Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning.
Speaker 2: Welcome uncome weunkan.
Speaker 1: It is time now for our community connection right here
Speaker 1: on K one, the one you trust, and we have
Speaker 1: a truck mcquality and here from Bartlesville Public Schools. Wow,
Speaker 1: that school year went fast.
Speaker 2: I got blink.
Speaker 3: It's amazing. Yeah we are, Yeah, we're it's it's upon us.
Speaker 3: You're right, and you know tomorrow is our last day
Speaker 3: of school and then of course Friday night we're gonna
Speaker 3: have graduation. And uh, you know, Tom, I know your
Speaker 3: family came here. I think your youngest was in middle
Speaker 3: school and so yeah, she started out seventh grade at
Speaker 3: mentone message. Yeah, so I hope we served your family
Speaker 3: well and kind of helped her on the attorney Yeah,
Speaker 3: good deal.
Speaker 1: She actually started really like going to school once we
Speaker 1: got out of Illinois and here, well good and she's
Speaker 1: thrived at National Honor Society and just a whole lot
Speaker 1: of things. And thank you very much for uh, your
Speaker 1: staff and your your your instructors, and just the welcoming
Speaker 1: atmosphere because there are a lot of people who move
Speaker 1: into town each and every years. I guess they're kind
Speaker 1: of used to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do.
Speaker 3: We try to, you know, we're here to serve families,
Speaker 3: and just like I'm glad your daughter had a good
Speaker 3: experience and looking forward to I know she graduated from
Speaker 3: Track County last night and they did a great program
Speaker 3: out there. It's another opportunity for kids. And so yeah,
Speaker 3: so graduation is gonna be Friday night, seven o'clock, Custer
Speaker 3: Stadium o'clock, seven o'clock, we play the wind play.
Speaker 2: Well, that's that's our plan. That's our plan, and uh.
Speaker 3: Uh we encourage everybody to just be aware. Obviously this
Speaker 3: time of year, weather's always a concern when you have
Speaker 3: an outdoor graduation. But we will have an outdoor graduation.
Speaker 3: It is scheduled to start at seven pm. Uh, we
Speaker 3: may shift the time just depending on the weather. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, and so uh we've had times where we've
Speaker 3: we've moved it up an hour or we maybe started
Speaker 3: a little bit later, and we want to do everything
Speaker 3: we can to try to have it on Friday night.
Speaker 3: We know families are coming in and they've got reception
Speaker 3: schedule kind of all weekend, So probably the latest we
Speaker 3: start it would be probably nine o'clock, but obviously we're
Speaker 3: hoping we can start at seven o'clock. The whole ceremony
Speaker 3: takes about an hour and twenty minutes. We don't bring
Speaker 3: in a big speaker or anything because we know so
Speaker 3: you know, people are there to see their kid walk
Speaker 3: across the stage. You know, they're not they're not here
Speaker 3: to they're not here to hear from some some someone
Speaker 3: come in speak to them. We do have some kids
Speaker 3: speak during the uh you know what, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2: We will have our senior class president and student body president.
Speaker 2: They'll give it. They'll give a short speech.
Speaker 3: But yeah, So Friday night, seven o'clock, Custer Stadium. Hopefully
Speaker 3: the weather will be uh will be beautiful for us,
Speaker 3: but if not, we'll find a window in there. We'll
Speaker 3: find it to our window. We can have that ceremony.
Speaker 3: Worst case, if it is a complete washout on Friday,
Speaker 3: we'll find a window on Saturday and have it on Saturday.
Speaker 3: So yeah, but we were planning. We're really excited about
Speaker 3: It's always a fun night.
Speaker 2: It's not like this is your first rodeo.
Speaker 1: We've done this a bit.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
Speaker 3: You know, I've been I've been to a lot of
Speaker 3: graduations here. I guess this'll be my twenty fourth in Bartlesville. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and so we did have a in twenty nineteen. People
Speaker 3: think back back when we had all the flooding that year,
Speaker 3: we did have graduation indoors. Uh, And I decided during
Speaker 3: that time we're not going to do that again. And
Speaker 3: so you know, and the main reason is there are
Speaker 3: a lot of people who are with you on now
Speaker 3: that's that's right. Yeah, I mean people you know, we
Speaker 3: don't want to have because we have to limit the
Speaker 3: number of people that can attend, and we don't want
Speaker 3: to do that. So we just decided it's better off
Speaker 3: for us to have it outdoors. And if we need
Speaker 3: to shift the time a little bit or even the date,
Speaker 3: we will do that. But yeah, we're have an outdoor
Speaker 3: graduation Custer Stadium Friday at seven o'clock and to stay
Speaker 3: We'll inform folks if we need to shift that time
Speaker 3: any keep.
