Minco School District

Tonight our softball team in playing in Piedmont. Please click on this link to purchase tickets. NO TICKETS will be sold at the gate. https://www.purplepass.com/#239159/P_I_E_D_M_O_N_T____W_I_L_D_C_A_T_S-HS_Softball:_Piedmont_Varsity_&_JV_vs._Minco-F&M_Bank_Softball_Stadium-September-27-2022.html

Minco is hosting the softball regional playoffs this Thursday and Friday. Tickets must be purchased online at WWW.OSSAA.COM

REMINDER: SCHOOL IS BEING DISMISSED AT 2:00PM FRIDAY. THANK YOU.

This is the Minco Football Schedule for next week....

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Thursday 9/22/22: Parade 6PM downtown Minco followed by a community PEP RALLY Friday 9/23/22: Tailgate Party at high school and middle school11:30-2:00 SCHOOL WILL BE DISMISSED at 2:00PM Friday

WE ARE NOT FAILURES!!! By Kevin Sims Minco Public Schools Superintendent WE ARE NOT FAILURES AT MINCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!! The last few months and especially the last few weeks, I see daily the sentiment that public schools are failing our children. I am not naïve enough to know that this is true in some places, but let me tell you in Minco, Oklahoma this is not the case. Are we perfect? NO! Do we need to improve? YES! In fact if we quit trying to improve and be better, we don’t need to be in the school business. Are we failing? NO! It can be frustrating to hear the daily sentiment that is out there, but let me tell you again, Minco is not a failing school! As a superintendent in 2020-2021, I can tell you it was hell!! Our numbers went from 560 to 500 in school. For the first six months we averaged at least 100 to 150 quarantines a week. Some children missed over 60 days because of being quarantined. We had to close our elementary school due to covid for a week because we had so many teachers out. It was a rough year, yet we remained in school and steadfast in our efforts to educate our children. We did not fail. In 2021-2022 Our numbers grew back to 560 students. Several students came to us from Epic Charter School. I am in no way knocking those families as 2020 was a mess. I believe in parental choice for their children’s education. Schools are meant to be in person. Nothing can replace the student-teacher relationship. NOTHING! We, as every other school in the nation, had many students who were behind. Trust me when I say we worked hard to catch them up. Learning loss is real. I am proud of our efforts to get our students back on track. Yes, we still have a lot of work to do, and we are working hard to do just that. Then there is this year. Politically, the nation is in a real mess! The Left Wing Mob wants to push woke garbage. The Right Wing Mob wants to defund public schools and ban books like Charlotte's Web. Right in the middle of the political fringes are good people who show up daily to teach, love, feed, transport, and coach our children. Some of these people are Republicans. Some of these people are Democrats. All these people have one thing in common: They love our students. We are not failing! The next time you see a Minco teacher, bus driver, coach, support staff, or administrator take a moment to thank them for showing up and caring for our Minco students. You have my word as superintendent that we will work hard to teach our children, protect our children, and love our children. You can tell me we need to improve, and I will agree. You can tell me we make mistakes, and I will agree. You can tell me we are failing, and I will take you to task because we are not. I am proud of our little school district! MINCO IS NOT FAILING!!!

Please show your support for our Elementary Secretary this coming Monday!! Wear Pink Minco!!!

The Junior High Games at Apache tonight have been cancelled due to the weather.

If a parent/guardian completes a free or reduced-price meal application in July or August 2022 and that meal application is approved for free or reduced-price meals, they will be eligible for Summer 2022 P-EBT benefits retroactively when pick-up files are sent to DHS in October. This will only apply to Summer 2022 benefits.

Minco Public Schools has an immediate opening for a school cook. If interested, please call Robin at 405-714-4110

Minco Patrons, This year in your children’s enrollment packets, you saw the affidavit for Biological Sex at Birth. This form is in accordance with Oklahoma law 70 Okla. Stat. 27-106. This will be in our packets each year unless this is changed in future laws. This is required by the law. The intent of this is to protect female sports from male participation. I apologize that we did not send clarification with this form earlier. Every school in the state that has middle school or high school athletics has to have a form from each athlete. I ask you to please complete this form online if your child is participating in middle school or high school athletics. If you have any questions, please email me at ksims@minco.k12.ok.us. Thank you, Kevin Sims Superintendent

If you have not completed your child's enrollment packet, please do so ASAP!! Please go to https://www.wengage.com/minco to complete of finish the enrollment process. If you have any questions, please contact your child's school for the proper guidance.

