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Posted: Aug 20, 2025 10:36 AMUpdated: Aug 21, 2025 4:15 AM
Bartlesville Public Schools and Foundation on COMMUNITY CONNECTION
Tom Davis
After the first few days of classes at Bartlesville Public Schools, BPS Supt. Chuck McCauley and Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation Executive Director Blair Ellis joined KWON for COMMUNITY CONNECTION to talk about the changes and upcoming events.
McCauley is pleased with the new state law banning the use of cellphones and electronic devices during school hours. McCauley said, "I've been talking on here (KWON) for over a year about the anxious generation and why we need to do something different. I'm tickled that we're making this change. I know in every group that I've spoken to about the change over the past year, with the exception of high school students themselves and even them, they'll tell you, they understand, they understand that they can be addicted to phones."
McCauley dovetailed the cell phone ban with the free lunch program saying,"It's been a good change and, you know, we also made the change with no Door Dashat school." He added, "We're fortunate that we're in our second year where all of our kids get to eat breakfast and lunch for free and that's gone really well. It's gotten even better this year."
McCauley said that at this week's school board meeting this week, they filled out their board. According to McCauley, "Rick Boswell, after 15 years of service, retired from the board and really, he's such a great person. We are excited about Kristen Lindblom. The board voted to appoint her to fill that vacancy. I've known Kristen since she was in high school. Kristen's gonna be a great fit. She's very plugged into the community. "
Regarding McCauley's upcoming retirement, the board discussed on Monday the timeline in searching for his replacement. According to McCauley, the first thing they'll do is go through the process of getting feedback to make sure that community staff, parents, can share what they're looking for in the next leader. McCauley said, "Our school board will be going through that process over the next month in September. Community, parents, staff, they'll get that opportunity in October. Most likely we'll be doing some interviews in November, and then probably around around the holiday season they'll be naming who the next superintendent is."
On a positive note, the school district got some good news about their advanced placement program or AP program, where students can take college level classes in high school and they take a test at the end, and they get college credit for it. McCauley said,"We found out yesterday that in terms of our participation rate, we have more kids taking tests than we have since I've been here in 25 years. Edmond Memorial is a six day school and they are tied with us. But if you think about Jenks and Owasso and Bixby and Broken Arrow and Union, all those folks that are on our half of the state, we have twice as many."
Blair Ellis with the Bartlesville Publc Schools Foundation also shared some positive news on the foundation's 40th anniversary. Ellis hnted they will be celebrating that in September with some of their former board members.
Ellis aslo announced that Bruins on the Run is starting next week. These are the fifth graders that run after school with their teacher mentors throughout the fall. Ellis said, "They finish up with a big Bruin 5K. It was an 8K before, but we've switched it to a 5K, which makes a lot more sense, I think, for our kids and our staff. So we're excited about that." She was impressed with the numbers saying, "I just looked this morning before coming here, and we have 121 fifth graders signed up."
The foundation also is helping to omplement the Leader in Me curriculum, based on Stephen Covey, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. According to Ellis, "We were able to help with our tax credit donations, which I have come on a lot to talk about. But because of the amount of donations we received through that program last year, we were able to provide a substantial part of the curriculum support for Leader in Me this year.
Lastly, McCauley addressed some things in the news regarding state testing, and how third through eighth grade was going to be going away. McCauley said, "I would just let people know there's a lot of steps that gets to that point. And just because you hear that in the media, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's accurate or that it's going to happen this year." He added, "It's a little more than just making a proclamation. So, anyway, we're going to kind of continue to do what we do here in Bartlesville."
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