Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome in this time now for our community connection right here on Kay one, the one you trusted, and we're going to get schooled. No, We've got to Barnisfield Public Schools Foundation and Public Schools right here in the same building. We've got Ledona Chancellor here, executive director of Teaching and Learning, and Blair Ellis and she is with the foundation. Ladies. First of all, welcome, and we're having a good day today.
Good morning, good morning, all right, right mon, super We've got a lot going on. First of all, school is just busy, My goodness. This is one of the busiest falls I can recall, and I've been through a lot of them. Right, yeah, it bring us up today. What's going on?
It is a busy fall. So we just actually wrapped up with fall break, and in conjunction with that, we wrapped up our Lady bruin volleyball and softball seasons.
Great seasons.
They both great seasons this year and our volleyball team hosted regionals for the first time in a long time, and even though they didn't finish their season like they had hoped, they had a great turnout, great support, even that for regionals, and we're just really proud of the coaches and the players and what they accomplished this season.
And then softball made it to the state tournament, got the draw of Awaso, who ended up winning the whole thing, right, but they took them to extra innings, you know, so it was a hard fought game. And again that's the first time our softball girls have made it to the state tournament since twenty ten. So we're just really proud again of the season that they've had, the coaches and the players and look forward to next season for both of those groups.
So go any further, I want to get blurry in here. We've been doing there at the Foundation.
Yeah, so we just wrapped up. Also kind of an athletic event, We had our Bruin eight k on October the twelfth, so that was the week before fall break, and I was particularly nervous, having never coordinated a race before. So if you remember, we had Bruins on the Run, which is our after school running and mentoring program for fifth graders. They run after school with their teacher mentors. Every year we have at least one hundred kids. This year was one hundred and ten hundred and fifteen kids
running after school. They run for seven weeks, they train and their big race is always the wool Rock eight k, which supports Run the Streets, which we love Run the Streets. We modeled our program in partnership and after Run the Streets. But this year, unfortunately the Woolarock eight k fell over fall break for us, so it wasn't a great time to ask our teachers and our kids and our birdles
Well staff to participate. So we did host our own eight k here in town over at Madison Middle School, running through Sooner Park and on the Pathfinder, and it was great.
I saw some of the talkings out there at Sooner Park during Bufest.
That's right, that's right. It was all in the state. There was a lot going on because it was Boufest the same day, and then of course the city has its Pathfinder improvement projects going on, so there was a lot of utility marking also going on. But we're excited, of course to see ultimately what happens with the path It sounds like all those improvements are much needed, are going to be great. But yeah, we had over four hundred and fifty runners in the event, which is great,
especially for our first first year event. About two hundred of those were Bartlesville School staff. So our superintendent does an initiative a wellness challenge for all of our staff to see which school site is going to have the
most staff participating in this race. Obviously, he loves running as well as his wife Jennifer, and they prioritize their health and they want their staff to invest in their health also, so that is a big driver for all of those staff members to get out and either run or walk the eight k or at least the one
mile fun run. So we had two d staff. We had between our bruins on the run, fifth graders and just younger students who wanted to run in the fun run, we had about one hundred and sixty hundred and seventy students out there running. So it was just a great event and all the feedback has really been Although we were hesitant to do our own race, it was really fun to focus on bruins and bruins on the run and all of our Bartlesville staff.
So wow, it sounded like it was a big time.
It was a big time, and I think other than a tiny scrape knee which We had our school nurses out there to atend to everybody returned safely. The Bartlesville Police Department was huge and making sure everybody stayed safe and safe on the roads, and the city was a great partner. I mean it was. That was my favorite part is just seeing how our community and how many people it took in our community to come out and volunteer to make it a successful race. Wow, it was.
It's good. Takes great jobling than we else we got going on with the school.
Are So I think this might be the last Wayside construction up date, so.
That might be the beginning of the first one.
So you know, we opened the new edition that Wayside at the start of school, right, but the playground wasn't finished yet. And the playground is finished and officially opened on Monday, and students and maybe some staff alike are enjoying the new playground equipment. I think mister Smith might have been swinging out there yesterday.
I'm pretty sure.
Yes, yes, So we're excited about that, And then wanted to share that Bartlesville High School Student Council has an event next week that they're hosting. So they are hosting the State Student Council Convention November second through the fourth. So they've been planning this event for about a year and a half and it'll bring in about two thousand students from schools across our state who will be visiting Bartlesville and be attending that convention at our High School Saturday,
Sunday and Monday. So really excited about that and proud of the kids. That takes a lot of coordinating and work to put that together, so really excited about that.
Well, this is going to be great.
Are they in the Fine Arts Center? Are all through?
They'll be throughout the high school though, like the keynotes, the main speaking sessions will be in the gym. That's the only place that you can fit everybody. And then they'll have breakouts right yes field, So looking forward to that. And then also wanted to give some updates from the board meeting. So the board approved contract for purchase of the property that sits in Central Middle Schools kind of
play Earl Sears Park area. It's at the corner of Delaware and Adams, so it's the last piece of structured property in that park area. So the district is going to purchase that and take that the structure down and then that will become additional playground park area, and so we're excited about that.
That's just kind of clean it all up.
Yes, so that whole rest of that block will be park so that'll be very nice. And then we also are continuing our discussion about the Anxious Generations, so we had more discussion about that during the board meeting Monday night.
