Graduation for the class of 2020 is June 20th!

Hello. It’s been a while since I gave updates, so I wanted to reach out to you.  As everyone is aware, this has been a truly unique time.  We have been faced with difficult decisions as our community is still dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We have many amazing annual traditions here in Cleveland, that we have had to drastically change or cancel altogether as a response to the times we are in. Some of the information that I share with you today may change as we progress through the month of June, but this is what I know as of today.

Graduation

The Cleveland Board of Education met this morning at a special board meeting and voted to hold graduation at Billy Vessels Field on the evening of Saturday, June 20 at 7:00 pm.  We are still working on specifics, which I will get out to everyone by the end of next week, next Friday, June 5th.  It has been our goal from the beginning of this experience, if at all possible, to hold a traditional graduation.  While there will be some safeguards put in place, we believe that we can do that.  I am hopeful that I will see Cleveland Graduates and their families on the evening of June 20th.   

Summer Athletic Activities

This has been an area of great discussion over the past couple of weeks.  We have spent a great deal of time talking to the OSSAA, Oklahoma State Department and other Tulsa 7 Conference Schools about how athletic activities should look this summer.  We plan to begin a slow implementation of summer athletics starting June 8th.  While plans are subject to change as the summer proceeds, at this time I don’t foresee our athletes being able to take part in summer basketball camps or softball leagues.  We will, however, start slowly opening things up to allow our athletes to take part in summer pride workouts, and will continue to monitor what is best as the summer goes on.  As we do slowly reopen, safety precautions will be put into place, and all workouts will be voluntary.  There will be no penalty for students who do not attend.  We should have a more detailed plan out by the end of next week.

Prom

It is with great sadness that we have decided to cancel this year’s prom.  While very few schools even attempted to reschedule prom, we felt it was important for our students and truly hoped that we would be able to have it.  Even though the state is slowly trying to reopen, and we seem to be on track to move into Phase III of the Governor’s reopening plan, we are still being called to social distance, limit large gatherings, and take safety precautions.  We do not believe we will be able to successfully take those precautions at a prom.  These are the same reasons that summer athletic leagues and camps have been canceled.  These are not decisions that we make lightly, but I believe that it is the best decision for our school district.

Driver’s Ed

We are still discussing options for Driver’s Ed classes.  At this time, we have postponed making a decision for a couple of weeks and will reassess in the middle of June.  Although we could possibly cancel these classes for the summer, we are considering a virtual class, with students driving later in the summer.  We will continue to monitor the state’s progress in reopening and will make a decision in mid-June.  

Food Service

I want to remind everyone that we will continue providing food service through the end of June. We are excited that we have the opportunity to continue to provide a week’s worth of food to our students every Monday.  Please continue to meet our drivers and food service workers as we deliver every Monday through the month of June.

National Honor Society Induction

National Honor Society Induction has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 16 at 7:00 pm at the Cleveland Event Center.  We will be putting practices in place to help enact social distancing and other safety measures for our students and their families. Mrs. Childress will get more information to NHS parents and students next week.

Summer School

Summer School will be held virtually for high school students beginning next week.  The dates are June 1 – June 25, and students will be able to contact a teacher for help from 8:00 am – noon, Mondays through Thursday each of those four weeks.  To sign up, please contact Anne Sharp, HS Counselor at annesharp@clevelandtigers.com

Tiger Club

At this time, there are no in-person Tiger Club activities planned.  Mrs. Horine is working to get out some virtual activities for July, so hopefully we will have more information on that soon.  We know this program is very beneficial to our students, and are saddened by the idea of postponing or canceling.  Hopefully the situation changes to allow us to offer some services before the summer end.

2020-2021 School Year

One of the biggest questions on all of our minds is “What does the Fall of 2020 look like?  For Cleveland Schools, we are planning for a traditional start in August.  This would mean

  • Teachers returning to their classrooms in August to prepare for the arrival of students
  • Student’s begin school in their classrooms on Thursday, August 13.
  • We would hope that the traditional start of school would also mean that all of our traditional activities – fine arts, athletics, vo-ag, etc- would occur also.

This is obviously a fluid situation and we will continue to plan for other situations as well, but we hope to have a traditional beginning.

If we have any parents or students who have concerns about returning to school in a traditional manner, we encourage you to call us at 918-358-2210, select option 1 and let us discuss our other options such as blended and virtual learning.  We firmly believe that the traditional setting is best for the majority of our students, but in these uncertain times, there may be an additional number of students who believe that blended or virtual may be a better option.  We want to provide those options to you and your student as well.

I want you to know that we are working everyday to make the best decisions for our students, families and community.  None of these decisions are taken lightly as I am just as anxious to return to normal as everyone else is.  However, the safety of our students and their families is paramount.  I am encouraged that Governor Stitt believes we are set to begin phase III of reopening next week, and hope that we can continue as a state and community, on this positive course.  It’s nice to see some sunny days and I am proud to be a TIGER!  

Stay safe.

Alan Baker
Superintendent