Speaker 1: It right here over most of this very same station.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
Speaker 3: K One's always a big supporter and always broadcasts that
Speaker 3: forest as well. They'll be the first ones to know
Speaker 3: if we make that, if we need to make some
Speaker 3: sort of a shift. Tom also was wanted to mention
Speaker 3: found out yesterday we got an update from our some
Speaker 3: of our kids. You know, we're heavily invested in in
Speaker 3: STEM education, science, technology, engineering and math, and we had
Speaker 3: a handful of students for kiddos go to the International
Speaker 3: Science and Engineering Fair and we send kids every year
Speaker 3: that attend that.
Speaker 2: Uh and so really excited to report.
Speaker 3: That Jonathan Lie he actually finished third in Environmental Engineering,
Speaker 3: which is.
Speaker 2: A really big deal we had.
Speaker 3: There are over we have information on our website about
Speaker 3: the award and on social media, but there's over thirteen
Speaker 3: hundred students participate from sixty three countries, so it's truly
Speaker 3: an international event. So really proud of Jonathan for him
Speaker 3: to finish third place. And like I said, we had
Speaker 3: four other students also compete that performed well and had
Speaker 3: a great experience. Our science teachers travel with them. You know,
Speaker 3: science is a big part of our school. It's a
Speaker 3: big part of our community. You know, there's a lot
Speaker 3: of retired engineers right here in Bartlesville and a big
Speaker 3: part of fabric in Bartlesville. So really continue to invest
Speaker 3: in that. You know, we also found out last week
Speaker 3: we were a project lead the Way Distinguished District. Continue
Speaker 3: to invest there where that's a sixth year in a row.
Speaker 3: We're the only one in the state of Oklahoma. There's
Speaker 3: only nineteen in the country. So we continue to just
Speaker 3: make that part of what we do in terms of
Speaker 3: our STEM education and really proud of our kids being
Speaker 3: able to have that opportunity. You know, we were skied
Speaker 3: would have a ward meeting Monday night the weather. We
Speaker 3: ended up shifting it. We're gonna have a special bar
Speaker 3: meeting tomorrow at noon just to take care of that business.
Speaker 3: But typically that meeting we spotlight a lot of kids,
Speaker 3: you know, like our Science Fair kids I just talked about,
Speaker 3: but like our spring sports. So we had a tremendous,
Speaker 3: tremendous spring and lots of different activities and I kind
Speaker 3: of want I want to.
Speaker 2: Mention soccer specifically.
Speaker 1: One that's a beautiful story.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 3: Yeah, our boys' soccer team made it to the semifinals
Speaker 3: and lost a heartbreaker, won to nothing. That was a
Speaker 3: fun night. I got to go down and see them
Speaker 3: play at Broken Arrow. I think it's been thirty years
Speaker 3: since we went to the semifinals, And.
Speaker 2: Just a little perspective on that.
Speaker 3: You know, we complete and we compete in the largest
Speaker 3: class in the state of Oklahoma, and that's based off
Speaker 3: of your student enrollment at the high school level. Football
Speaker 3: splits that up between six A one and two, but
Speaker 3: all of other sports are that's just the top that
Speaker 3: just six A. There's thirty two schools in it. And
Speaker 3: just to give you an idea on the enrollment discrepancy,
Speaker 3: our boys team in the first round, they went and
Speaker 3: played at Union and played Tulsa Union, and they have
Speaker 3: an union. If you look at how many students they
Speaker 3: have at the high school compared to us, they have
Speaker 3: almost three thousand more kids than we do, and so
Speaker 3: we compete against them regularly, which obviously that can create
Speaker 3: some challenges. But our you know, our kids went and
Speaker 3: beat them and then one again in the quarterfinals and
Speaker 3: then played lost to Broken Earrol won the zero in
Speaker 3: the semifinals and Broken Earrol has four three hundred more
Speaker 3: students than to the high school students.
Speaker 2: That we do too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's pretty incredible when you think about put it
Speaker 3: in that sort of perspective. So really proud of our
Speaker 3: We have a ton of kids playing soccer in our community.
Speaker 3: Soccer is obviously a worldwide sport, but it's really.
Speaker 1: Town you can't find an open soccer building.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
Speaker 3: It's really awesome, you know, and to see our kids,
Speaker 3: boys and girls. But our boys team, I think this
Speaker 3: is their fifth year in a row to make the playoffs.
Speaker 3: This is the furthest run they've had in thirty years.
Speaker 3: A really strong group of seniors kind of led the
Speaker 3: charge with that, and so that was really they really
Speaker 3: represented us well. And of course our other spring sports
Speaker 3: have done really well as well. You know, I think
Speaker 3: our girls tennis team was probably the next best finish.
