Parent Newsletter

Email: sandersj@purcellps.org
Website: https://www.purcellps.org/o/phs
Location: 2020 North Green Avenue, Purcell, OK, USA
Phone: 405-442-0099
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purcellhs
Twitter: @purcellhsdrgns

GREAT WEEK FOR PHS!

What a week for PHS students and staff. We were honored to celebrate our Veterans on Friday as part of our annual Purcell High School Veterans Day Assembly. Our cheerleaders put on a wonderful performance at the State Gameday Cheer competition on Saturday. Also Saturday our Academic Team defeated Tuttle in a back and forth final to win the regional championship. Basketball began this week as we hosted our junior high tournament and both the boys and girls high school teams are expected to be highly ranked this year. We also celebrated Lauren Holmes signing with Rose State College for softball this past week.

Please allow me to recognize several individuals who helped make the Veterans Day Assembly such a special event. Zoe Swift and April Trumbo, National Honor Society sponsors, worked tirelessly planning and organizing to make it a special event. Our National Honor Society students worked hard preparing for the event, decorating, and serving lunch to our honored guests. David Hilger and Bryson Tuttle not only lead our band but handle all of the tech duties and event set-up. We appreciate the hard work of our custodians and maintenance staff: Kyle Shaw, Steve Massey, and Helen Reed. It's not easy to host a junior high tournament late into the evening Thursday night and then quickly transform our gym into an auditorium.

We would also like to thank Staff Sergeant Tanner Schonasky for the message he delivered on Friday reminding us all why we celebrate Veterans Day. It was also a pleasure to see the return of our vocal music program led by our new choir director, Cindy Donaldson. The performances were wonderful and inspiring. Thank you as well to Leilani Hartleroad for her rendition of taps and the band sounded amazing as always. I particularly enjoy the playing of the military branches songs.

Our student body deserve much credit for the respect they displayed on this special day. They were not only attentive but responsive and engaged. This is a special opportunity to remind all of the value of service. We are grateful for the example our Veterans have set for all of us.

Take a moment and click on link below and watch the video tribute to Harold Simeroth, 1941 Purcell High School Graduate. Harold recently celebrated his 100th birthday. Harold was a star athlete from Purcell who played multiple sports at the University of Oklahoma and served his country during World War II. He was awarded 3 bronze stars and the Medal of Valor while serving in 3 major battles including the Battle of the Bulge. I enjoyed watching and learning about one of our graduates from the past.

Jason

cell phone number: 918-873-0354

There is no school the week of Thanksgiving!

Allison is the daughter of Roger & Sarah Schlotthauer. She is a two-year Drum Major for the Band, runs cross-country, and active in National Honor Society and PHS Leadership program. Her favorite class is Calculus and she is a 3 year Letter P recipient and member of the Superintendent's Honor Roll.

She plans to attend college after high school and eventually fly planes for the airlines.

Zach is the son of Brandi & Darren Idlett. He is active in STUCO and National Honor Society and plays baseball and runs X-Country. He is a member of Superintendent's Honor Roll. Academic State Champion XC Team and a 3 year Letter P recipient. His favorite class is Calculus and he plans to pursue a business degree in college.

• We conducted an unannounced Lockdown drill on Tuesday, 11/1/22. This drill was conducted during our passing period (5 minute period between classes). We were very pleased with the quick reaction time of both staff and students and were able to quickly secure the building. We purposely conducted this drill during a time we knew students would be in transit and some students outside the building. We were assisted by the Purcell Police Department and were able to make improvements to our procedures. We also used the RAVE panic button to alert staff of the drill.

• On Friday this week a staff member used the RAVE panic button to report an unknown person in the building. This was NOT a drill and we responded quickly to the report. Fortunately the unknown person was one of our district maintenance workers who the staff member did not recognize. This is exactly what the RAVE button is for and I was very pleased with the actions of the staff member. This provided us another opportunity to review our safety procedures in case of an actual event.

• Winter weather is forecast for Monday. Forecasting snow in Oklahoma is a tricky proposition as we have all learned before. However it does appear we can expect some accumulating wet snow tomorrow and cold temperatures. At this point it appears impact on roads and surfaces will be minimal. However we will keep an eye on conditions and provided any needed updates.

• Dr. McAdoo released information this week in regards to issues with students crossing Green Avenue from the Junior High and High School. I've copied her message below. We will continue to do our best to educate our students about the dangers of crossing a high trafficked road.

Dear Parent/Guardian:

Purcell Public Schools and the City of Purcell have been working together to provide a safe crossing of Green Avenue for students at the Junior High and High School. I want to outline a few quick safety actions, short term safety actions and a long term plan to address this area.

Quick Safety Actions:

• The school flashing lights will be on from 7:30 am - 3:45 pm each day school is in session. This will reduce the speed in the area from 45 mph to 35 mph.

• The JH and HS will conduct short safety lessons in Advisory time to remind students the importance of staying off phones, looking both ways, and being a defensive walker in this area when crossing the street.

• The District provides a bus for students who live across Green Avenue. This is not new, but bears reminding that it is available. This is Bus 5. Please contact your child’s school if you are interested in them riding this bus.

Short Term:

• The City will be purchasing flashing pedestrian signs for the area to alert drivers that students may be crossing the street.

• Provide one spot for students to cross Green Avenue that is close to the pedestrian sign.

• The City of Purcell will ask for an engineer to conduct a traffic study in this area for further recommendations.

Long Term:

• Review traffic study recommendations and make changes as necessary.

• Adjust Quick and Short term plans as needed for increased safety.

