, speaking of building,
Wow, yeah, we got some building going on and some building to come,
don't we. We we do, Tom, it's a yeah, it's
a it's a busy time. And before we get that, Blair, do
you want to mention the bruins on the run y, Yeah, there's a
lot going on. Um. We were also there on Monday night to recognize
our bruins on the run teacher mentors. So we started the season. This
is our fourth season and we started this year with sixty teacher mentors. So
these are our teachers who after a long day in the classroom are yes,
are working after school with our kids, encouraging them, mentoring them on the
pathfinder um and running with them in races. And so we just wanted to
highlight at least our lead mentors. So we brought in. We have one
at every school site that kind of takes charge of the program at their school,
So we wanted to bring them in and recognize them, and they do
so much for that program and really make it the success that it is.
You know, beyond just being healthy teachers and healthy students, it helps between
the years get healthy too. Well yeah, a guy, that's those fifth
graders. You know, when you get to that age. Thing about when
I was in fifth grade, I don't know if there was a five k
race rate kid and without Wow, but you know, the kids and a
lot of these kids that are involved in it, they're not involved in other
active because they're already playing soccer or swimming or different things too. And so
we had over one hundred kids that when school started last year that signed up
for the program. Um did some running after school with their teacher mentors and
instead of goal, uh you know how powerful is that to set a goal
that I can do this. I'm gonna run this eight k at wool Rock
And then they did that and so that's almost a fourth of our fifth graders
in the district. And so we've done that now for I guess three or
four years. Four years, it's been five years, but we had a
pandemic and like everything else, it's all about the teacher in the classroom to
have that engagement for them to want to be around it. And of course
the foundation does a wonderful job of supporting that. Well, next month we'll
be talking about the r Vest Foundation helping us with some funding with that program.
But you know, the kids in terms of just some food, some
some some resources for the kids to help help keep them excited about it,
and shoes. So anyway, it's really, yeah, just pleased to have
our teachers come in because that's really what at the you know, the folks
at that level that really make it happen. It's really it was really a
lot of fun to honor them as well. I am fun telling people we
have cool schools in class. Classmate in a mind from them about forty years
some odd years ago, we had lunch and he says, well, how
do the schools around here? I said, I don't know about here in
Tulsa where you are going through right now, but I tell you in Bartlesville,
it's a world of difference, it truly is. We really appreciate the
foundation, you know. I was thinking about that a year ago. So
when they were able to purchase skates and old for all of our elementary schools,
we just have it. I think two sets in the district that our
elementary schools would share when they would do that unit in the physical education class.
And now all six schools have sets of them they can use and they
can do those skating activities. Some parent groups do fundraisers that with them,
and so just those healthy activities, you know, where kids aren't plugged into
their phone or a computer or something else too, where they're they're they're doing
that is really meaningful and hopefully building some good lifelong habits for them too.
You've got a long list. I've interrupted you far. You're literally ripped they're
doing great time. And I know you mentioned on the construction, but I
wanted to start with at the board meeting, Ladona Chancellor always gives a teaching
and learning update what's going on in the district, and her and Jason Langa
both shared we really had a great event on Saturday, our Special Olympics,
a Grand Lake Area Special Olympics was hosted at Customer Stadium and so the first
time we've hosted that in at least twenty years. That's as far back but
it could remember. But it's the Grand Lay it's a Grand area, so
there's like seven different counties that come and participate. So I had a wonderful
event. We had over seventy volunteers. I think Coachwright brought the entire football
team help to help with that, and really was We had one hundred kids
that were there. And also mentioned that the snow we're gonna qualify for the
state Special Olympics and we'll have a big send off on Monday, May seventeenth
at seven am in the morning at the high School. And it's really a
fun event. So if there's community members, I liked to come out and
share our kids as they go off to the state Special Olympics when occurs them
to come and really thankful for our and once again, UM, we had
Brandy Avery and Nadia Jackson, two of our teachers are really the ones that
lead that program. And Naught in here before she's great. Yeah, she's
great. So it was it was one want to make sure that we shared
that UM as well, so on the and on the board meeting. So
we went through we did those spotlights. Just a couple of things we did
a uh, we did it's the time of the year once a year where
we set our board officers which are quote school board officers. They voted to
keep the saying that they that they have had Scott Builder remain as president,
Rick Boswell vice president, and Andrew Nightingale UM in terms of the secretary.
