OKCPS Superintendent Pens Letter To Parents As Classes Resume

The superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools, Dr. Sean McDaniel, penned a letter to OKC parents before their kids head back to the classroom.

It includes notes about COVID cases in the district and how they are combatting outbreaks along with some important dates for parents to put on their calendars.

You can read the whole letter below:

OKCPS Families and Staff,  

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your time away to rest and recharge over the Winter Break! I want to applaud #TeamOKCPS, you are doing an amazing job! We come to work for students and that is more apparent now than ever. I see you and I appreciate you. It should be known, but I want to say it again -- our students are our priority and every decision made is with them in mind. 

Before we look toward the semester ahead, I want to congratulate our 55 graduates from the Winter class of 2021-22 from Emerson North, Emerson South and Putnam Heights Academy who walked across the stage together to receive their diplomas on December 14th. We are all so proud of them! If you missed it, you can watch the ceremony online. 

January is School Board Appreciation Month. I will be honoring our board members during my Superintendent’s report at Monday night’s board meeting. We are so blessed to have these eight amazing individuals who speak up on behalf of our 32,000 students, their families and our staff. I hope you’ll join me in thanking our board members and our district looks forward to celebrating them during the month of January! 

COVID Update 

As we expected, OKCPS is beginning to see a significant number of our teachers, instructional staff and students out across the district due to illness or other circumstances. Yesterday, we made the difficult decision to move Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Elementary and FD Moon Middle School students to virtual learning until further notice. Please note that other school sites may be asked to shift to virtual learning in the future. However, for now, all other OKCPS students should continue to come to campus for in-person learning and take their devices home with them each day just in case we need to adjust our learning. 

For the time being, any school that does shift to virtual learning means students will log into Canvas and/or Seesaw for asynchronous learning at home independently. Teachers may provide materials for reading, videos to view, notes to study, assignments to complete, activities, assessments, or allow for independent work time. We believe this will allow our families as much flexibility as possible as students can log in and complete the daily assignments in a self-paced manner at any time during the day or evening.    

A shift to remote learning -- even for a short amount of time -- is always our last resort. As our COVID-19 numbers continue to rise, I want to take this opportunity to once again reassure you that I do not have plans to shift our entire district into a virtual learning environment unless or until it becomes absolutely necessary. We know our students learn best when they are together in the classroom, and OKCPS will do everything in our power to make this possible.  Our teams will continue to closely monitor our staffing levels and will rely on site-level contact tracing to help us identify small groups of students -- whether that be a classroom, a team, a grade level or even a single school site -- who may need to shift over to virtual learning. This will all be done on a case-by-case basis and, again, only as a last resort. You can help us by reporting any absence as soon as you are aware you will be out. Early notification helps us with our contact tracing efforts, as well as our ability to find staff coverage and to arrange asynchronous learning for our students who are at home.  

COVID-19 Safety Guidelines - Exposure and Quarantine  

As a reminder, OKCPS adjusted our current procedures to align with the new guidance released by the CDC on December 27 related to isolation and quarantine for COVID-19. Visit www.okcps.org/Page/7187 to view the updated guidelines OKCPS is utilizing for contact tracing purposes.  

COVID-19 Testing  

As I’ve mentioned before, It’s very important that families do not send children to school if they are sick. Likewise, employees should not report to work if they are ill. 

I want to remind families and staff about our free COVID-19 testing which is available at a number of OKCPS sites across the district. To schedule an appointment, please visit our website. Currently, testing at district sites is only available for OKCPS students and staff and a parent or guardian must be present for a student to be tested. If you seek testing after an exposure, please wait 5 days. If you are symptomatic, do not come to school or work while you wait to be tested OR while you wait for your test results. 

OKCPS is also working with our partners to schedule additional COVID-19 vaccine PODs. We’ll share that information with you as soon as it’s available. In the meantime, those who are interested can locate a vaccine site by visiting www.vaxokc.com.  

Calendar Reminders  

1. Monday, January 10 - OKCPS Board of Education Business Meeting at 5:30pm, Clara Luper Center for Educational Services 
2. Monday, January 17 - The district will be closed to honor and celebrate the MLK holiday. Please join us for the OKC MLK Coalition Parade at 2:00pm in downtown Oklahoma City. You can sign up to walk or ride the OKCPS bus here. 
3. Monday, January 31 - This will now be a Regular Instructional Day. You can access the newly approved OKCPS school calendars here. 

Resources and Supports 

We are just 7 days into 2022 and it’s already shown us that tough times will continue. We all have the power to choose how we will react to the challenges that we face, and I encourage each of you to check in with your students, family, friends and colleagues and to practice a little self-care, whatever that means for you.  

OKCPS remains committed to supporting you in every way possible. Below are some resources for families and staff: 

1. OKCPS Family Connect, a resource program for OKCPS families offering support with mental health, physical health, GED prep/academic classes, employment resources, senior citizen support and transportation.for our families. Families can request support by calling (405) 587-FEEL to speak to a case manager Monday through Friday from 8am to 4:30pm. You can also visit www.okcps.org/FamilyConnect to learn more about this program. 

As we begin a new semester, safety will remain at the forefront of all we do. Our OKCPS Covid Taskforce continues to meet weekly and district leaders are coming together twice daily to evaluate our situation. While we cannot necessarily predict what may happen, I do think it is important to focus on the things we do know and the things we can control. OKCPS has a strong set of protocols that, if followed with fidelity, will reduce the risk of exposure and possible infection. Along with social distancing efforts, we have an ionization system in every space of every school and building in the district that reduces the risk of exposure by filtering the air. We have a solid cleaning process in buildings and on buses. In fact, over the Winter Break, our teams applied yet another round of the 90 day Electrostatic mist in all schools. In addition to our mask requirement, OKCPS has a strong testing program that has reduced the turnaround time from exposure to diagnosis and helps us get the right people home for the right amount of time. No system is perfect, but by combining these layers of safety, we are doing everything possible to keep OKCPS students, families and staff as safe and healthy as possible, allowing us to continue with in-person teaching and learning.  

Thank you in advance for your help to keep our students and staff healthy, for your trust in me and for your continued support of OKCPS.  



Dr. Sean McDaniel

Superintendent