BROKEN ARROW, Okla — The summer will officially end for students and teachers in Broken Arrow on August 24th. The district is poised to welcome roughly 19,500 students back to class.
Broken Arrow, Superintendent, Chuck Perry says there are several things the district is focused on this year.
“Two things come to mind, and one is our Tiny Tigers Daycare or center for newborns on up with the ability to offer daycare for our employees. We have never done that before, and we feel like it's going to be a great recruitment and retention tool in the district,” says Perry.
The district is also focusing on keeping things simple this year.
“Our goal this year is not to create a lot of new initiatives for teachers and staff. We need to get back to just basics and having school after what we have been through for the last couple of years,” he says.
One proud standout is the Vanguard Academy. It’s a unique STEM facility for students in grades 9th through 12th.
“It's a very project-based learning environment. Students are hand selected to be in that, and it will hopefully pay dividends in providing the Tulsa area overall with a workforce,” says Perry.
With over 19,000 students, the current teacher shortage in Oklahoma weighs heavy on Perry’s mind.
“I think it's the biggest challenge that we are going to see in education for the next 5 years. The amount of teachers that are retiring in this profession compared to the amount of teachers that are coming out of college, the numbers just aren't adding up,” he says.
The district is currently short 15 to 20 teachers and it's mainly in Special Education.
Perry says school security is also top of mind, especially following the recent deaths of 19 students and 2 teachers in Uvalde, Texas.
One area the district is working hard to crack down on is open doors in the school buildings.
"As a superintendent, that weighs on your mind all the time to make sure we doing everything we can to prevent that,” says Perry. We have come up with a campaign this year called Stop the Prop. We are putting stickers on all of our exterior doors on the insides that prop doors."
Currently, the district has 9 school resource officers but will be adding 6 more positions throughout the year.
Perry says those 6 positions will mainly be concentrated at the elementary level.
Overall, he says the teachers, faculty, and staff are gearing up for a fantastic year, and they can’t wait to welcome students back on the first day of school.
“It's going to be a great, school year, and I always love the phrase; the best is yet to come,” he says.
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