001I make a motion to approve the regular board meeting calendar for 2026. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Palmer? >> Yes. >> Yates? >> Yes. Reart? >> Yes. One more little note on that too. Um [clears throat] down at the bottom you can see board of education members and you kind of see some information there. Um we're going to update that. One thing we learned though is where it says appointed and it has certain dates there. Um, that's not required. I think it's good to have that when someone is appointed, but once they're actually elected, we don't necessarily need to have that. We're going to clean all that up uh once we update the board members after this meeting. So, just an FYI there. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Uh, item 11, staff reports.
002>> All right. [snorts] Elementary school, you want to start us off? >> I pulled it up my phone to reference, but um the first one, there are several things And honestly, I'd be honored to talk about any of them, but wanted to share the fundraising celebrations. [clears throat] So, this um in I want to say se September is when we did the Bronco color run, which is hosted by our PTO, but in October, we got to do a lot of those celebrations. So, kids were receiving their prizes, um whether those were class prizes, individuals. So, it was just really fun. We've worked really hard with hearing [clears throat] parent feedback, [cough] teacher feedback, and really our parent volunteers of coordinating for our kids. Weren't missing out of instructional time as much. So we our families
003don't want like trade gifts and things, but so making it to where kids are really getting excited about our opportunities, getting prizes, but then additionally in October, we had our first Bronco Derby, which was a huge success. It was so fun. Um, our teachers for years have been talking through like, what can we do different? You know, family fun night. we kind of feel like we've changed the name, we've we've tried to spice it up, but we feel like it's run its course. And so at the end of last year, I said, "Guys, I'm game, but we need a plan." And so this year, one of our initiatives at the school has been really working on reooking at our committees and I said, "Guys, I think we need a fundraising committee." And so they took
004it and ran with it. And um it was originally going to be at the last home football game, but as we know, weather was not the best. And so we actually rescheduled it for the Friday, which was Halloween. And it was so because rather than be we we wanted the whole community to see it, but it actually I loved it so much more being during the school day because our entire student body got to be there and it just made for such a fun experience for kids. They really got it. Um and that is really just going to be able to benefit other needs that we have in our school. So, we're excited for our families who contribute, but then um just getting to see and celebrate kids and celebrate what we can do for
005our school. So, it's exciting. Do you guys have any questions about it? Miss Chavez, the um how much did the Bronco Derby end up raising in the end? >> I was trying to look up. I didn't put the exact number in there, but I um it was around 16,000, I believe. So, it was either 15 or 16. >> Do you remember how much Family Fun Night was kind of bringing the last couple years? >> Um the last few years because we had to start paying for the inflatables and all ourselves, they used to be donated and just things had changed. So, I'm going to say the last few years it had been around like 8 to 9,000 at our peak. So, it was just really good to see like it was great and part of
006it um family fun night was fundraiser but also a fun event for families but this still um we got families involved and really got kids involved. So, it was also focused on kids but I will tell you kids love the derby. So, don't feel bad about the experience they had. They had such a blast. So, yeah, it was really great. >> Double double mine is good. >> Yeah, that's great. >> Thank you. >> Middle school. >> Okay. So, I just want to brag on the middle school and as the whole community as one is we're working on our food drive this this week and um so we tried to up the game in the middle school like hey let's get rally the troops let's we need kid people need food and at a much higher
007rate this year than they have in the past and so we put a competition in there and any time we throw competition at kids you know they're all about it so Monday came and like our boxes were overflowing and just walking down the hall and that does not happen in the middle school. Um, and then my daughter comes home and she was like, "We went around for student council and got all these packed." She said, "You would not believe how much they brought. Elementary always brings a whole bunch in." But this year, everybody's bringing and high school students are getting excited. And so, they have sectioned off a part in Mrs. Kimbro's room and and they're all our middle school leadership team will go in and they will organize it and put it all in
008different groups [clears throat] and categories and and just to see the kids leading this and getting excited about like my own a sophomore in high school coming and looking I think it's twofold here because she's trying to find anything that might make a crock-pot meal and she's like I'm going to take that to someone else so that we don't have to make that here. But um it was it's just a cool experience. And then like they're high-fiving in the hall as the high school comes by with the carts and you know giving the kids high fives that you guys had a lot in your your um boxes today. And so I mean just the whole kids getting involved in this and teachers were none of us are even around and they're all celebrating each other.