And then UM a couple of action items we did approve A we acquired some
more land by Wayside Elementary. UM. We've we've as you know, that
campus is very small and so we've got an addition going on there too.
We've already purchased some property just directly north um of that that uh, north
of Wayside. And then at this board meeting we approved two point nine acres.
There's an empty lot just east of east of Jefferson there that we'll be
using for parking lot and construction and also permanently after we make that edition as
well, So I wanted to mention that. And then it had action item
just to sell some bonds that were previously approved in twenty twenty one, and
that enables us to get the process started. We'll approve those probably in May
and then have funding in June. And those are just for those what we
call those operational things like technology and textbooks and curriculum as well. And then
I should have also mentioned that LaDonna shared at the Teaching and Learning Update she's
busy. She is a busy gal that in terms of they've gone through a
textbook adoption process. You know, books and schools have been a hot topic
here in the last couple of years, and so we do have a process
when we do adopt textbooks, and so this year is the year we adopt
secondary English Language Arts textbooks for the upcoming actually last for the next five years,
and we have a committee that does that selection, and so she leads
that group. We have a teacher representative from each grade level that's represented some
administrators. We also have two parents that are on that committee as well,
and they all came through with the same result in terms of the same vendors.
So please to have appreciate all of our parents for helping us with that
in terms of getting that selection. Make sure that we had that we have
that strong, strong buy in. So yeah, so we do have the
mentioned about the construction. We do have a lot going on and so we
did. We are in our over at Richard Kane Elementary and Wilson Elementary.
We are using those buildings. We finished those. Um there's a couple of
final touches, but you know, we added some additions to the front.
If folks haven't been by those schools, really encourage them to drive by their
beautiful and so we have a matter of fact, we had like I mentioned
earlier, we had the state superintendent was in on Friday and we're able to
We're over at Richard Kane Elementary and we spend a lot of time i know,
the fifth grade leadership class and some time visiting with him out and they
have kind of a lobby which they call the Kane Commons as kind of a
mini version of what we have at the High school. But yeah, it's
really a neat it's really a neat space. So we're in those two at
Kane and Wilson. There's some finishing touches that they'll be doing, including installing
an electronic key in front of the building and a couple of other things that
will be finished over the summer. But those have those are basically complete.
And then the act facility if you happen to be by the high school.
Um, that's been the only good thing about not having any rain as those
folks have been able to they haven't had any rain day since February. You
know, they've really been busy, broken a few shovels of that heart of
dirt. That's exactly right too. So they've they're started so that that that
project is scheduled to be complete in March of next year, so hopefully by
spring break. We're using that we're gonna have a groundbreaking event on Monday,
May eighth at four o'clock. But basically if you drive by there now you
can see the height of it. That's that's as high as it's going to
be. We have to obviously build it up out of the out of the
flood zone, so they're making great progress on that. People still have full
access to the pathfinder. Um, I know I've ran by there several times
and you have to do normal access to We have a temporary parking lot that
they can park their car and use that. So that's going going really well
on those projects. We're gonna take a quick break and we're gonna be right
back after these words. Tall Grass Motors and Arnold point Nick Funeral Home right
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Highway seventy five North in Bartlesville. I never forget this call. My freshman
roommate, his mother called one day and she said, Tim and I can
tell by her voice something wrong, and I said, what's wrong? She
said, can you get my boy home from California? He's passed away out
there. And that crushed me, but I said, I sure will.
I'll take care of it. I said, I'll figure it out. I
will get your son home. If that's what you do and your loved one
dies, doesn't matter if for us, three in the morning you call your
funeral director and say, tim, my loved one just hide. What do
I do? And I tell you one of my greatest stories I could tell.
Six o'clock one Christmas morning, a lady calls me. She said,
they came over to get my aunt for Christmas breakfast and found her dead in
her home. What do we do? I said, let me get dressed.
I'll be right there, and we'll just walk through this together. It's
gonna be all right. Now, take good care of her. Years later,
she told me that was the single most comforting phrase she'd ever heard.