And just you know, we're studying the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Hight and really studies the effects of social media on our teens, our children, And you know, being the high school principle for ten years, I saw firsthand the increase in the number of students who were affected by mental health crisis on a regular basis, going from when I first started occasional to weekly more than weekly, you know, having numbers of cases, maybe not the same student,
but multiple students a week who are having some kind of mental health crisis. And so when you're going through that, you're always analyzing what's behind this, what's driving this increase, right, and just anxiety and just a breakdown. And so this book The Anxious Generation really gives the data to support what happening behind the scenes, and it really goes back to social media, most of it and access to it twenty four to seven for kids, and they can't disengage from.
It either an adult.
That's absolute. Yes, we're all almost addicted, most of us. Yes, thank you, that's probably a better word. Yes, And it's hard to get away from it. And so we're looking at reviewing our district policies around all the things that we use social media, computers, digital services with our kids, just to make sure that we're continuing to do what's best for our kids.
Right.
When you learn new things, when you know better, you do better. And so for example, last week, we had a distance learning day on Wednesday four, fall break and we decided to make that an unplugged distance learning day for our elementary students, so while they were still assigned work to complete, it was paper pencil work, not computer based.
And really the driving force behind that decision obviously the study of the book, right, but thinking about kids having a four day weekend where we did not want to promote screen time over a weekend where maybe they would do something else. So that's an example of the kind of policies that we just are going to continue to evaluate just to be sure that we're doing what's best for our kids.
I know, as a parent of two elementary school kids, I was super grateful to not have to regulate a chromebook in addition to all the other screens of course that we have. And my kindergartener had some writing assignments, you know, just kind of practicing her letters and to read. But then she was assigned to go outside and look for different things in nature, right, And I love that she got out there, and my older kids actually went out and helped her. But it wasn't based on screens.
It was all kind of get outside play, learning through play, and I, as a parent, really appreciated that that change.
My goodness akes, I like that.
That's really good. There is a place for the chrome books, but we have to monitor that and use it appropriately, right, So yeah, it's all about balance, Yes, thank you, absolutely well.
And then at Central, just after fall break, when they came back from fall break, the new expectation is phones are put away all day, including lunch time. And again I have a Central middle schooler, and he said it seemed to be a fairly easy transition. I mean, I think the administration had set the expectation leading up to fall break when you get back. We don't want to see your phones from the time you walk in the buildings all the time you leave, and so hopefully that'll
carry over into the high school. Right.
I've been kind of monitoring social media myself, and if your child hasn't had some kind of reaction to it, it almost seems like there are influencers. We're almost promoting that you're not cool if you don't have a problem. Those are the people I really have an issue with. And and you know what to fit in, well, I better have a problem, oh right, And it's like no, no, this is not the way we do that. So you know,
it's a tough thing. But to keep that away while you're learning, and things will be a lot better.
While you're young and your brain is still forming, and it's a bad time to be.
Getting confused and influenced.
And if you're waiting for that next break where you get to use.
Your phone, you're not paying attention to right, even if you're just apprehensive, yes time, yes, yes, so.
Okay, so we have thank you. We have a job fare coming up. Job on November thirteenth, right, always recruiting, So November thirteenth, at four o'clock Bartlesville High School Commons. And this job fair will be for certified and classified positions, so all district positions. And I would say, if you are interested in getting into the teaching profession next school year, even it's not too early to come out to the job fair, meet the principles. That's an opportunity where you
have all the principles in one place. You can meet them, introduce yourself. Like I said, even if you're not trying to get a job in the classroom right now, you're thinking next August, it's a great time to come out, share your story and what your goals are.
Get known, yes, get no. Yes. Wow, that's amazing, I tell you what. It never stops, you know. I've noticed that that we keep getting more students and then we have more job bears. I don't know how that works. It seems to be happening and awful lot lately. And that's good.
It's a good problem.
It's a great problem to have, yes it is, you know. And with the schools now able to accommodate thanks to the voters and the and the body issues and things like that, things that are moving a lot smoothly.
Right, very grateful to the community. Just finishing up the Wayside project, you know, we've started the Ranch Heights addition, which is very similar to Waysides, So we'll be adding classroom space at Ranch Heights and that will be ready to open in August of twenty five. So looking forward to that and definitely appreciate the community support for bond isshes, for our kids, for our staff always, but.
Everyone else is happening with the foundation that you might want to add.
Well, just one quick thing just for parents of seniors at the high school and also seniors as students. We're partnering with the Bartolswelle Community Foundation to host a scholarship panel in conjunction with like a parent information session that's happening at the high school on Thursday. So again this is for senior parents of the high schoolers as well as those students, but just to come and learn about
different components of life after graduation. Our piece, again with the Community Foundation, is all about scholarships, so helping them navigate kind of what scholarships exist from, providing some financial aid and some tips and tricks on how to make sure that your application stands out amongst the hundreds that are received. So that's going on on Thursday. I believe it starts at five thirty in the Bartolesville Fine Arts Center.
My goodness sakes, what tell you guys? You wrapped up put a bow on it. It's really nice. That's a lot of information, but the information everybody needs always.
That's going on always.
I want to thank you both for being here with us and sharing with us.