Speaker 1: Today, we've got the Bartonsville Public Schools Superintendent, Jack mccalling.
Speaker 1: We also have Blarry Ellis from the Bartonsville Public Schools Foundation.
Speaker 1: How are we doing? Kidding, We're doing great. Merry Christmas time,
Speaker 1: Ry Christmas and everybody ready for the holiday, I think.
Speaker 1: So we'll get there. We'll get there ready or not.
Speaker 1: Here it comes, It comes a lot in the news today.
Speaker 1: I want to talk first of all about a story
Speaker 1: we're writing. But the parents knew about this for quite
Speaker 1: a while. It's about the redistricting of the maps and
Speaker 1: it's good affect a couple of.
Speaker 2: Schools, maybe four, Yeah, you bet, and happy to talk
Speaker 2: about that. Appreciate, uh, appreciate the opportunity to share. So
Speaker 2: a couple of things. One, we are doing some redistricting
Speaker 2: affecting a couple of schools, and so one at the
Speaker 2: elementary level is going to impact some kids that are
Speaker 2: currently in the Wayside district that will shift to Ranch Heights.
Speaker 2: And by the way, this will start in August, and
Speaker 2: this coincides with our expansion projects. We finished it at Wayside,
Speaker 2: we'll be finishing at Ranch Heights next week. Excuse me,
Speaker 2: next summer. Yah, I know, I really really do. And
Speaker 2: the areas that we're talking about that change is we're
Speaker 2: talking east of seventy five, basically behind them all east
Speaker 2: of seventy five south of Nowada Road, which is like
Speaker 2: Rolling Hills and Southern Hills. There's currently some of that
Speaker 2: goes to Wayside, some of that goes to Ranch Heights. Well,
Speaker 2: we're gonna make it where that entire neighborhood will go
Speaker 2: to Ranch Heights starting in August. That also means their
Speaker 2: middle schools will shift as well, because Ranch Heights students
Speaker 2: go to Madison, so that will make that shift. And
Speaker 2: then the other shift is a little bit north of that,
Speaker 2: so same we're talking east of seventy five, but north
Speaker 2: up in the Wilson current Wilson district, so just south
Speaker 2: of Tuxedo that's currently in the Wilson district, and we're
Speaker 2: going to shift that area to Hoover Elementary, same middle school.
Speaker 2: They obviously go to Madison, which is next door. And
Speaker 2: so there's some We have a group, we have a
Speaker 2: committee that continues to monitor O attendance boundaries. We continue
Speaker 2: to make some adjustments as we do those as few
Speaker 2: times as possible, infrequently. We don't want to upset families
Speaker 2: in terms of their daily routine. But we want to
Speaker 2: be efficient and so you know, we've had growth of
Speaker 2: about three hundred students since before the pandemic, and that's
Speaker 2: why we made the decision to you know, some folks
Speaker 2: ideas or immediately just to build a new school, but
Speaker 2: those are inefficient, you know, there's always there's you have
Speaker 2: administrative overhead. So we chose to add on to Wayside
Speaker 2: and ratch Hikes and do some redistricting to make sure
Speaker 2: that we can keep our Matter of fact, our elementary
Speaker 2: class sizes this year the average is twenty to one,
Speaker 2: so that's the best they've been in several years. And
Speaker 2: some of that's we've had the additional space at Wayside,
Speaker 2: Bill hire some new staff. We also, I'll mention too,
Speaker 2: and we've sent this information this redistricting. We've already mailed
Speaker 2: all the parents that are impacted. They should have gotten
Speaker 2: a letter two weeks ago. Our board approved this change
Speaker 2: in the summer of twenty twenty three, so we've had
Speaker 2: this available. Of course, you know, something you don't pay
Speaker 2: attention to until yeah, until it impacts you too. So
Speaker 2: I appreciate Tom the ability to talk about that. So
Speaker 2: we do have some flexibility there folks. Like I said,
Speaker 2: these new districts the buses, that's where the buses will run.
Speaker 2: If folks want to stay at their existing school, they've
Speaker 2: got that letter, they can talk to their principle about
Speaker 2: that and go through the transfer process. They'll just have
Speaker 2: to provide their own transportation. And then secondly, I want
Speaker 2: to mention kind of a thing that's been really hasn't
Speaker 2: been a big thing here, but I've been asked about
Speaker 2: a lot Broken Arrow School, which is obviously I think
Speaker 2: it's the fourth largest district in the state, and they've
Speaker 2: been having lots of conversations about shifting to a four
Speaker 2: days school week. They haven't made a decision about that,
Speaker 2: but it's gotten a lot of press. It's something that's
Speaker 2: in the social media. I've been asked about it almost daily,
Speaker 2: and I just wanted to make sure folks knew that
Speaker 2: we are not we don't have any plans to do
Speaker 2: that for Broken Arrow situation. They're doing it simply, not
Speaker 2: trying to save money. They're doing it because they think
Speaker 2: it's gonna help them recruit and retain teachers and where
Speaker 2: they sit. Some districts that touched them. I think Kawita Wagner, Catusa.