It'll be all right. We'll walk through this together. Arnold Moore and me
Camp Funeral Home, seven Dewey, Bartelsville. We will walk through this together,
and we're back with more of our community connection with Bartley's Ville Public Schools
supertant of school's Chuckle Calley and also with the foundation we have Larry Ellis.
Yeah, so just kind of continue on the on the construction side, alls
and things that'll be going on, some planning that we're doing the most recent
bond issue election that the things I just describe her for the twenty twenty one
the well Wilson and Kane as well as the agg facility. You know,
we had already completed the indoor facilities for our baseball softball teams as well,
but is the expansion in renovation over a wayside, and we are planning they're
planning to start that addition that work on that the weekend after school ends.
Actually they're probably gonna be set up our last day of schools on Friday,
May nineteen, so they're planning to be moving in that weekend or that following
week. So we're we're excited about that project. It is going to be
it's always tough living in the renovation, but kind of that first there's some
things that they need to jump on to get done before school gets started.
And that's another reason why we purchase that property so that we make sure we
have enough parking um for our staff and for our parents there across the street.
And so the way that'll work is we'll have the addition excuse me,
that will that will will happen, that will be going on. We'll build
that. Once the addition is complete, then we'll have to do some renovation
of the spaces that we are moving out of and like the lif in the
offices and the pre k in kindergarten areas. So I also wanted to mention
while we do have Blair here, we had a great event. I guess
that was just last week, our Brons of the Year. Yeah, Bla're
gonna talk about how the foundation is able to support a pure Yeah, so
that's our It was our district Teacher of the Year celebration and in past years,
our teachers kind of took that on themselves to the administrators, they would
kind of plan that celebration. We didn't feel like it was right to have
our administrators and teachers planning their own celebrations. So the Foundation took it on
with the help of Patriot and our Vests, who are our sponsors for that
event, and it's really grown. We have it at Rigdon Field. We
had it on April to sixth and the weather was of course cooperating just perfectly.
But it's a casual, family friendly event. We had over four hundred
people in the stands right. We planned for about two hundred and we had
four hundred, which is always a great problem to have. Chris Batchelder announced
for us. Maria Gus was our MC. So it's really just a fun
night. It's done in yeah, exactly, it's done and under an hour
and half. But really we're able to recognize our district Teacher of the Year.
All of our rising star teachers are classified people of the Year, including
our Sadexo employees, So really a full district celebration of all of our staff.
Now you got the Hall of Fame event, and right April is a
busy event month for us. We have the Educator Hall of Fame. This
is our thirteenth year hosting that event. It's going to be in the afternoon
on April the twenty seventh. It's at the Bartlesville Community Center from four to
five thirty and this is where we honor retired educators, so bringing back those
teachers who dedicated their careers to helping their students in Bartlesville. This year,
we're going to be inducting Darryl Ballard, Gene Fincher, Rita Wade's going to
be our legacy inductee, and then we'll have Linda Shipley who was a speech
and debate coach at the high school. So we've got some great honor ease
to celebrate. Tickets are available on our website BPS foundation dot org. Sweet
and tells one more thing back on the Agg facility we talked about at the
board meeting. We also have a new story on our website. But the
Lion Foundation they donated five hundred thousand dollars for our Agg facility. As you
know, I mentioned that that project was approved in two thousand and twenty one,
but I think everybody knows the cost of everything has changed since two thousand
and twenty one, and so we started building the facility and we got bids
in Obviously, the numbers were higher than what our initial estimate was, and
so we asked the Lion Foundation to fund the greenhouse. The greenhouse is the
part of the project which they did. So they are they have committed half
a million dollars and they do such wonderful things for our community and they've really
touched, I mean, almost everything in town but that bricks and mortar,
and they've really helped us with that. It's really thankful for our strong community
support. That's amazing. What's really amazing because we got it all in in
twenty minutes. That's a lot going on in our schools and I'm glad that
we have you in here at least once a month and to kind of give
us a recap of what's happening. And people are realizing that they their money
is being well spent and you're very careful with the dollar and you're great at
producing dollars there, Blair, So wonderful job. Thank you. All right,
you've been listening to Community Connection on