009So it's been a good week just to watch that and blessing other people and people that are in need at this time. So it's been good to see. >> That's great. high school. [clears throat] >> I'm going to talk for a second, but then I'm gonna let Miss Silva kind of take over. I we did our college fair um this last week and we had about 25 I believe colleges that came by and really our our big three E is what we tried to accomplish at the high school of employ, enroll or enlist. So we had military, we had workforce and we had colleges there to talk to our kids and to just give them opportunities and we broke it into sections. Sophomores went or I mean sorry uh juniors went, seniors went and then
010sophomores and so they all kind of got a chance to see and there's some pictures from what the college girls look like. We had about 20 25 that were all around the high school gym. And Mrs. Melton is the queen of this. She's been doing this for so long. She has contacts with everybody, all the military branches, all the companies, all the colleges. It's really nice to see the kids. She had a bingo card for them that they had to go by and get stamped to make sure they all went to see people because you know what happens in high school, those kids are like, "Ah, I already know where I'm going or I don't want to do this." They become a little bit apathetic in that. Mrs. Melton spiced it up with a bingo
011card and she did a really good job. So, I just want to touch lightly on that. But Miss Silva is here tonight to talk more about what our new initiative this uh the year is. is our brick and mortars. Miss Silva. >> Yeah. So, last month, Mr. Juul talked to you guys a little bit about brick and mortar. That's one of the exciting things that we've included on our board report over the last couple of months. And so, today, I just want to give you some more info into what brick and mortar is now that we've started it, give you an update. So, several years ago, a team of our teachers went to an RTI conference and they came back on fire for it, ready to do something at the high school. For those of
012you who don't know, RTI or response to intervention is a systematic schoolwide approach to reaching all students so that all students have the opportunity to succeed. So in order to understand kind of brick and mortar and the RTI model in general, I wanted to just share this quick graphic. This is my favorite graphic because I love color coding. So on this graphic, you can just see there are three tiers. Students move through these tiers fluidly. It changes often and for each standard and every subject it can always be different. So if you look at the top of that little pyramid that wide section is tier one and that's where all of our students are receiving grade level instruction. That's our first best instruction that's provided by classroom teachers every day. Most of our students will
013master the content at that time. But for our students who don't, we look at tier 2. And tier 2 instruction is where our students need a little bit of support to master those grade level skills. And that is usually provided by that classroom teacher or by another teacher on that team. So at the high school on any given day that could look like a teacher working with a few students who didn't get this skill or it could look like a student from Mrs. Cable's geometry class going to see Mrs. Me during lunch for tutoring. So it can be provided by anyone on that team. And then again at tier 2 most of our students will reach mastery at that time with the grade level standard. But there are some students who won't. And that's where
014we kind of look at tier three and that is where students need a lot of support to access the grade level curriculum. Typically that's specialist provided students who are receiving special education services or kids who have English as a second language. So when we think about RTI and we kind of mold it into Bethany High School, our teachers came up with brick and mortar. So brick and mortar is our version of a structured intervention and enrichment program that's designed to meet every student's needs whether they need support or they're already on track. So our teachers initially years ago chose this name brick and mortar because the bricks are those foundational concepts that our kids need that they're not getting that they need support with. So think tier two, tier three, and then mortar are those
015sessions that we have for our kids who are on track and need enrichment or we're just building connection with them, doing fun things. And you'll see some examples of that in a minute. So how does this work? Our first run several years ago, this is my first year at Bethany High School, so I was not here, but from what I've been told by everyone, it was very successful at the beginning. Uh teachers loved it, kids loved it, but it required the expertise and management skills of a lot of people. And so over time, those people went on to new adventures at other places and brick and mortar just kind of slowly fell apart. And so this year we took feedback from teachers and students and came up with a plan to make it better. And
016so our first step was creating a committee. So we have a teacher committee. We met once a week and then a few times after school. And then together we brainstormed, created plans, reworked plans, reworked them some more, thought of every possible problem and [clears throat] we set some goals. So this is kind of how we rolled out our program. It was very important to the teachers on our committee that this was digestible for people that it was not, you know, one more thing or something that we just throw in their lap all at once. And so we really tried to space this out. So our first meeting was a staff meeting on September 8th and we just kind of talked basics of RTI similar to the pyramid that I showed you and kind of told