Speaker 2: They're already on a four day week, so I'm sure
Speaker 2: that probably impacts their staffing. And you know we frankly,
Speaker 2: we have some of that around here. You know, there's
Speaker 2: some districts that are on a four day week, right
Speaker 2: aroun us or maybe they go to school a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks shorter than we do, but we don't have
Speaker 2: any intentions of making those changes as part of why
Speaker 2: we invest in our staff so that that's why we
Speaker 2: compensate our teachers about fifteen percent more than the folks
Speaker 2: that touch us. We think. Intter of fact, I think,
Speaker 2: if anything, I'd like to go to school extend our calendar.
Speaker 2: Not to make any kids nervous about that, but that
Speaker 2: would take it. That would take some additional funding, frankly
Speaker 2: to make that extension, because there's some concerns with that
Speaker 2: in terms of if we did some sort of a
Speaker 2: shortened schedule. One is, obviously our parents have to work
Speaker 2: and so daycare is a challenge and what do you
Speaker 2: do with what do you do with kiddo's during that
Speaker 2: day too? And then secondly a big factor for me
Speaker 2: is about sixty percent of our kids qualify for free
Speaker 2: introduced launch. We feed a lot of kids every day
Speaker 2: and so yeah, so those are kids that may not
Speaker 2: get to eat and so anyway, that's not on the
Speaker 2: table here. I just wanted to in case you hear
Speaker 2: that on people to get nervous about thinking about shifting
Speaker 2: to a four day week as well. We have no
Speaker 2: plans to do that. I'll be happy to have conversations
Speaker 2: about that, but that's not on the radar here. Want
Speaker 2: to get out front and share those two things.
Speaker 1: Tom Okay, well, we're coming up to the end of
Speaker 1: the year and Blair with the foundation, I can't think
Speaker 1: of a better way to Maybe I'm looking to move
Speaker 1: some money around, maybe.
Speaker 3: A tax Yeah, looking to save on your Oklahoma income taxes.
Speaker 3: If you all think that you are going to have
Speaker 3: to pay any Oklahoma state income tax. The School Foundation,
Speaker 3: thanks to the new legislation with the Oklahoma Tax Commission,
Speaker 3: is able to give donors a seventy five percent tax
Speaker 3: credit back on any gifts that they make to the
Speaker 3: School Foundation. So there are some criterions and limitations that
Speaker 3: I'm happy to visit with anyone interested about. But we
Speaker 3: have information on our website. We've posted some information on
Speaker 3: social media. But basically, if a donor makes a one
Speaker 3: thousand dollars contribution to the school foundation commits to doing
Speaker 3: that for two years, they can receive up to seventy
Speaker 3: five percent of that gift back in the form of
Speaker 3: a tax credit, So that's a dollar for dollar reduction
Speaker 3: of your income taxes on your state income taxes. So
Speaker 3: that gift ends up only costing our donors two hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty dollars. So what we're encouraging is anyone who
Speaker 3: can afford to make at least a two hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty dollars contribution, consider making a one thousand dollars contribution.
Speaker 3: It's still going to cost you the same, but our
Speaker 3: schools benefit and receive that full thousand dollars. It is
Speaker 3: even multiplied further if you have availability of company matching,
Speaker 3: so you can make a donation of one thousand dollars,
Speaker 3: get that match by your company, then the schools get
Speaker 3: a two thousand dollars benefit, again still costing our donors
Speaker 3: just that two fifty. So that's in eight times maximizing
Speaker 3: that benefit that we're getting as a school district. So
Speaker 3: really something that we're trying to take advantage of the
Speaker 3: school district. Bartoswell has a two hundred thousand dollars credit cap,
Speaker 3: but we are nowhere close to maxing out that cap
Speaker 3: at this point, so we want to get closer to
Speaker 3: that max. But I had a donor just the other
Speaker 3: day who works for a Phillips and they're going to
Speaker 3: max out their tax credit. They're going to make a
Speaker 3: two thousand, six hundred and sixty seven dollars contribution into
Speaker 3: the school foundation. They're going to get two thousand dollars
Speaker 3: back on their income taxes, so that gift costs them
Speaker 3: six hundred and sixty seven dollars. They're going to submit
Speaker 3: it for a match. So our school foundation now gets
Speaker 3: over five thousand dollars for a gift that costs that
Speaker 3: donor six hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: Wow, we it's maximizing.