Speaker 3: They finished fourth in the state of Oklahoma. Emma Shelley,
Speaker 3: who's a sophomore, as a state runner up. She lost
Speaker 3: in three sets, so she's and she's the last of
Speaker 3: the Shelley girls. There's been three of them. One of
Speaker 3: them is playing tennis at Washburn and the oldest was
Speaker 3: a golfer. Actually she played golf at UCO. But they
Speaker 3: had a tremendous, tremendous season. Our boys finished, our boys
Speaker 3: tennis team last week finished ninth in the state. Our
Speaker 3: boys golf team boys tennis finished eighth in the state.
Speaker 3: Boys golf finished ninth in the state. You know, they
Speaker 3: Jay wass Miller or sophomore. He won the six A
Speaker 3: East Regional down at Bailey and Golf and he shot
Speaker 3: a sixty six in the first sixty five in the
Speaker 3: first round tour.
Speaker 2: He we just mind, that's really a fun group. They've
Speaker 2: got it.
Speaker 3: He's a sophomore and there's three other freshmen that competed,
Speaker 3: so they've got a really chance to really be competitive
Speaker 3: in terms that you know that golf, tennis. Our softball
Speaker 3: team continues to have success. Coach Men's do a tremendous job.
Speaker 3: They once the state tournament, were quarter finalist in slow
Speaker 3: pitch softball. They went fast pitch in the fall, and
Speaker 3: last year they were also in slow pitch too, So
Speaker 3: really track just finished up. Wesley Turner finished second in
Speaker 3: the pole vault, he's a sophomore, lost by six inches.
Speaker 3: And then Michael Murphy I think he was I came
Speaker 3: if he was fifth or seventh in the in the discus,
Speaker 3: he's a sophomore. And then Russell Miller senior, great great
Speaker 3: young man. He finished fifth and the eight hundred. Uh
Speaker 3: he ran that eight hundred which in I think you
Speaker 3: ran in the minute fifty five seconds, which that's pretty
Speaker 3: quick for two laps around that track. So anyway, uh,
Speaker 3: spring sports really went well. Obviously had a tremendous, tremendous
Speaker 3: athletic season there, and I know also our I hope
Speaker 3: people got to see the spring production that lame is.
Speaker 2: That was something that was really out.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's incredible, it's it's it's it always blows
Speaker 3: me away. I'm always, I always when I watch our
Speaker 3: kids perform, I'm also reminded. I'm always reminded of how
Speaker 3: little talent that I have because it just blows me
Speaker 3: away the things that they can do.
Speaker 2: It's really incredible. But they are so young.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's yeah, it's like I can't believe this is happening.
Speaker 3: But anyway, just really proud of them. It's really fun
Speaker 3: and it does my heart well to see them do
Speaker 3: all those wonderful things. And then lastly, just want to
Speaker 3: mention you know, I've continue I've talked about the book
Speaker 3: The Anxious Generation on here about every month since for
Speaker 3: a year, since I kind of brought this forward to
Speaker 3: our community.
Speaker 1: It's important.
Speaker 3: Yeah, last started that last summer with the State of
Speaker 3: the schools, and we've done book studies with our school board,
Speaker 3: with all of our administrators.
Speaker 2: We've shared we've shared with parents.
Speaker 3: I've done a couple of community book studies, just really
Speaker 3: trying to share talking about cell phones and social media
Speaker 3: and the impact on our kids and really not just
Speaker 3: our kids, on all of us. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 3: it's not healthy, and so kind of what some of
Speaker 3: the next steps in then. I mean, there's been discussion
Speaker 3: and legislation about talking about cell phones and schools. But
Speaker 3: I wanted to mention from that book, there's four recommendations
Speaker 3: really for parents to be thinking of. I think it's
Speaker 3: empowered to parents to give them a comfort to say,
Speaker 3: you know, you, your kid doesn't have to have everything
Speaker 3: they're asking for about a cell phone, and so some
Speaker 3: of those recommendations are good, I think. I think the
Speaker 3: first one is kids don't need to have a smartphone
Speaker 3: before they're in high school. You know, they'll live without
Speaker 3: it and they can. Number two, they don't need to
Speaker 3: be on social media until they're sixteen years old. I
Speaker 3: would argue even later than that, and that's a minimum.
Speaker 3: There's really no reason for them. There's really no reason
Speaker 3: for it. Third, kids don't need to have access to
Speaker 3: their cell phone during the school day, which I'll mention
Speaker 3: I want to follow up on that here in just
Speaker 3: a second and fourth. They need more. They need to
Speaker 3: get outside and have more unsupervised play. They need to
Speaker 3: get outside and and be with their friends and and
Speaker 3: be with others and play and do that. It's important
Speaker 3: not just be thinking about the amount of time they
Speaker 3: can get if you're addicted to your social media phone
Speaker 3: where you're inside scrolling when you need to be outside,
Speaker 3: interacting with others, living life. But so kind of on
Speaker 3: our schools end, we've we have been working on this
Speaker 3: with our schools, kind of with.
