From the April 8th Grove School Board Meeting

 

Below you will find what I presented at audience time and the report from the Superintendent. 

 

Update on the situation with the Lion Electric bankruptcy:  As of April 7, yesterday, there are no further developments I can find in the proceedings.  Bids to buy the company were to be in March 14, 2025.  Meanwhile I am guessing the situation here with our Lion Electric buses is about the same as reported last month.

This evening I would like to speak about the Robotics team,  reporting on financial donations to the school , as well as school reports that could be beneficial to the community.

The Robotics team, FROG  (First Robotics of Grove) 3160, recently competed in the Kansas City Regionals and came out winning by being on the #1 alliance.  It had been a rough season with many challenges which included manufacturing more of their parts which took more time, the finished robot being overweight requiring some redesign, and not having adequate time to test and practice driving the robot. 

In the end, Team FROG had persisted to the point of being consistent is moving in autonomous mode and being able to accomplish the final hanging off the floor. 

At the end of competition qualifications, our team was ranked 22^nd.  The top ranked 8 teams got to go in order and ask a second robot to join their alliance.  In Kansas City the #1 team asked #2 to be on their team and we knew that was a winning combination.   After the 8^th team selected their 2^nd robot, they selected their third robot for their alliance as the selection started from the bottom and went up in reverse order.  When it was time for Team 1 to make their final selection, FROG had not been selected.  They were surprised and excited to be asked to join Team #1!

The strategy was that FROG would do the tasks they had mastered, play defense and leave the zipping around making points to the other robots.  Team #1 including FROG won the competition. 

Robotics students have several adult community members as mentors.  They meet at the GLARE building (Grand Lake Area Robotics Education) owned by a private citizen of the community several times a week.  Over the years I am aware of, there have been three mentors receive the Woody Flowers award at the Tulsa Regionals—a kind of Mentor of the Year award from nominations  made by team members.  FROG mentors receiving  that awardare Don Malone, Jeanne Smith (teacher at Grove HS) and Brian Jarrett.  I am very proud of our team made from Grove school students and home-schooled young people from our community.  Our team competes against big teams from big schools and even foreign countries.  Teams are urged to treat each other with “gracious professionalism” which is another way of saying “treat others the way you would like to be treated.”   

FROG receives community support from the Rotary Club and various interested individuals.

 As I was campaigning, people would ask me to check in to where money goes.  They would like a clearer explanation (as would I) of where the $217,349.64 from Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative tax distribution in 2024 went.  This distribution happens every year.  For someone to guess and say, “It goes into the general fund,” is not specific enough answer.  Recently, the Cherokee Nation gave our school $137,536.  To say it goes to creating “positive and lasting impacts” is not going far enough to answer the question of what the money is used for.

One more suggestion I would have to add to a greater informed community would be to publish the reports from Principals that are given in the Board Meeting. It seems from what I have heard that each Principal submits a written report to the Board each month. If those could be included in the Minutes, it would be enlightening.   I learn so much from the reports and am always glad to hear the news about what is going on in each building.       

Submitted by Pam Jarrett

Superintendent Report

1. The bond passed in August was a General Obligation bond for $9,875,000 with no projected tax increase. The money comes to the school in separate issuances. The first payment came in November for $5,025,000 and it is a three year issue. The next payment will be in July of 2026 for $2,750,000 on a two year issue. The final payment will be $2,100,000 in July of 2027. I provided the board with a list of the projected schedule of construction jobs for each of the three issuances of funding with the amount allocated per line item in the proposition.
2. Listening Sessions: The most telling comments from the Listening Sessions are about communication. Telling our story and communicating how the improvements will directly impact students and programs. Many stakeholders have been disconnected from the great things that happen everyday in our district. One of my goals will be to provide more insight and information so our community can better understand the needs of our district. The perception data from the report will help guide our district as we move forward to best serve our student's needs.
3. Brightwell: I provided our legal counsel with the Brightwell solar panel service agreement. Our attorney believes there are portions in conflict with existing state statutes. As of now this project is on pause until Brightwell amends the service agreement to the satisfaction of our attorneys.
4. Cherokee nation Tag money of $137,535.80 was received on March 25. The amount donated to all schools in the Cherokee Nation is based on the number of Cherokee students enrolled in each district. I have full discretion on how to spend the money. We have earmarked some funding for high school students' summer school credit recovery to get back on track to graduate. The primary expense is the teacher salary. The balance of the funding will be used for before and after school tutoring next school year. We have relied on other sources of funding in the past for tutoring which are no longer available.
5. REA tax (Rural Electrification Association Cooperative Tax) is a tax levied on rural electric coops in accordance with property valuation and distributed in proportion to the number of miles of transmission lines within each school district. All schools are funded by three primary sources of revenue: (1) Local, which are Ad valorem or property taxes levied in mills. 1 mill is 1/1000 of a dollar or .001; (2) State, which includes revenue distributed through the State Aid Salary formula, Gross production tax on gas and oil, Motor vehicle collections, and REA Tax already mentioned. (3) Federal funding comes in the way of Title I, II, III, IV, V, and IX dollars, Child Nutrition, Indian Ed. to name a few.
6. New bus schedule eliminates the change in start times for the UE/MS and the ECC/LE.  

