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Bartlesville Public Schools

Posted: Jan 14, 2021 10:52 AMUpdated: Jan 14, 2021 12:20 PM

Bartlesville Schools Distributing Second Round of Masks

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Garrett Giles

The Bartlesville Public Schools (BPS) administration is distributing a second round of Bruins face coverings to all students and staff.

Dr. Stephanie Curtis, the Chair of the BPS Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Committee, said this is thanks to the Cherokee Nation's competitive school grant from their Respond, Recover and Rebuild Initiative that went out to area schools in August. Dr. Curtis wrote the grant that secured $31,800 from the Cherokee Nation three months later in November. She said the grant was for four main PPE items that BPS needed.

With the grant money, Dr. Curtis said BPS was able to purchase 100,000 adult disposable masks and 36,000 child sized disposable masks. Dr. Curtis said having the disposable masks on hand are important because kids will sometimes come to school without a mask because they forgot the item at home. She said the disposable masks are available to students in each school office and classroom if they need one.

The disposable masks are also provided on each bus that picks up students for school.

In addition to the disposable masks, Dr. Curtis said the grant provided 500 refills for the district's hand sanitizing stations. Dr. Curtis said BPS purchased 200 of these stations for their 11 school facilities last summer. She said they needed refills for those stations to get them through the rest of the current school year.

Dr. Curtis said that the Cherokee Nation has been very supportive during the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to making the Respond, Recover and Rebuild Initiative available to Bartlesville Public Schools, Dr. Curtis said the Cherokee Nation also provided $10,000 to every school district in the Cherokee Nation area that they could spend on PPE or technology.

The $10,000 was spent on pocket hand sanitizer and disposable masks. Dr. Curtis said the Cherokee Nation has also provided 150 face shields and 125 hot spots for internet access. She said those items were provided for BPS faculty to use.

Dr. Curtis said Bartlesville Public Schools has been incredibly grateful for the Cherokee Nation's help and assistance. She said the Cherokee Nation has done an excellent job of passing whatever funding they've received to public schools in their area.

Bartlesville Public Schools began working with Christie Roberts at Moxie on Second last summer as well. Dr. Curtis said Roberts helped Bartlesville Public Schools look through six to 10 different types of face coverings. As the year has progressed since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, Dr. Curtis said BPS has gotten a better feel of what mask people like and what's appropriate for a classroom environment.

Roberts helped BPS find the latest navy cloth masks with a screened Bruin logo on the side (pictured above). Dr. Curtis said the masks have a wire at the nose to make the masks fit comfortably and properly for students, faculty and staff. She said the masks also have adjustable ear pieces.

Moxie on Second is believed to be ordering more of these navy blue Bruins masks to have in stock at the store. These masks would be available to the public. 


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