Speaker 3: Really something to take advantage of. Over two years. That
Speaker 3: means that gift is going to cost them about a
Speaker 3: little over one thousand dollars. The schools are going to
Speaker 3: get over ten thousand dollars, So really really impactful way
Speaker 3: to make your donation. Again, if you can contribute at
Speaker 3: least two hundred and fifty dollars to the School Foundation,
Speaker 3: please reach out to us and get some more information.
Speaker 1: Mike, goodness sakes check, you're nodding your head in agreement.
Speaker 1: Thing this might be the well, well, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to share too.
Speaker 2: Just my Jennifer and I personally, we've been sponsors out
Speaker 2: of the Bruins on the Run, having our kids and
Speaker 2: our staff participate in that race. And so now that
Speaker 2: our foundation is sponsoring that race, we've been able to
Speaker 2: We were able to make a twenty five hundred dollars
Speaker 2: donation using this this year, and we're we're going to
Speaker 2: be able to capitalize on that tax benefit. So this
Speaker 2: is an example of something that we were already doing
Speaker 2: and so now it's just a matter of writing a
Speaker 2: check to a different entity and then therefore we're going
Speaker 2: to get that tax benefit this year and next year.
Speaker 2: So for people to think about, if there's maybe some
Speaker 2: events or some special things that the foundation does in
Speaker 2: addition to you, they can always use the funding to
Speaker 2: help their bottom line. But if there's something like we
Speaker 2: have that passion for that run, we're able to earmarket
Speaker 2: for that, and so it's win win really all the
Speaker 2: way around.
Speaker 3: And we've been doing it for three years, so we
Speaker 3: it's proven now, I mean my husband and I take advantage. Also,
Speaker 3: it's very simple to get back that tax credit. It
Speaker 3: does in fact work, and so we've seen a lot
Speaker 3: of donors that have given two hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 3: in the past, now they'll give one thousand dollars again.
Speaker 3: That cost stays the same for them, but they're maximizing
Speaker 3: their benefits. So a lot of great opportunities.
Speaker 1: Nice. One of the things that keeps coming up in
Speaker 1: conversation with schools is cell phone usage or none usage.
Speaker 1: Where where are we in this this whole thing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Tom. So we've had it on our school
Speaker 2: board agenda. Think it's about six months in a row,
Speaker 2: talking about the Anglish generation. We've had several different meetings
Speaker 2: with different stakeholder groups, and I continue to bring it
Speaker 2: forward because it's something you know, cell phone use and
Speaker 2: social media and the impact on all of us that's
Speaker 2: impacting everyone, whether you're a kid or an adult or
Speaker 2: whatever you're doing. And so we're trying to I just
Speaker 2: and all that I want to do is I want
Speaker 2: to help make things better. And so we've one of
Speaker 2: the strategies that we're coming up with Blairs is helping
Speaker 2: with we're working together is we always want to do
Speaker 2: some parent information sessions, So we're gonna start with one
Speaker 2: next month, I think January twentieth. Details to become we're
Speaker 2: gonna we're gonna piggyback off of I think it's when
Speaker 2: the freshmen, the income and current eighth grade, when they
Speaker 2: enroll at the high school or they get some information
Speaker 2: about that. That's one of their biggest nights they have
Speaker 2: in terms of parents being on campus and seeing what's
Speaker 2: at the high school. We're going to piggyback off that
Speaker 2: event and have a it's gonna be ver efficient with
Speaker 2: the time, but just share some information. I'll share some
Speaker 2: We'll have a parent We're going to hope to have
Speaker 2: a judge backlaw or an SRO and hopefully have some
Speaker 2: students just to talk about to talk about this matter
Speaker 2: and talk about give them some information. I want to
Speaker 2: share some you know, I'll share from the book in
Speaker 2: terms of the anxious generation and what I really appreciate
Speaker 2: about it because this is a new world. I think
Speaker 2: our parents this new world for them, it's changing, and
Speaker 2: to give them some guidelines, some things that the school recommends.
Speaker 2: I really like the book comes out and says, hey,
Speaker 2: kids don't need a smartphone before they're in high school.
