Posted by Uwe Gordon on 5/12/2023
SPS Staff and Families,
Thank you to the community for a great Teacher Appreciation Week. To PTOs and PTAs that poured love and generosity into our schools. To the numerous businesses that provided snacks. To the families that submitted kind and thoughtful messages.
Shoutout to the businesses like Smallcakes, Insomnia Cookies, and Chick-fil-A that gave out free items for teachers this week. And to Whataburger who provided free breakfasts and will be working with us to randomly select a teacher to receive a gift basket next week.
And a big thank you to the businesses that offer teacher discounts throughout the year, who we list at Stillwaterschools.com/staffdiscounts. (And please let us know if we’re missing your special offer for teachers/staff.)
Special Olympics
Next week, Stillwater hosts the Oklahoma Special Olympics Summer Games. This annual event brings nearly 3,000 olympians from across the state to our community. As you travel around next week, please be sure to make sure those athletes know why this is called America’s Friendliest College Town.
If you’ve never had a chance to witness this powerful and uplifting event first hand, please consider volunteering. We just reached out and they could use some additional volunteers on Wednesday and Thursday (17th-18th). Learn more at https://www.sook.org/
I’m wishing the BEST of luck to our 60 Pioneer Special Olympians!
“Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” - Special Olympics Athlete Oath
3,418,740 minutes
Education is a powerful force. Not only do those who complete their high school degree generally have greater income and more career paths open to them, studies show that they can expect to live six and a half years longer than a person who does not.
High school takes about 259,200 minutes of instructional time and adds more than thirteen times that to your life.
Summer Hours & Holidays
From the week of May 29 through July 28, the SPS Admin building will operate under summer hours.
- Office hours = Monday-Thursday from 8am to 4pm, Closed on Fridays
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Employees will still be working the requisite 40 hours (at least) per week, but through modified schedules.
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Holidays
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Memorial Day (May 29)
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Juneteenth (June 19)
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Independence Day (July 4)
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New Assistant Principal
Welcome to Adam Eghadi, SJHS’s new Assistant Principal, starting this summer! Mr. Elghadi has served Broken Arrow public schools as a social studies teacher and, most recently, Dean of Student Services.
Book Bus
Maintaining literacy skills through reading during the summer is vital to learning. It helps build new neural pathways, increases knowledge, and is fun!
To help kids have access to engaging literature, the Book Bus is rolling out four days a week from May 22 - July 27 (minus Memorial Day, Juneteenth, and Independence Day). We’ll be at 13 roving locations, including OSU’s Thursday night Summer on the Plaza events. Find the full schedule at www.stillwaterschools.com/bookbus
Thank you to 4KidzSake.org for a $500 donation to the Book Bus. We appreciate the commitment to helping children.
And if you can’t meet up with the Book Bus, or even if you can, be sure to visit the Stillwater Public Library http://library.stillwater.org/ for books and fun activities throughout the summer.
$900,000 Grant
WOW. Thanks to the efforts of Wellness, Trauma, and Emergency Response Coordinator Kira Frisby, SPS has received a 3-year grant with the potential for up to $300,000 per year. This Oklahoma Multi-Tiered System of Supports grant will focus on helping us address alcohol and marijuana abuse, psychological distress, and school climate. We’ll be sharing more about the impact of this grant in the coming months. Incredibly proud of and thankful for Ms. Frisby’s work on this.
Of Note…
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May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish Heritage Month. Learn more about these cultural events at:
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May 9 was National Fentanyl Awareness Day. Learn more about how the Fentanyl crisis is affecting communities across the nation and ways you can help protect yourself and your children at https://www.fentanylawarenessday.org/
#PioneerProud
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Good luck to all our State Track Tournament Qualifiers!
Front Row L/R Ethan Forteh, Mez Barth, Keegan Thomas, Corbin Grant, Jackson Holland, Holden Thompson, Heston Thompson & Noah Roberts.
Back Row L/R Addison Snider, Emaja Anderson, Sarah Wulfert, Ceazia McFadden, Anna Ford, Cash Herber, Lydia Dolezal, Zoey Phillips, Sydni Phillips & Gabija Pukstas 
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Congrats to Baseball on making it to the state tournament!
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Congratulations to Boys Golf, Runners Up at the State Championship Tournament in Owasso.
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Good luck to our Boys Tennis players at State!
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Alex Dosev-#1 singles
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Trace Irwin/Maddox Krueger-#1 doubles
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Alex Kim/Misha Nash-#2 doubles
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Congrats to the Senior class on receiving more than $5.1 million in scholarships.
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Richmond, Sangre Ridge, and Skyline were named Great Expectations Model Schools. This is Richmond’s 20th year in a row to receive the honor.
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SHS Performing Arts students hold FOUR of the 50 nominations for the Tulsa Discovery Awards! Congrats to Katy Croft, Jacob Ebersole, Andi Reuter, and Conner Sigrist. The overall best male and female performer at the Discovery Awards will go on to represent Oklahoma in a Broadway Master Class in New York as part of the Jimmy Awards. Good luck Pioneers!
Families, as we head into the final week, filled with moments like fifth grade graduations, the Senior walk, medicine pick ups, school parties, lost and found checks and locker clean outs (“I’ve been looking for that!”), and ultimately graduation, cherish every moment. As our Seniors’ parents will tell you, preK through twelfth grade… it ALL goes by too fast.
Have a great last week of the 2022-2023 school year.
I love Stillwater,
Uwe Gordon
Superintendent
Stillwater Public Schools