017them like we're working on a plan for this more to come. Prepare yourselves. It's going to be great. And then September 22nd was a PD day where our whole district had training on tier one instruction. So our first best instruction for reaching all students. And then we followed that up at the high school with days for our content teams to work on essential learning. So they look through all of their standards and determine what is it most important that my kids understand before they move on to the next level of whatever the subject is. What is it that they can't do without? What am I going to intervene on? And so our teachers, we gave each team one or two days. We got subs for their classrooms and they just went down to the admin
018building and they worked on this all day and they came up with some great stuff. After that, we had our all staff training, which is those papers that I gave you. That's what we gave to our teachers at that training. And we went through all the things about brick and mortar. You can see that there's some vocabulary at the top that we used and some words that we used just for us. Um, for example, foundations and finishes, um, things like that. So, we went through all of that at a staff meeting with our entire staff. And then on conference nights, we followed up with a short training on our new online program. The online piece was one of the biggest complaints of our teachers. We didn't know where students were. Um, we weren't able to
019take attendance and so it was really important to them and to Mr. Juel and I that whatever we chose, we were able to account for kids and know where they were and that we had that safety piece there too. So on those conference nights, we trained our staff on that program. And then on October 22nd, our teachers presented it to students in their classes and helped them sign up for their first session on the online program. And that went really well. Kids were really excited. And then on the 29th, we had our first session. So you can see here, these are some pictures. So in this room, they were doing just dance. That was in Miss Harrison's room. She is doing it with them. Every single kid in that room was on their feet dancing.
020That would not have been me, but love it for them. This is Coach Pennington. He had [clears throat] European [snorts] soccer recap. He had a presentation, videos. The boys were very into it. >> This was Mr. Sharp's group. This was a closed session, which you'll [snorts] see a description of on your sheet. For the closed session, those students are in band and they were practicing for their All State audition. And so, not any kid could go into that session, obviously, just those students who are practicing for that. And then we have Mrs. Sailor. She is one of our Spanish teachers and she was playing card games with the kids and then she taught them a new one. They played several rounds and then she let them play whatever they wanted and then we have some
021kids coloring here. So, it was a really good time. Um, so after we did that, I sent a survey to our students and to our staff to get some feedback. These are some quotes from the student surveys. Generally, they loved that they got to choose and they loved getting to do something they don't usually get to do. And one of the that they mentioned the most was that they really needed that brain break and that time to just kind of decompress and hang out with friends or teachers that they don't get to see in those settings. So, that was really cool to hear from them. And then we got some feedback from staff which was similar. Um, every room that I went in, the teachers were having just as much or more fun than the
022kids were. Uh, they loved it. And for our teachers that were doing the brick sessions and working on supporting students, that feedback was overwhelmingly positive, too. Um, a lot of them said that kids advocated for themselves and came in without being asked to come in because they needed help. Students were more willing to ask questions and get the support that they needed. So, um, overall it was a great first run. We've had assemblies last week and this week, so our next run will be next week. Uh, but the kids are really excited. So, any questions? >> When does that happen? >> On Wednesdays. We have a late start Wednesday, right? >> And so, it's about 10:40 to 11:20. >> So, 10:40 to 11:20, not quite at 40 minutes. [clears throat] >> We also didn't have
023any kids wandering in the halls, which we were shocked by. >> Um, only a few of them had to get some redirection, but for the most part, they did a great job, and we were really proud of them and our staff. They really did a great job. >> Has the uh computer system that you guys integrated um helped with the issues I know you guys were having with uh just accountability really because some students on paper >> there wasn't a way to track them as if am I thinking of that correctly? >> Yeah 100%. So the new program is super user friendly. Um we talked to several different districts about what they use for similar programs and that's how we came across this one. It was affordable um and just easy kids and staff members