Speaker 2: Our elementary middle schools. We really like a good handle
Speaker 2: on that.
Speaker 3: High school is a big is a little bit more
Speaker 3: challenging just because there's a lot of moving parts. But
Speaker 3: uh uh, you know, we're going to be moving forward
Speaker 3: to this upcoming school year. We're going to ban cell
Speaker 3: phones from schools period. So I mean, if they have them,
Speaker 3: we're gonna expect them, just like we do in our
Speaker 3: middle schools to be in their lockers. There's no reason
Speaker 3: for them to have them even at lunchtime between classes
Speaker 3: at all. I mean, they can they can pick up
Speaker 3: their phone on their way out of the building. If
Speaker 3: they're going to track. County tech or going to an
Speaker 3: internship and they need to have their phone then, but
Speaker 3: other than that, they don't need to have it. So, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, families are thinking about when to get their
Speaker 3: kid a phone, just know that don't think they need
Speaker 3: to have one when they go to school because they don't.
Speaker 3: You know, we have a We have got a telephone
Speaker 3: in every classroom. We do have you know, we we
Speaker 3: we've got you know, we've got all the safety precautions
Speaker 3: set out for that too.
Speaker 2: So I just wanted to just mention.
Speaker 3: That we'll be our board will be we'll be updating
Speaker 3: our school policy for the upcoming school year, but just
Speaker 3: wanted to share that with people as well. And then
Speaker 3: also next year, we're not going to have any virtual
Speaker 3: days where everything will be either in person or not,
Speaker 3: so we'll have we we've you know, that kind of
Speaker 3: started back during the pandemic and we had some scheduled
Speaker 3: days and then we've reduced those numbers that we've had
Speaker 3: so that we did some teacher training during that time,
Speaker 3: we did some professional development. But we're going to we'll
Speaker 3: be probably next month will be taken that to our school,
Speaker 3: our school board to update that we all of our
Speaker 3: days will be in person instruction days and even when
Speaker 3: we have bad weather, so those are going to be
Speaker 3: those are all going to be in person days as well.
Speaker 3: And then I'll just highlight a couple of other things too.
Speaker 3: Staffing wise, we'll be feeling we're kind of rounded out
Speaker 3: our leadership team. We've had a couple of assistant principles
Speaker 3: that we've hired. Gretchen Watson, who's going to be a
Speaker 3: new assistant principal at the high school. She's taught for
Speaker 3: the district. She's a math teacher since twenty fourteen. This
Speaker 3: year she worked as a counselor former Barnsville High School
Speaker 3: Teacher of the Year. She'll be assistant principal there at
Speaker 3: Bartlesville High School. And then Sharon Southwick. Sharon is going
Speaker 3: to go back to Madison as an assistant principal. She
Speaker 3: was in that role previously and kind of stepped back.
Speaker 3: She had a granddaughter, I had some some health issues,
Speaker 3: and so now that that's going well, she's ready to
Speaker 3: kind of get back in some leadership roles. So really
Speaker 3: fortunate to have them. And then we've hired our fourth
Speaker 3: ad teacher is going to We've got that person that
Speaker 3: position filled as well. What's really excited about that our
Speaker 3: project over at Ranch Heights is our new edition is complete.
Speaker 2: We're in the process.
Speaker 3: As soon as the kids and teachers go home this sleek,
Speaker 3: we're gonna start doing some renovations over there and we'll
Speaker 3: be in those those new spaces. And then lastly, just
Speaker 3: wanted to mention the folks too on pre K you know,
Speaker 3: for our four year old enrollment. If kids are we
Speaker 3: really want to know if you're coming, so we encourage
Speaker 3: it'll please let us know. We have expanded and renovated,
Speaker 3: you know, a couple of our largest elementaries, you know
Speaker 3: Wayside we're in. We're just finishing up Ranch Heights too,
Speaker 3: so that's enabled us to hire more staff.
Speaker 2: So our class sizes are really good. I know I
Speaker 2: was looking at.
Speaker 3: Waystside and Ranch Heights specifically with those four year olds.
Speaker 3: Their class size currently the campus twenty, but they're currently
Speaker 3: they're between fifteen and nineteen. Is as class size for
Speaker 3: our four year old programs at Waystside and Ranch Heights,
Speaker 3: and those positions all have a full time teacher, a
Speaker 3: full time assistant. And also just remind people we have
Speaker 3: you know, we'll have free meals for all kids for
Speaker 3: breakfast and lunch too, so so really, if they're interesting,
Speaker 3: if they think they're coming, we encourage them to contact
Speaker 3: the school because we need make sure we're staffed appropriately.
Speaker 3: But once again, Friday night, graduation, Custer Stadium, seven o'clock.
Speaker 1: All right, be there, B Square. Thank you very much,
Speaker 1: mister maccaule. I appreciate you being here with