WELCOME BACK TO THE 2022-2023 SCHOOL YEAR!!! By Kevin Sims Minco Public Schools Superintendent It’s hard to believe that the new school year is just around the corner. Come August 18th our hallways will come alive again with students. It is always great to begin a new school year. The excitement of meeting your teacher, seeing your friends, and getting involved with activities brings on a great level of expectation. The energy of our students, teachers, and community are always bristling this time of year. The last few years have brought many challenges for sure. I am quite sure we will face some more challenges again, but as always we will be ready to step up to the occasion and work hard this school year. As we approach this year, student success is the primary focus for Minco Public Schools. We pride ourselves in academics, athletics, and organizational involvement. This is never changing. We will strive to love and educate our students. We have their best interests at heart, and we are anticipating a great year. This year we will have several new students and families in our district as well as several new staff members. We greatly look forward to working with these new teachers and support team members. Please join me in welcoming these new staff members this year: Third Grade: Katie Brassfield Middle School Special Education: Sara Thomas Wellness/Athletics: Nathan McGregor VoAg: Trever Stelzig Elementary PE: Allen McClung High School English: Josh Strutton Middle School English: Reagan Baade Band: Robert Hullet Social Studies/Athletics: Tyler Roberts English/Social Studies/Athletics: Chad Walker High School Special Education: Lyndzi Bouchard Bus Driver: William Johnston As we enter into the 2022-2023 school year, it is important to know we will face challenges, but we will usher in a year of great success. I look forward to seeing all of our students on August 18th. This year is going to be a great year!!

Minco Patrons, As we prepare to get school started here are a list of important dates that you need to know as we approach the new school year. August 2nd: Current Students and families should have access to enroll on the Wengage site. August 2-4: New Students and families should check in to their schools to start enrollment. August 5th: Elementary Class Assignments will be placed on the outside of the elementary office at 9:00AM August 15: All Staff Reports August 16: Elementary and Middle School Meet your Teacher night at 6:00PM August 16: Senior and Senior parent meeting at 6:00PM in the Auditorium August 16: Freshman Orientation for students and parents 6:30PM in the auditorium August 18th: FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

IMPORTANT!!!!!! 2022-2023 Student breakfasts will be $2.00 a day. Student lunches will be $3.00 a day. PLEASE COMPLETE THE FREE AND REDUCED MEAL FORMS. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!

Minco Public Schools has a position for a Middle School English Teacher for the 2022-2023 school year. Interested candidates can send a resume with references and a copy of teaching certificate to Minco Middle School Principal Tracy Allen at tallen@minco.k12.ok.us

The OSSAA Mandatory Sports Activity DEAD PERIOD will be from July 2nd - July 10th. *NO ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES ARE ALLOWED* - Athletes & Coaches CANNOT engage in any sports activities, meetings, etc. during the Dead Period. -All Minco Public Schools Athletic Facilitites (including the Gym, Weight Room, Athletic Fields, Indoor Hitting Facility, etc) are closed during the Dead Period.

SAFETY: THE FIRST PRIORITY By: Kevin Sims Minco Public Schools Superintendent Ross Elementary in Uvalde, Texas changed everything. As we have had time to process this, it is unimaginable how someone could go after young children who were having a regular day at school. The events of that day in that small Texas school were gross and pure evil. Unfortunately, things have changed and not for the better in our country. There is no doubt that one of the main focuses of school districts across the country as we start school will be school security. Minco Public Schools is no different. We love our students and our community. It is my view that schools number one task is now providing a secure environment for learning. Schools are not prisons and students should have freedom in this environment. With this truth, we are also very aware that we have to implement security measures that help secure our campus and make it all the more difficult for a possible intruder to come into the buildings. We at Minco will be doing some things to implement measures to make our campuses safer. We are implementing a card access system to enter each building. Buildings will have only one entry and exit point through the day. Staff can enter with access cards that must be scanned to get into the building. Each morning and during lunch times we will have the front doors manned to let students enter. After 8:10AM students or any visitor will have to buzz a doorbell and introduce themselves over a speaker before they are let in the building. This system will control and video every person who walks into our buildings. We have over 55 cameras in place now, and we are adding more than 10 more to make sure other areas are adequately covered including better coverage of our parking lots. We will have several screens in places monitoring these cameras. It is important to have a strong system in place monitoring our campuses including athletic facilities. Our entryways are covered in glass. We are going to cover each entry way and all doors going into the building with 3M security film that makes it much more difficult to break through the glass. Time is precious in situations where you have only seconds to react. This added security helps give you time needed to react and get into safety protocol. There is no substitute to having time on your side. Minco Public Schools has a policy allowing staff to receive training to be able to be armed on campus. This policy is already implemented, and due to the need for confidentiality, this will not be discussed here, but know we have it in place and we will not be afraid to neutralize a situation when someone would try to harm our students. Never did I think we would have to take such strict protocols to go to school, but the times we live in call for it. The security and safety of our students and staff are paramount, and we are taking it very seriously. I will keep you updated as we evaluate safety protocols and security measures throughout the year. We will have a safe environment for your children to learn in.

We begin Bulldog Iron tomorrow morning May 31st. HS boys-6:30-8:00 HS girls- 7:15-8:45 5th-8th boys- 8:15-9:15 5th-8th girls- 8:45-9:45

We begin Bulldog Iron tomorrow morning May 31st. HS boys-6:30-8:00 HS girls- 7:15-8:45 5th-8th boys- 8:15-9:15 5th-8th girls- 8:45-9:45