Superintendent's Chalkboard by Dr. Gary W. Quinn

District benefits greatly from caring community

(Published Sunday, September 20, 2009 in Examiner-Enterprise)

The community cares about the Bartlesville Public School District.
Thankfully, we are reminded of this fact throughout the course of a given day. In fact, we were reminded in a very special way recently. On Wednesday, volunteers were working at different schools within the district on special Day of Caring projects coordinated by the Bartlesville Regional United Way.

At Jane Phillips Elementary School, more than 20 volunteers from ConocoPhillips worked on three separate projects on the campus. While one group planted flowers in a garden area near the school’s main entrance, another built four wooden benches in the courtyard area and sanded and refinished the existing ones. The third group planted trees near the playground area just beyond the building’s back entrance.

Madison Middle School now boasts 17 new trees on its campus thanks to the efforts of 13 volunteers from ConocoPhillips. The trees were all planted in the school’s front lawn area. Most of them are evergreen trees which could eventually be decorated during the holiday season to add to the festive atmosphere at Madison.
A group of students from the Tri County Technology Center stopped by Woodrow Wilson Elementary School on Wednesday to do some good deeds. In the morning hours, a group cleaned up the Wildcats’ playground area. During the afternoon hours, another group helped to prepare the walls in the school’s cafeteria for an upcoming painting project. TCTC pitched in at Oak Park Elementary also, as students helped to prepare study materials, a valuable time savings for the fortunate teachers.
Volunteers from ConocoPhillips did landscaping work on the Wayside Elementary playground as well as the school’s Circle of Friends Garden on Wednesday, an effort which was much appreciated.
The Day of Caring projects help to kick off the fundraising season for the Bartlesville Regional United Way, which boasts 15 non-profit member agencies in the area. The money raised through United Way’s fundraising efforts help to keep programs available at valued organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Mary Martha Outreach and the Boy Scouts, just to name a few. Our community, including many of our students, benefit from many of the programs provided by the organizations which fall under the United Way’s benevolent umbrella.
The United Way benefits the community in other ways as well. Five schools within our district can most certainly attest to that following the work which was done on their respective campuses on Wednesday. I’d like to personally thank the United Way as well as the volunteers from ConocoPhillips and the Tri County Technology Center.
Healthy Choices Week helps raise awareness
Monday will mark the beginning of Healthy Choices Week throughout the district. Now in its fourth year, the special week was created to help students and staff members focus on the importance of eating right and getting proper exercise. Of course, it should be noted that good diet and exercise should be a focus throughout the course of one’s lifetime, not just a particular week.
This year, Healthy Choices Week will span from Sept. 21-25. We always invite each of the 12 schools within the district to come up with special activities which highlight the theme of the week. And over the years, they certainly have. We have seen Healthy Choices Week poster and essay contests, and even special dances during the morning announcements to get the students’ blood flowing as the academic day begins.
“If you have sluggish and tired students – students who aren’t eating right or exercising – it’s going to be harder to reach them,” notes Mid-High family and consumer science intructor Rita Durrett, who helped to originate Healthy Choices Week in 2006. “That’s just a fact.”
Last year, Durrett’s students received some facts on their health thanks to the MyPyramid.gov website, which is a product of the United States Department of Agriculture. Using the website, Durrett’s students were able to chronicle the foods they ate and the amount of exercise they were able to fit in over the course of a given week. The site then performed its calculations to let the students know if they were getting the proper nutrients and physical activity to maintain optimum health. It provided helpful suggestions to each of the students based on the data as well.

I welcome this year’s Healthy Choices Week and the good work it will help us do within the district.