SPS Staff and Families,

You’re invited to join us for the 2024-2025 academic school year! We’re looking forward to an amazing year celebrating many amazing moments, including academic successes, athletic victories, stunning artistic creations, and moving performances. While attending Stillwater’s 2024-2025 School Year, you can expect momentous achievements across the district, small but important firsts across the whole district, historical final achievements for our seniors, new friendships, and loads of learning opportunities.

Please RSVP for this school year by attending enrollment verification and schedule pickup events at your elementary or secondary school site.

 

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Back to School Events

Many of you may have already begun receiving back to school messages from your sites or will, over the next few days, to help you prepare for back to school. Please try to attend these events, but if you absolutely can’t, please contact your school site for your options to complete paperwork and take care of any needed details to help your child and our schools start the year successfully.

 

Important Dates

• July 31 - Elementary Enrollment Verification: 9am-6pm at your elementary school

• August 6 - Schedule Pickup

  • Lincoln: 9am-12pm

  • SHS Seniors: - 9-11:30am

• August 7 - Schedule Pickup

  • SMS: 9am-12pm, 1-3pm, and 4-6pm

  • SJHS

    • 8th Grade: 8:30-10am & 4:30-6pm

    • Freshman - 10:30am-12pm & 5:30-7pm

  • SHS Juniors: 9-11:30am

• August 8

  • SHS Sophomores: 9-11:30am

• August 13 - Elementary Meet the Teacher: 4:30-6pm at your school

• August 15 - First Day of School!

 

 

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I Love Stillwater - Newness

For those of you new to the district, each week I share an update. I try to fill that update with useful information, particularly if there’s a topic of discussion or concern in the community, important dates, community events outside of the school district, and positivity about the amazing community in which we live. 

Stillwater is a town like no other. Known as America’s friendliest college town, this place thrives on education. Home to a major research institution, it brings people from all over the world together. We may not be the most “diverse” community in terms of typical demographics, but we have more people from more places around the globe than almost any community.

Each year August brings a lot of new things and people to town. Businesses work to open in time for college students to return. Construction projects try to wrap up to avoid disrupting traffic during our busy months. 5,000+ new students arrive to attend OSU (though a chunk of those are Pioneers experiencing the town in a whole new way). With the new OSU and SPS academic years, new faculty and staff come to our town, some from the farthest reaches of our country and world. Staff and faculty that have been here for years take on new roles and challenges. And, the most adorable new thing in Stillwater each year is 300+ PreK students in the halls of our six elementary schools.

This annual newness keeps our town always invigorated, always exciting, always with a chance for fresh starts and clean slates. I’m excited about the upcoming school year. I’m excited to meet all the people new to our community, and I’m excited to lead this district on to new things.

 

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Operations Update

This summer our Operations team has worked to identify problems and address them while our school staff is largely out of the schools.

Transportation has worked to conduct repairs, hire and train new drivers, and implement new software to help our drivers manage routes and stops more efficiently. 

Technology has been working on 1:1 device management, 48 new copiers around the district, a new trouble ticket system, a complete overhaul of SMS’s classroom tech, new SMART panels for 40 elementary classrooms, adding screens to the JHS gym, and more. 

Facilities’ summer work has included replacing roofs at Richmond, SJHS, and the SHS Fieldhouse, PAC, Wrestling Room, and Pioneer Stadium. They’ve also implemented a new facility scheduling and work order system. A gas leak testing project with ONG has helped ensure that there are no leaks at our facilities. The long list of summer projects included light replacements, HVAC controls, parking lot striping, floor refinishing at a variety of sites.

Capital Improvements

• Operations and Educational Services facility improvements have been made to allow for the relocation of Technology to that site. 

• Demolition continues at the future home of the new SHS. The project is moving along as anticipated, and we’ve had some great news in terms of costs that have allowed us to make adjustments, making it an even better facility than we’d hoped for. We’re looking forward to sharing more information and breaking ground to begin construction soon. 

 

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I love Stillwater,

Uwe Gordon
Pronounced “oo-vuh”
Superintendent
Stillwater Public Schools