7. COW  donations raised will contribute to the Backpack program which provides supplemental weekend meals for students in need. According to the Church on the Hill which sponsors this program, the budget has grown to over $100,000 as the needs of our kids have increased.

8. Rotary Students of the Month:

September: Jackson Gain and Brecklynn Carnes

October: Christopher Johnson and Emalee Gregg

November: Jacob Gain and Kaybree Fields

December: Deringer Hollenbeck and Ella Kernan

January: Will Roberts and Siera Yurko

February: Laird Thompson and Rei Reavis

March: Eli Rabel and Kate Thomas

April: Joeseph Wang and Hannah McCrary

 

Thank you Superintendent  Dodson for this informative report!

 

State Legislation affecting local School Boards

 HB1491 is making its way through the legislative process.  It would have an effect on our local school board should it become law.

The bill was introduced to give the Oklahoma State Board of Education members  the ability to add to the meeting agenda following certain procedures.  It was later amended to include local school boards.  HB1491 was passed out of the OK House of Representatives and is now in the Education Committee of the OK Senate.

You may see the text of the bill and its progress by going to

 https://legiscan.com/OK/text/HB1491/2025

This would give our School Board potential to introduce topics they would like to discuss in public.  As I see it, we as a community could ask our school board members to bring up items for discussion.  The process would mean the School Board members could be even more representative of concerns of the community.

If, after you read the bill, you would like to contact our OK Senator, you may take this link and send Tom Woods an email. https://sengov.com/states/oklahoma/tom-woods/

Tom does not sit on the Education Committee but contacting him with your comments would help put HB 1491 on his radar.  I have done so.

Submitted by Pam Jarrett

 

 

Updates on Lion Electric Buses and Brightwell/820 (Solar Panels)

 At the Grove School Board Meeting on March 11th, I gave the following speech:

Now that it has been determined I will not be seated on the School Board, I would like to state my intentions.  I hope you will accept me as a liaison between yourselves and members of the community.  As I went from door to door and visited in several different groups, the people had questions that will need answers.  I told them I would learn the answers and report back to them.  I am pretty good about making information easier to understand and will be glad to do that about situations that may come up.  I may need to question you extensively and have you OK what I understand,  for instance, the technicalities of bond issues and how we arrive at the mill levies, etc.  I have found that many people are without knowledge and giving them knowledge will add to their satisfaction and mine.

Tonight I would like to address the Lion Electric bus situation and cite a possible link to the solar panel project with Brightwell/820.

My husband reads a lot about current events and one day told me about a Canadian electric bus company who had taken $159,000,000 from our government and was now filing for bankruptcy.  After learning our buses are ones made by this company, I grew concerned. 

Upon investigation I found Lion Electric vehicles had indeed filed for bankruptcy in December of 2024.  But the problems began long before that.

Between October 2022 and May 2024, Lion Electric Vehicles was awarded $159 million from our government through the Inflation Reduction Act.  Less than two weeks before the EPA gave Lion $82.7 million in October of 2022 as part of the Clean School Bus Program, investors learned the company had lost $17.2 million during the prior three months.  Since 2020, Lion had net losses totaling $301.6 million and stock prices had plummeted to $.08 a share. 

