For the first time in five months, Bartlesville Public Schools returned to in-person instruction on Thursday morning.

The District is excited to have students and staff back at school. COVID-19 caused schools across the United States to move to virtual instruction in late-March. Teachers returned to their classrooms on Monday to prepare for the arrival of students.

Superintendent Chuck McCauley said the District has been working hard since to ensure that litigation layers were in place before the start of school. He said support from the BPS Foundation and the community made Thursday’s return to school possible.

BPS would not have announced that they were going to start school on Thursday without the support of the Foundation and the community. Superintendent McCauley said that support secured the District's belief that they could open schools up safely on Thursday. He said the District was looking to have a great first day back to school. 

Gov. Kevin Stitt recently announced that there would be funding provided to schools. Superintendent McCauley said they are happy to receive the funding. However, the District would not have received the funding on time to help with the start of school, which is why support from the BPS Foundation and the community was so crucial over the summer.

Meanwhile, some schools in Tulsa and Oklahoma City have delayed the start of their instruction and have started the school year solely online. Superintendent McCauley said Bartlesville Public Schools is monitoring the number of coronavirus cases daily. He said Washington County is in a different place than Tulsa County, and they certainly understand that the Districts that have more cases in their respected county would make the decision to delay in-person classes.

However, Bartlesville is not in the position. Superintendent McCauley said they hope that they can continue in this mode where they are offering in-person instruction. That being said, Superintendent McCauley said they did offer an online option to parents. He said 20-percent of the District's parents opted to have their student or students take classes online.

Bartlesville Public Schools says it is ready to help its families no matter where they are or how they choose what is best for their child when it comes to schooling. Superintendent McCauley said online instruction will be a learning opportunity for the District moving forward because this is something that has never been done before at this level of education. He said he hopes parents will be patient and flexible with the District and show grace as they work through it together with them.

In this age of uncertainty with COVID-19, schools still have to prepare for anything that may come their way, including another closure of schools. Superintendent McCauley said this will be a day-by-day process with the virus, but added that the District is prepared for anything that may come their way. He said staff and student attendance in-person will be one item on a laundry list of things that will lead the District to keep campus open or not.

Bartlesville Public Schools learned a lesson in the fourth quarter of the school year that is behind them. The lesson that was learned during the bulk of the coronavirus pandemic was that the District needed to provide an electronic device to all of their students. Superintendent McCauley said they are doing that, even at the elementary level. He said they are also providing hotspots so every student has access to the internet should they have to learn from home. Teachers dedicated to online instruction are also available.

Employees are required to tell the District if they get tested for the virus. Superintendent McCauley said they would hope their parents will tell the District if their child gets tested for the virus as well. He said the District has contact tracers that have gone through training with John's Hopkins at every site, so they are prepared if a case should arise.

The goal is to have as much in-person instruction as possible this school year. To see the Bartlesville Public Schools' plan for the year, you can visit their website.