Speaker 2: So parents out there, if you're thinking about when it
Speaker 2: gets your kid a phone, that's a good guideline to
Speaker 2: start with. Kids don't need to be on social media
Speaker 2: till they're sixteen. So and I know every kid will say, yeah,
Speaker 2: but my friends are this, my friends that, and and
Speaker 2: but we want to talk to parents so hopefully they
Speaker 2: can collaborate together and you know, they know who they're
Speaker 2: kind of their kids run with and hopefully help help
Speaker 2: them grow up in this world. And then and then
Speaker 2: the last thing is kids need to get outside and play.
Speaker 2: I mean it's less screen time more you know, more playtime,
Speaker 2: and that's to learn how to enter act with others.
Speaker 2: And that can be that's different, you know, instead of
Speaker 2: kids just you know, sitting looking at a screen or
Speaker 2: being playing video games, or or interacting online, ordering their
Speaker 2: food online. You can do everything in the world online,
Speaker 2: you know, to be able to interact with others, that's important.
Speaker 2: So we're going to talk about those things. So we're
Speaker 2: gonna start with a session at the high school next month.
Speaker 2: We plan and continue those at our middle schools also
Speaker 2: have some things targeted for our elementary parents and so
Speaker 2: these will be targeted for certain groups. However, any if
Speaker 2: you have a kid any age, we encourage them to
Speaker 2: come up Blair.
Speaker 1: Anything I missed out on that, well.
Speaker 3: I just I think it's not there's no easy answer,
Speaker 3: and we all know that nobody's coming with this is
Speaker 3: what you should do, and everything will be great. But
Speaker 3: I think it's really important to keep this conversation going,
Speaker 3: let everyone know that they're not alone, and just provide
Speaker 3: kind of pooled resources in terms of what options you
Speaker 3: have as a parent or as an educator to kind
Speaker 3: of help manage this and help teacher kids the skills
Speaker 3: they're going to ultimately need to self regulate at some point, right,
Speaker 3: so we want to give them some tools that they
Speaker 3: could perhaps use with their students.
Speaker 2: I know the last I think it was last week,
Speaker 2: we met all of our leadership, our our administrators. We
Speaker 2: met and this is one of the topics of discussion
Speaker 2: and we talked. Obviously, it's a different in terms of
Speaker 2: the kid impact. It's different at the elementary, middle and
Speaker 2: high school. You know, as kids mature and grow and
Speaker 2: have different resources available to them, but also talking to
Speaker 2: everyone there even if I'm working at a school, saying
Speaker 2: I'm supervising a large kids and staff maybe doesn't have
Speaker 2: that current impact on students day to day on having
Speaker 2: the device, but thinking about they're dealing with employees that
Speaker 2: have to deal with that as well. I mean, some
Speaker 2: of our adults are addicted as well to their phones
Speaker 2: and social media and that being distracted that can impact,
Speaker 2: you know what, thinking about during their day or also
Speaker 2: at home time that they could be spending interacting with
Speaker 2: their kiddos. And so we just want to help and
Speaker 2: so hopefully this will be a step in the right
Speaker 2: direction with that.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a conversation that's long overdue, and I'm glad
Speaker 1: you guys are having it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well sorry, it's a conversation that the parents can't
Speaker 3: have an isolation in our schools can't have an isolation.
Speaker 3: So I love the idea that we're kind of working
Speaker 3: together at home and at school.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we just want to help.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's I don't have and you know, we're
Speaker 2: not going to be able to fix anything in isolation
Speaker 2: at school. We could make a you know, making a
Speaker 2: policy change is not going to make everything better. We
Speaker 2: are looking at things that you know, we made some
Speaker 2: shifts when we've had a we've had a couple of
Speaker 2: virtual days, and so we've talked about that at the
Speaker 2: elementary level, we don't need this. We're not sending on
Speaker 2: those short term things. We're not sending devices home and
Speaker 2: have them kids looking at device. We're doing other things
Speaker 2: for a youngest kids, just trying to make some Even
Speaker 2: though that was that that was the best thing we
Speaker 2: felt like a couple of years ago. Now that we
Speaker 2: know better, yeah, we know better. We just want to
Speaker 2: We just want to do better. And so look forward
Speaker 2: to that conversation. We'll continue to update everyone. We'll be
Speaker 2: sharing information about these upcoming events, and we just want
Speaker 2: to help make things better. And then lastly, just a
Speaker 2: couple of things I'll mentioned from me anyway from the
Speaker 2: board meeting, Blair, we had a large donation from Trudy
Speaker 2: Credit Union Education Foundation.
