BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Students in Broken Arrow return to the classroom on Thursday and the district is anticipating a great year with a recipe for success.
Superintendent Chuck Perry said anticipating change is always at the forefront when it comes to safety, teacher retention, and making sure facilities have the room to support the district’s needs.
“We hit 20,000 students this past year and we are going to get close to 21,000 this year,” Perry said.
The growth, Perry said, means addressing the teacher and bus driver shortage.
“We did some things outside the box this year,” he adds. “We are giving a returning stipend to all of our teachers and staff across the district, and I think that is going to be a great morale booster."
Perry said he believes that also helps keep teachers who may have retired and hopefully employs more.
“As we grow, we are going to have to maintain our facilities,” he said. “We are going to have to continue to think about safety and security."
These issues to be addressed through a November bond call for $52 million dollars and no tax increase for citizens.
“Something we have always talked about is having smaller class sizes,” Perry said. “When you talk about teacher retention and impact on student learning, those are two big things that are affected by 23-24 students in a classroom compared to 30-31, so growth is going to be a challenge."
The bond asks voters to consider adding classrooms to existing elementary schools to support the growth, along with mitigating overcrowding classroom sizes. The bond also addresses safety concerns, such as adding a perimeter fence to the high school to secure entries.
This in addition to what's already happening in the district.
“We made a huge commitment last summer after what happened down in Texas,” Perry said. “We decided to add to our security team, and we are up to 16 individuals now."
The members of this team are all under a director of security, a retired Broken Arrow Police officer, who leads a team that now patrols the elementary schools along with the middle and high schools.
“Safety is first and foremost,” Perry said. “Nothing is going to build trust more than parents turning their kids over to us every day to educate their children, but we got to keep them safe."
Safety isn't the only thing to balance. Politics involving education are also topics of discussion.
“We keep a lot of those distractions on the outside and focus inward,” Perry said. “We respect the office of the State Department of Education."
However, Perry said the focus is on the students.
“We are going to treat every student the same, and we are so glad when a family chooses to move here,” he said. “That is what our focus has been."
The district is hoping to create an environment where students thrive, and staff and administration feel appreciated.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
