The Holiday Break is right around the corner. You should all give yourselves a huge pat on the back for a successful first semester. Stipends, approved by the Board of Education last Monday night, will be handed out on Thursday. Remember, you MUST let us know whether you will be returning for the 2022-23 school year by April 29, 2022 to keep your stipend at the end of the year. This is the content of the letter you must sign to receive your check. Huge thanks to the Board for approval. These will be LIVE checks so keep up with them! Believe it or not, we have had a few employees in the past who have not cashed or deposited their checks! This is our way to say THANK YOU for you attentiveness to the education of our students. You all are heroes!
GT Program launched GT Kids News Network through the hard work of our GT students AND their teacher Ms. Kristen Tucker! Take the time to click the link and watch our students in action relaying important information about the program! Great job Ms. Tucker!
Jeremey Willis at Page Academy is shown receiving his Sand Springs Education Foundation grant of $5,723.47 from the infamous Ms. Lonetta Sprague and Executive Director of the Foundation Ms. Tirita Montross! The Foundation awarded 47 grants right before the the Thanksgiving holiday totaling $83,953.89. Start planning your grant for next year. It's never too early!
The 4th and 5th grade choir students from Angus Valley Elementary performed for the Charles Page Alumni Association this month. Ms. Candace Marshall led her students through several carols and made quite an impression on our Sandite Alums! To reward the students the Alumni Association donated $1000 to the choir program at Angus! Thank you to our generous Alumni!
Check out the latest edition of the Sandite STEM Newsletter! I am so proud of the work that is happening around the entire district to bring STEM education alive to our kids. As our students advance through the grades, it is becoming increasingly obvious they are better prepared for this type of curriculum at CPHS! This Friday, our engineering students at CPHS are completing their mid-term Justification Presentations for the senior Engineering Design and Development Capstone course. These presentations will be attended by various administrators in the district and are no small task for our students.
Four of our Sandites graduated from Leadership Sand Springs at the Chamber Forum in December. Mr. Shawn Beard, Ms. Morgan Douglas, Ms. Terri Lee, and Ms. Whitney Wagers completed all sessions and have a much broader knowledge of Sand Springs. This is a yearly event provided by the Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce accepting approximately 12 people each year who complete a 12 month journey learning about Sand Springs city governance, public safety, non profits, educational opportunities, and legislative processes at the state level. Proud of these four Leaders!
Thanks to the willingness of Mr. Peter Whipple, the Charles Page High School Choir performed for the Sand Springs Rotary Club this month. We have a talented group of students who sure do know how to sing! Great job CPHS Choir!
The Annual Lighting of the Triangle is a well-attended event for the community to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season. The choir at Northwoods Fine Arts Academy and the Brass Ensemble at CPHS performed for the audience! I am always proud to see our student groups participate in community events, showing our community the amazing work we do at SSPS!
This group who serve the district at Central Office had the opportunity to visit each site a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly, a few of them had never been to many of the sites and it was great to connect faces with voices they talk with at sites on a daily basis! Great group of people! Thank you for the important work you do making sure our employees and students have the resources they need!
Support staff from our Transportation, Child Nutrition, and Custodial/Maintenance Departments were honored at the First Annual Support Staff Banquet. Thank you to Ms. Sherry Pearson, Ms. Jennifer Cummings, and Mr. Mike Bynum for organizing this event. But more importantly, HUGE THANK YOU to this group of individuals who connect with students every day, making sure critical services are provided. We couldn't do it without them!
YEP! The Grinch himself showed up at school sites this year. In case you're interested, the Grinch is really Mr. Matt Crook from Olivet Baptist Church. Thank you to Mr. Crook for bringing some Holiday Cheer to our students. He might have used an onion as deodorant at CPHS and he might have scared a few of our students with his grumpy attitude, AND he might have raised his voice a time or two displaying a very negative attitude! Of course, it was all in fun and all in a day's work for the old Grinch. I'm pretty sure he lost count of the number of photo ops that took place and went home completely exhausted!
I hope you all have a wonderful and restful break. Take the opportunity to spend quality time with the ones you love the most and focus on yourself for a change. Come back rejuvenated and know that you are respected and appreciated by more people than you will ever realize. You make a difference! ~Sherry