Even though a Nov 2024 earnings call assured investors that it was “well positioned to benefit from continued strong regulatory tailwinds”, Lion filed for bankruptcy in December 2024.  Soon after, they halted production at their 900,000 square foot plant in Joliet, Illinois and laid off all its employees excluding 150 tasked with customer service and maintenance duties.

In February 2025, last month, a class action lawsuit from shareholders was filed.  The proposed lawsuit claims Lion Electric hid facts and details about its order book and production capacities from investors. 

Bids from companies interested in buying or liquidating  Lion Electric Co. were due March 7, last week.  However, the company’s court appointed monitor has announced the deadline has been pushed to March 14^th at 5 PM,  this week.

 I will not blame you for the situation we are facing with the uncertainty of acquiring parts and maintenance help with our Lion buses because I am convinced you did what you thought was the best thing for the school with the information you had. 

Now, what has this to do with solar panels?  The Brightwell/820 group has used the same Inflation Reduction Act as the law of the land to encourage impact investors.  These concepts are stated on the video I watched from the Brightwell website.

I trust you will exercise due diligence before signing a contract with Brightwell.  There may be conditions I do not understand and I would gladly listen if someone wants to explain them to me. 

Thank you for listening,  Pam Jarrett

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 After my audience with the Board and administration, Superintendent Dodson remarked that we are happy with the electric buses we have. He, in fact, drives one almost daily as a substitute driver. The use of electric buses has saved us approximately $100,000 in diesel fuel over the past year.  The electric buses are used for the daily routes within the expected 100 mileage per charge.  The on-site customer service representative visits have decreased from twice a week to about one every two weeks as a result of Lion Electric staffing cuts. Our transportation staff remain in contact with our local tech to manage day to day issues. Our schools will always have diesel buses to use for activity trips and as backups. Regardless of the financial situation with Lion Electric, our district has not had or will not have any financial obligation for the electric buses. The grant awarded to purchase the buses and charging stations was to Grove Public Schools, however, all transactions were handled between the Federal government and Lion Electric. No funds flowed through the Grove School District.

Regarding the solar panel project with Brightwell/820,  Cleora schools have also been considering this.  Talking with Superintendent Guthrie, I learned they are having some service agreement questions and are still considering the project at their location.  Our lawyers (Rosenstein, Fist, and Reingold- same firm as Cleora) continue to look into legal matters dealing with the details of the service agreement. We will wait and see what our council recommends  before proceeding with the installation of solar panels on a school roofs with Brightwell/820.

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I, Pam Jarrett, appreciated the remarks that let us know the the current status of both issues we may have wondered about.  

 

 

 

 

Listening Session and Priceless Band Experience

 

About Listening Session

Wednesday, March 5^th, a Listening Session between Grove Public Schools and community members was held at Grove High School.  There were several time periods for groups of people to give feedback with a representative from the Oklahoma School Board Association facilitating the meeting.  Teachers, administration, school board members, students, business leaders in Grove and community members were invited to attend a session at a certain time.  I was happy to be invited to take part as we gave positive comments about our schools and also talked about concerns we have about the future of Grove schools.

 There is satisfaction among business people about the quality of students coming out of the Grove schools, and Grove is a caring community that wants to do the best for our students.

 One discussion arose around the need for a long-term plan for improvements in our buildings so there is a steadier progression of upkeep, and the community will know what to expect.  That one was especially meaningful to me.

I believe the information from the sessions will be compiled and given to the appropriate people so they can have a good way to proceed.

Priceless Band Experience

On Sunday evening, February 16^th a concert given by the Oklahoma Baptist Symphony at Grove’s First Baptist Church.  The orchestra was composed of 60-70 musicians from all over our state who traveled to Grove at their own expense.  Their music was marvelous!

I was supremely pleased to hear the Conductor ask students from Grove High School to stand and be recognized for playing with the orchestra!  What an amazing and priceless experience for them to play with seasoned musicians!  

I would have liked to include the band students' names and possible comments from them but was unable to get that information.  If you can help me with that, please email me at pamsheartart@boltfiber.net 

Thank you to Grove’s First Baptist Church for giving our young musicians such a special time of encouragement. 

 Until next time,

Pam