024to use. We don't go through Infinite Campus for this. The programs don't communicate. And so, uh, Mrs. Albbright, our attendance secretary, was able to pull a report and then she just kind of crossch checked with Infinite Campus to make sure that our kids that were on campus were accounted for. And then she gave me a list of any kids who weren't. Um, and all of our kids that were on that list, she and I were able to determine they weren't here because they were out for Concurrent or um, Canadian Valley Tech Center and that kind of thing. >> So, do the kids use that system to sign up for whatever class they're going to and then then you check that? Yes. They don't just >> pop in wherever they have. >> Correct. They cannot pop
025in wherever. They have to sign up and we have some deadlines for that. Um, teachers put their sessions in the program. They set them for the time, the amount of students and so on and then students sign up. If there are students who need specific help and the teacher is like no, they need to come to me, then the teachers can assign the students to their session and then the teachers take attendance in the program and then we can cross check. >> That's great. >> Thanks for printing this out for us. >> Helpful to fill in the blanks. >> Yeah, there are a lot of blanks. This was very So hopefully it makes sense and uh that paper is not too confusing. >> Yeah, >> this is very helpful. I like the titles like a
026foreman, someone who sweeps the halls. Is that making sure there are no stragglers? >> Yep. >> That's good. >> Exactly. >> I think that even at 40 minutes shows how much a small break can do to reconnect kids and staff together. That's great. >> Yeah, it really does. It's very exciting to see like it kind of reignites your passion for it and you know why we do this job because so much of it is tedious and hard and challenging and a lot of hard conversations with kids during the day and with staff members and so it's exciting to see everyone getting back to what they love about it. It was really good. I love too the uh structure of it the I mean the computer program helps but you know a lot of good ideas
027start really good when everyone has the foundation and idea but if there's not a structure behind it it it can deteriorate over time especially as people leave and this seems like it has some systems in place >> that probably will be easy to incorporate new people when they come in which >> I I like that because we want it to be the same this year as create it as 5 years from now and and [clears throat] I think you guys have set up some systems and and some ways of doing things that will help with that. I think >> it's very sustainable. >> Okay, that's all I have. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> How do we sign up for a session? [laughter] [clears throat] [snorts] >> Let's see. Um social services. >> All righty.
028[clears throat] Um, so this month of November is Native American Heritage Month. So with our within our Indian ed department, they've been doing a lot of fun activities, but we have 115 students who um and in order to be enrolled in the program, they have to be a tribal member and we have to have, you know, certain forms and things. So we have 115 of those students who represent 14 different tribal nations. So that's really cool. We had an assembly yesterday and um the students, you know, just were able to kind of share their regalia and their traditions and customs. And so that was really great for our kiddos. Um within our multilingual program, we've had our Latino um Hispanic and Latino clubs have been doing some fun things this month and um have more
029fun things planned. So that's been going really well. And then at the end of October in the multilingual department, they celebrated Dia Dia Day lo to and um had a little setup out there and so um that was fun. They had some students bring some pictures of of loved ones and things like that. So um I saw I went down and had some kiddos were showing they wanted to show me the things they had drawn and colored and in their pictures. So that was really cool. Um children's center is going great. Um Mr. Jasper and I are working on the contract. We'll have that for you at our next board meeting. Um nothing significantly changed. We did need to update some wording just there were kind of some antiquated um semantics in in that contract.
030I don't think that it had really been updated in about 15 years. So um we just kind of had to update a few things. So that should be ready by next month. Um and then as far as special services is concerned, we officially it's kind of been a process. Um at the end of last year we purchased VR headsets to help with transition and to help um students really kind of help conceptualize some of those abstract concepts with that that a lot of our kiddos in special ed struggle with. And um so we were able to launch that this month and um the teachers have been playing around with it. Um high school kids, they've been starting to use it some, but it's just it's so cool. There is a million different things on there
031from you can put the headsets on and be in a sensory room and take a sensory break to you can tour Anne Frank's house. So if they're reading the diary of Anne Frank and that's just a hard kind of abstract concept, you can tour the house to kind of help make that come to life. Um and there's hundreds and hundreds of um activities and interactive lessons and things like that that our students can use on the headset. So, it's kind of twofold. Our kiddos are going to use it for transition. There are over 40 different careers that they can um explore. So, today I was looking at one about there's a whole section on agriculture and I had no idea there's like 25 different careers just within the agriculture section. Exactly. Um and so you
