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 22nd. 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 8th team selected their 2nd 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- New bus schedule eliminates the change in start times for the UE/MS and the ECC/LE.
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