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The Bartlesville Board of Education met for a special meeting Wednesday in the Freshman Academy Conference Room at Bartlesville High School.

In that meeting, the Board approved a Memorandum of Understanding to create and implement an Academic Therapeutic Learning Alternative School. Dianne Martinez, the Executive Director for Elementary Schools in the District, said the process to create ATLAS took a year, and the memorandum was the final piece to the puzzle.

Bartlesville Public Schools has committed a teacher, a teaching assistant, a classroom and transportation for the program. Sodexo will provide food to students involved and Bartlesville Education Promise is providing an employee at the Boys and Girls Club that can supervise and help kids in the second half of their day have an appropriate and safe setting to be in.

ATLAS is aimed at making a difference 24 young lives. Martinez said these students may have experienced things outside the classroom that require additional support.

Martinez said the memorandum put down on paper what the District has been trying to finalize for the past two to three months.

The relationship between GLMH, Boys and Girls Club, Education Promise, and Bartlesville Public School's is unique, Martinez said. She said the strength and partnership with Grand Lake Mental Health is where the idea for ATLAS was born.

Jason Barta with the Boys and Girls Club had a huge part in making ATLAS happen. Amber Thompson, Kim Hill, and Casey Martinez with Grand Lake Mental Health are also said to have been instrumental in this process.

Martinez said the kids are the real winners here and each one is worthy. She said they are working the angle of "if we create an environment where they can be successful, and [we] can nurture and support them both with the therapeutic side and the academic side, that they will be able to learn, heal, make better choices and get them back to a regular classroom."

Getting them to a regular classroom is the ultimate goal of ATLAS. The District hopes these students can make academic progress, have regular attendance, and avoid suspensions at all costs.