032like tour a farm then there were all different pieces of it. So, um, to So, that's one piece. And then the other piece is just for [clears throat] our teachers, especially when they are realizing that we got a kiddo that's just struggling with a certain concept and they're just not getting it. This is a way that we can supplement that and go, "Okay, let me try to find a lesson through the VR headset so that hopefully this will kind of help you understand this concept in a deeper, more meaningful way." So, um, we hope to have those for you at one of our board meetings so that you guys can get to experience it and see it. Um, we, our rule is with the headsets, you have to be seated. We don't want anyone getting,
033you know, um, falling over, you know, breaking breaking a bone or anything like that. So, um, but so far, um, some of our students that have been able to use it, they've really liked it, and we're just, we'll continue to, as we get better, um, at you using the equipment in the program, we'll have more and more kids that will be able to use it. So, >> that's awesome. >> Thank you. Thanks. [cough] [clears throat] >> And then, uh, our activities. [clears throat] [laughter] >> Uh, Before that, I I just want to say I watching Miss Silva and seeing the pictures, um gosh, and being someone who was involved in brick and mortar when it started and exactly what she said, I I got to see how good it was and going forward. But but
034uh what I what comes to mind is when I see the pictures of the kids all interacting and playing games and doing different things and then the thing I think about is then we have you know I think part of that is the no phone policy. >> I think the fact that we have those things it just what keeps coming to mind back to my head is you know I love it when a plan comes together you know it's like you have the no phones we've miss Silva Mr. Juel have revamped that and now kids are it's what's best for kids. They're actually interacting with one another. They're playing they're learning new things that they didn't know new games um and things like that. And so I just wanted to say that so before I
035started so in regards to activities cross country uh finished their season both teams went to state. Girls got fifth. Um [snorts] had a great year. Um, we had some great individual performances. Shane Bonfeld and Morgan McNut both uh placed in the top 15. Um, football finished, you know, their season, their regular season with back-to-back wins and they got in the playoffs again and so, uh, kind of kept that streak alive, which we're excited about. Go to Elgen this Friday. Um, Cheer and Palm both competed in regionals. Cheer made it to state. Um, and they'll compete on Saturday. Um this Saturday I think 3:10 is when the cheer state is and it's at Tulsa Union High School and so that's we'll be going to that. Um Palm did a great job. They missed qualifying by three
036points and so um you know and really what I found out was their draw wasn't great. it was they got the second draw which as a judge I've I've been there myself when those first couple you're a little harder on and then you start realizing oh you know kind of the standard is here and they were second. Um, side note though that I didn't have on my board report that I found out today. I got a call from the OSSAA, uh, our Palm team is, uh, academic state champs, game day academic state champs. So, have a lot of smart kids. Um, and and we got that good news. And so, they'll be getting, uh, recognized [clears throat] on Friday at Palm State. Uh, coach Peralta, I talked to her today and she's like, I'd like
037to take the girls. Um, you know, I told her about it and she was excited and I said, you know, so if you guys want to go, I just need to know whether you're gonna go or not to accept that. Um, and she said, "We'd like to." She said, "I wanted to take the girls and let them watch state." Um, I used to do the same thing as a coach. You you want to show them what it the teams that are there and what it takes and and and those things. And so, we're really excited about Palm. Um, choir doing a great job. They they uh received three superiors. Um, outstanding small school award um on their the treble one choir. Um they also had 14 to 16 school high school students made it uh
038to the second round of all state choir and all 17 middle school students made it to the second round of all state choir. >> Awesome. >> Uh tomorrow is national signing day. So schools across the nation will be have their kids will be signing letters of intent to go play uh at the next level, go play in colleges. Um, and so we're having National Signing Day during lunch. We've got a lot going on. We've got our assembly with uh Cheer and Palm are both going to be uh performing during brick and mortar. Um, they're going to have a showcase and and uh that they wanted to um do their performance in front of the uh student body and so they're going to be doing that during brick and mortar. Then I'll be setting up for
039National Signing Day. We'll have lots of parents here and things like that. And we've got eight kids signing. Um I think seven are going to sign actually in the gym. And so um we'll do be doing that during lunch from 12:50 to 1:30 if you know any any of you would like to eat your lunch and watch them sign. But um and then u Shar and Paul will again do their showcase in front of the elementary school from 1:30 to 2:15 I believe it is. And so we've got a lot of things going on and and uh orchestra [clears throat] the the orchestra is having their concert tomorrow evening. I'm sorry, Thursday evening from 7:00 to 8:30. And so we've um we've got a lot of things going on. Do you guys have any questions?
