BIXBY, Okla. — It is time to head back to school for students in the Bixby Public School system.
District leadership is ready for what this year brings.
"I am fortunate as a superintendent to work in such a supportive community," Rob Miller, superintendent of Bixby Public Schools, said.
That supportive community continues to grow, which Miller told 2 News Oklahoma, requires more educators.
"That's a huge challenge and something that we all need to work together to figure out," Miller said. "How do we solve this problem?"
Part of the solution, Miller said, is planning for the years to come because waiting is not an option.
"When the State Board of Education is having to give 4,000 Emergency certifications every single year, that to me is a crisis in it reflects that we've got to do something not later, but now," Miller said.
While BPS requires more educators and plans for the future, the district is in a good place this school year.
Another topic of concern regarding employees in the district is keeping enough bus drivers to get students to their classes.
"Part of it is pay," Miller said. "We have got to make sure that we're paying a competitive wage to make it worth it for these individuals to come back."
Pay, according to Miller, is one of many solutions.
"Our best drivers are very close and have a strong culture," Miller said. "So, we really do a lot with our transportation to help it feel like a family. You're there to support each other."
Keeping that family protected is BPS leadership's number one priority.
"Safety is one of those things that you wake up every single day thinking about," Miller said.
Part of that includes making sure students feel supported, which includes watching out for any and everything.
"Being able to identify red flags and making it comfortable for students to report things that may be alarming to them," Miller said. "And so like many school districts, we have an anonymous tip line."
During the last school year, the district received over 150 calls to that tip line.
The school year consists of 172 days.
Those 150 calls ranged from the mundane all the way to self-harm, bullying, and harassment.
Miller said each instance, no matter what level, is investigated fuller.
"That is our single best safety mechanism is each other watching out," Miller said. If it feels weird or doesn't feel safe or comfortable, just tell somebody and let us investigate and find out."
When asked if the political rhetoric at the state level concerned him, Miller said it does.
"And here's why," Miller said. "Because it has an impact on teacher retention has an impact on young people who may want to become an educator, when all they hear is divisiveness and rhetoric about education or educators or schools falling short or not doing, then they're going to be more inclined to look at other career options. Instead of saying schools have ways that they need to improve or need to constantly focus on how do we get better.”
Miller told 2 News he wants more communication between the state and local districts.
Communication is also something he wants between teachers and parents.
“Let's talk about your child," Miller said. "What are they passionate about? When they come home from school? What are they talking about? What would they like to see? What are your hopes and aspirations as a parent for us? What benefits do you expect us to fill as an education institute? Are we meeting those expectations? are we falling short in this area or not? That's the kind of conversation I want to have with parents, as well as superintendent. We know that we're not perfect. We know that there are things that we need to continue to work on. And we're willing to, to do that”
At the top of Superintendent Miller's mind is continuing to look at the best ways to educate students.
Artificial Intelligence, or A.I., is currently being discussed in the district.
“So, you start looking at the rate of change of technology and all these things happening," Miller said. "What does that world look like in 2036? We know it's going to be vastly different. But how do we then prepare kids for a world that we can't fully vision ourselves? And so that's the challenge. And so, it's really conversations, none of us have all the answers, but we need to continue talking about it.”
Miller said it is essential to have those conversations because the careers kids today will fill will be much different than those available today.
The district told 2 News it plans to train staff on what using A.I. responsibly looks like in the classroom.
"We have really adopted the mentality that we need to embrace it as a tool, use it responsibly, as to avoid falling behind," the district said in a statement to 2 News.
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