The BartlesvilleSchool Board will conduct a special meeting on Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock in the Fine Arts Center auditorium at Bartlesville High School to gather public input on the ongoing teacher walkout. 

 

The board will consider a resolution to reconvene school as soon as practicable under the circumstances. The board voted on March 12th to authorize Superintendent Chuck McCauley to suspend schools for up to ten days if a teacher walkout occurred as threatened statewide on April 2nd.

 

While the legislature did pass before the deadline a record $480 million in new appropriations for education as part of a package of 12 interlocking bills, teachers still walked out statewide on April 2nd protesting how $50 million in revenue in that package had been repealed by the House and that the $17 million increase in school formula funding in the package was inadequate, noting that was smaller than the $22 million cut in such funding the state imposed in February.

 

McCauley initially suspended the schools on Monday in hopes that teachers might return on Tuesday. However, too many teachers filed absences for schools to be operated safely, extending the walkout. Work was then done with the local teacher’s organization to identify a plan for legislative action which would prompt local teachers to return to work, which can be found at www.TimeIsNowOK.com.

 

 

If the district is forced to suspend classes next week, they will no longer be treated as inclement weather days for students. Instead, school days will be added onto the end of the current academic calendar in late May. Elementary and middle school students would attend classes on May 25 and then May 29 and beyond for each additional missed day. High school students are already scheduled to attend classes on May 25, so a suspension next week would cause them to attend classes on May 29 and beyond.