040>> Very good. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Item 12, uh proposed executive session. [snorts] Uh and 12A vote to convene or not to convene into executive session. >> Make a motion to go into executive session. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Palmer. >> Yes. Reart. >> Yes. >> Jaggers. >> Yes. [snorts] Uh, good. That's good. >> Did you refresh it? >> Yes. Yeah, that's good. Thank you. Uh, let the record reflect that the board voted to enter into executive session at 7:02 p.m. and exited executive session at 7:22 p.m. The board discussed only agenda item number 12, the employment of personnel. No votes or action were taken. Uh item 13, discussion and possible board action on the employment of personnel in addendum A as authorized by 25os 307B1 for the 2526 school year.
041>> I'll make a motion to approve the employment of personnel in addendum A as authorized by 25os307B1 for the 2526 school year pending a background check. >> Second. Roll call vote. >> Palmer. >> Yes. Item 14,formational items. >> All right. We've got some activities coming up. We have holiday meals uh which is a great activity where uh we have a great mill that's served uh by our cafeteria, but also we have some students who are able to join them. So all day meals will be Friday, November 14th for first, third, and fifth grade. And Friday, December 12th for kindergarten, second grade, and fourth grade. We have our Kowanas breakfast. Uh we'll be hosting that on December 6th. Um from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The actual breakfast is 8 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Um and
042so hope people will be able to join us. I know we'll have some performances by our choir uh for that as well. So it's a great great thing to come to. Uh, third grade musical will be November 20th at 6 PM. Thanksgiving break is November 24th through 28th. Elementary restaurant night will be December 5th at Mr. Gatty's Pizza. And board appreciation night will be January 27th. So, I want to uh remind you guys to make sure you put that on your calendar. January 27th >> At the basketball game, correct? Yep. >> Um, so you might put that on your calendars and let me know if you have any trouble with that. Looking forward to uh recognizing you guys. Item 15, board member comments. I'd >> like to welcome a new board member. Glad to be
043serving with you. >> It's great to be here. >> Glad to have you. >> Item 16, superintendent report. All right. So, uh, want to celebrate all of our, uh, fall activities and sports that are winding down. um not quite uh finished yet, but certainly winding down and moving into our winter uh seasons and again just the the great success that we are consistently seeing in our programs across the board um is is just always amazing to me. Um we we don't uh just excel at one thing. Our kids, whatever their interest is, they're getting great experiences and and having a lot of success. And we appreciate our students hard works uh hard work but also our our coaches leading them. So, appreciate that. Um, as Mrs. Donley stated, um, talking about, uh, the food situation,
044um, you know, I want to add to that, it's really amazing to me that our community does respond, uh, in times of need, but also I'm really proud that we have a lot of these things that go on on a regular basis. We have a food pantry that operates all the time. And so, you know, not that uh you know, we boast about those things or brag about those things and we're sensitive to um families in need um and and careful with um how we talk about those things. But, you know, when uh something like uh benefits, you know, possibly being cut happens, it's nice to know that we already have systems in place. We're not scrambling to create something brand new. And so, just uh really proud of our recent response as Mrs. Donley
045uh mentioned, but also um just proud that that is something that we always uh as a as a district have looked at and just taken care of basic needs. So proud of them for that. Also had to talk about our Veterans Day assembly today. Um and then elementary had theirs last week, but um today we heard from our choir, our band, our orchestra. Um, we had a guest speaker. We had Boys All State. And one of the things the speaker said, um, while he was up there, actually at the beginning of his speech, he said, you know, we have people come up to us and they say, you know, thank you for your service. And that's very kind. But he said, you know, a lot of times, um, actions speak louder than words. And he
046was he was making a point of just some of the actions of how, you know, to show respect, which I thought was very interesting. But then a little bit later in his speech, uh, he he paused in his speech and he talked to the students about how well they how attentive they were and how respectful they were being. I've never heard a speaker stop in a speech and acknowledge a group of students in that way. And I thought that's exactly what he was talking about just a little bit ago. It was an action of respect and and so couldn't [clears throat] be more proud of our students. And I know there's, you know, teachers that have conversations and Mrs. Donley has conversations with students um even as she's talking. But and and it was not
047short. I mean, this was this was a long assembly. It was a great assembly. And the students really really um showed what we teach them all the way from elementary school, which is be respectful. >> Um and to have a speaker who stops and says, "You guys have been very attentive, very awesome." It was just can't be more proud. So happy to uh honor our veterans and uh I feel like they did a fabulous job of that. So thank you guys for all your work in doing that. Um we also recently had uh a vape assembly. You know, we've talked a lot about this over the last few years. Just want to let you guys know we have continued that education process because we have successfully [clears throat] um helped students and and I would