Speaker 3: Bla, Yeah, we definitely don't want to forget that. So
Speaker 3: the Trudy Education Foundation with Trudy Credit Union has been
Speaker 3: a long time phenomenal partner for our school district and
Speaker 3: this year was no exception. They made a donation of
Speaker 3: forty seven thousand and five hundred dollars that's going to
Speaker 3: support several different initiatives within the district, including BIS Talent,
Speaker 3: which is our junior achievement program. Our fifth graders get
Speaker 3: to go down to Tulsa to BI Talent and experience
Speaker 3: different careers for the day, and it'll provide some support
Speaker 3: for that. It'll provide some crucial support to continue the
Speaker 3: school resource officer expansion that we have. Of course we
Speaker 3: have ten school resource officers now and then those funds
Speaker 3: will go to help support them, and then bruins on
Speaker 3: the RNE of course regular participation in support for our
Speaker 3: fifth grade running program.
Speaker 1: My goodness shakes, it's all coming together, good stuff.
Speaker 2: I mentioned one last thing too from the board meeting
Speaker 2: we had our we recognize about ten students. We try
Speaker 2: to recognize kids we as talented kids.
Speaker 1: You know, you have the best spot. Wonderful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really makes you feel good about what we do.
Speaker 2: It's wonderful. So I think we end up with about
Speaker 2: ten kids are recognized from their eighth from their success
Speaker 2: on AP test. The College Board a national organization with
Speaker 2: friends of PSAT program, National Merit program, also the AP
Speaker 2: They recognize our students and so we recognize them. Their
Speaker 2: parents came. It's always fun to do that, and Principal
Speaker 2: Heart gave an update there and then also mentioned that
Speaker 2: the College Board they recognized in terms of schools in
Speaker 2: terms of their participation in the AP program, which those
Speaker 2: are college level classes in high school and also how
Speaker 2: successful kids are when they take the test and how
Speaker 2: well they do on that, and that's what research will
Speaker 2: tell you. Just being enrolled in one of those classes
Speaker 2: is the best academic preparation for you to graduate from
Speaker 2: college four or five years later, which is obviously impacts everybody.
Speaker 2: But the only schools that were recognized by the College
Speaker 2: Board was was Bartlesville Public Schools was Bartlesville, Jinx, Edmund
Speaker 2: and Norman. Those are the only schools in the state
Speaker 2: of Oklahoma that received that recognition. There were some private
Speaker 2: schools and so to do like I think the closest
Speaker 2: one would be down at Cash, Holland Hall and Bishop Kelly,
Speaker 2: some of those that you pay a pretty heavy tuition for.
Speaker 2: So it's really I always want to share that make
Speaker 2: sure people are aware. I mean, that's not something that
Speaker 2: a Wasso or Collinsville or someone that was recognized for.
Speaker 2: That's right here in Bartlesville. So really pleased with that,
Speaker 2: and then I think also when you hear that with
Speaker 2: also kids that think about opportunities for kids that maybe
Speaker 2: aren't on that college band. Ladona Chancellor gave an update.
Speaker 2: We have ninety one kids in our construction class currently.
Speaker 2: We're getting ready for next year. We're going to offer
Speaker 2: a Construction two class as well, So that's going to
Speaker 2: continue to expand to help kids, you know, have that
Speaker 2: ability to get that experience, to help get them ready
Speaker 2: for that next step, whether they're going to college or
Speaker 2: whether they're getting ready to.
Speaker 1: Go to work. Well, you know, you guys were recognized
Speaker 1: in a recent Chamber Forum meeting with the Chamber of
Speaker 1: Commerce EO of Oklahoma about the board getting behind a
Speaker 1: House bill that allows well basically what the Construction class
Speaker 1: does exemplifies what the bill can do. Yeah, yeah, nik
Speaker 1: Gus big up.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was Yeah, I was to know that
Speaker 2: was happening. But yeah, that's something else I'm involved with.
Speaker 2: Scott Bilger is involved with, and so the state Chamber
Speaker 2: really helped get some legislation across to give some more
Speaker 2: local control and flexibility because it's been time for some
Speaker 2: of those graduation requirements.
Speaker 1: To be updated.
Speaker 2: Really They won't impact kids that are on that college train,
Speaker 2: but kids that aren't. And there's about forty percent of
Speaker 2: our kids aren't going to college and we need to
Speaker 2: get them ready, and so this will give them some
Speaker 2: more options to help them with the rest of their
Speaker 2: lives as well.
Speaker 1: Very good, Hey, thanks for being with us today.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me Christmas.
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