048say controlled uh the problem that we had in the high school. um previously our numbers are are way way down almost I don't want to knock on wood here but non-existent but there's a piece that goes with that that is constant education because we know kids are are hearing a different message and they're every single one of our kids is going to be approached or have access to um at some point and so we've gotten very good control of the situation and we are having very few incidents at school but we don't want to get comfortable with that. We want students to know this is what it is, this is what it isn't. Um some of the things that they're hearing out there, um we want to make sure they have the right information. So,
049uh again, very very happy with uh our continuing education of that. We also had an office of civil rights audit. We were randomly selected as a district um one of eight, I think, throughout the state. It was just our year. And obviously, you can always be a little bit anxious about any audit that you get. I'm sure the financial audit same way. you just never know, you know, what's going to show up. Um, and the audit itself was great. The thing that really stood out with me was you you have no idea what they're going to come in asking about or saying, "Hey, I need to see this. Hey, I need to talk to this person." Well, uh, a lot of that was our fax program, our counselors and and 504s. Um, they talked to
050our administrators. Uh, they talked to Mr. Mont about facilities. The [clears throat] thing that was most impressive um in that audit was every person that they went and talked to was um spoke so well uh as an expert in their area that after it was all said and done, the auditor uh back in my office made the statement of, "Man, you're really lucky. You've got a lot of people who know their stuff." An example of this, I'll embarrass Mr. Mont. There's some little device that he had that you know it like a little rod thing. You'd never know what it is, but evidently uh it is a something you use to push on a door for ADA compliance. The door has to have a certain amount of pressure that it opens at. >> Well, when
051Mr. Mont gets in the room, he sits down. He says, "Oh, I know what that is." And the guy says, "You do?" And he's like, "Yep, yep. Know exactly what that is." And that was just a silly example of everywhere we went, people were talking very specifically to what they should know. And I could just tell the otter and he said it back in my office. Um, you've got a lot of great people working around you. They really know their stuff. And that was just a few examples. But I could go through a lot of others. Every single there wasn't one person that I was sitting there like, "Oh, I don't know that that's the right answer." [laughter] Which is what you're worried about, right? So I couldn't be again more proud of just you
052you know things are going well and the people around you doing a great job but when you see a very specific example of like that just makes you really really proud. Um, also our foundation auction. Um, wow. I mean, we we uh I would say as a foundation they knew took a little bit of a chance of having an online auction only and a lot of reasons for that. Um, but you just never know how that's going to go and you know once again the community stepped up. Lot of hard work went into it. So I appreciate everyone in the foundation who had pivotal roles in that. Um, uh, I don't want to give an exact number because I don't think we have an exact number, but I can easily say, um, we exceeded, I
053think, what even the foundation felt like they were going to do. They knew it was going to be a little bit less because it was online only. Um, and looking to kind of alternate that and experiment with that. And, uh, I I can say we've exceeded that goal. I don't want to ruin any big surprises, so I'm not going to mention any numbers, but um, I think we uh, we exceeded that goal once again. and that's going to go towards um grants for teachers once again. And um so really really excited about that and just thankful for the foundation that we have and the job that they do to to raise money for us once again. Um I do have uh for you guys your continuing education report. So I'll pass that out to you
054guys uh tonight as well. And then I'm going to end on this. [clears throat] Uh we recently found out that our middle school was ranked uh number six in Oklahoma uh amongst middle schools uh by niche.com and so we are very proud of them and their efforts. Um you know it just continues to uh happen where we get another report of being ranked a certain way and [clears throat] usually they're they're very very good but um you know middle school uh I talked to Mrs. Dy said, you know, and I've talked to her along the way. I've seen a lot of little things along the way of just culture and things that I see teachers interacting with students and and just the feeling and and the conversations they're having with academics. We've seen their report
055card steadily rise every single year. Um, so really proud of this just because it's uh something that's physical, tangible that says, "Hey, you know, people are noticing we're doing some great things there along with all of our other buildings." but that's one that most recently came up and so congratulations to the middle school. You guys deserve the recognition and I'm proud to be able to uh to mention it. [clears throat] >> And that is my report. >> All right, we're adjourned.