Sincerely,

Sheli McAdoo, Ph.D.

Superintendent

Please be sure to check the regularly updated Counselor's Corner Newsletter linked below. Ms. Feroli has added important information for each individual class. PLEASE SEE UPCOMING DEADLINE FOR JANUARY ACT DATE.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE OF UPCOMING ACT TEST DATES.

Please note the deadline for the December 10th ACT exam passed. The next approaching deadline for ACT registrations is January 6th for the February 11th Test. Remember all juniors will take the ACT on campus next April.

Please see the message below from Curtis Haynes and the American Legion regarding the American Legion Oratorical Contest. There are generally not many participants so this provides a good chance for a scholarship if someone would like to try:

I would really like to have local participants in the American Legion Oratorical contest. It is a nationwide contest that begins at the post level and progresses through the District, Department, and National levels.

We will host a Post contest if we get two or more contestants, and we can send up to two to the District contest. The District contest will be on January 7 at the Lexington First Baptist Church and we can send two contestants to the Department. The Department contest will be in February at Edmond. Unless it has changed, scholarships awarded at the Department are $1000 for first place, $750 for second place, and $500 for third place.

It is an excellent contest and gets more competitive at the National levels, but at the Department level there has only been between 3 to 6 contestants the last few years.

I have attached some information and would strongly encourage you to consider participating. Please contact me if you have questions.

Thanks,

Dale Haynes

Lexington Post 301 Adjutant

Candy Clark's 6th hour Honors English 2

The sophomores are reading Julius Caesar in English. They seem to be enjoying the reading of parts and the 6th hour honors class even wants to make a movie of them acting it out :-)

---Ms. Clark

I wanted to share some news with parents about our PHS Curriculum Team. The curriculum team meets monthly and is made up of our department chairs and the head principal;

English Chair: Amber Findley

Math Chair: Michael O'Neal

Science Chair: Jack McNeely

Social Studies Chair: Kurt Gray

Electives Chair: Stefanie Renfro

Special Education Chair: Mindy Wells

Our curriculum team is currently in the process of mapping all curriculum for all core (english, socials studies, science, and math)subjects and some elective subjects. What is curriculum mapping and why is it important?

• Curriculum mapping aligns teaching and learning to state learning standards
• Curriculum mapping identifies learning resources and assessments
• Curriculum mapping provides a scope and sequence of teaching and learning.

There has been much misleading information in the news and social media regarding topics and issues taught in classrooms across Oklahoma. I cannot speak for other schools but I can say with full confidence instruction in Purcell High School is aligned to the standards we are required to teach. We are fortunate at PHS to have a veteran staff of master teachers who provide leadership and mentorship to our highly promising younger teachers.

We will soon post Curriculum maps for every Math and English subject to our website which will provide not only a window to the learning in your child's classroom, but full transparency with our community in regards to the learning happening in every classroom. We will eventually provide curriculum maps for all core subjects and many elective subjects.

Keep in mind that our Social Studies department recently received new curriculum and is in the process of mapping. Also the state department of education issued new science standards this year and our science teachers are mapping their curriculum to the new standards

Our cheer team gave a special performance this Saturday at the OSSAA Gameday State Competition. Although they did not qualify for the finals their performance was impressive and they had by far the largest cheering section of all the schools. Dragon pride was alive and well. Great job to all of these student athletes. We enjoyed cheering for them for once!

Thank to you to the coaches for their hours and hours of hard work: Rachel Barnett, Grant Gish, April Trumbo, and Ashley Howell

From Cindy Donaldson:

PHS Choir had their first concert, Country Comedy Hour, on Sunday, November 6 before an appreciative and fun loving audience. There was a lot of foot tapping and clapping and singing along.

The group performed in combination with their fellow students to honor our military veterans on Friday. Addison Harjo did an amazing job singing the National Anthem and Kyle Pliler and the choir did a great job with Ragged Old Flag and God Bless the USA.

Another exciting event this week in the choir department is the funding of a Donors Choose grant to purchase dance mirrors. The choir was notified on Saturday, November 5 and already have the mirrors in their possession.

Amazing things are happening in #124.

Staff Sergeant Tanner Schonasky delivers remarks to the veterans in attendance, parents, staff, and student body. We appreciate your service to our country.

Our academic team achieved a huge win over Tuttle in the finals to claim the Regional Championship. They will compete at the Conference Tournament on Dec. 1 and the Area Tournament on Jan. 14th. They are coached by Jasmine Quinonez.

Senior softball player Lauren Holmes signed her letter of intent to play softball at Rose State College. Lauren also stars on our varsity basketball team. Lauren is a leader in our school who works extremely hard on the field, court, and in the classroom. Way to go Lauren. She is the daughter of Matt and Jennifer Holmes.

Parents, if you contacted Mrs. Trumbo to set aside a 2022 yearbook for your student, please send payment of $55 as soon as possible. We have just a few of the 2022 yearbooks left for sale, so be sure to grab one before they are gone!

Picture retake day is scheduled for Thursday, December 1st for 9th-11th and Seniors who were not here for panel pictures. Panel pictures will have a $10 sitting fee payable to Prestige. This will be the last opportunity for Senior panel pictures through the school.

Presell of the 2023 Yearbook will begin on Black Friday for a discounted price of $45!!!! The price will go up on January 1, 2023 to $55. More information to come soon!!

PHS Yearbook is also excited to begin work in collaboration with Parker Davidson of Healthcorps and Michael Lopez, Traffic Safety Specialist with OK SAFE, on a new seatbelt initiative to encourage students to wear their seatbelts at all times when in a vehicle. Our yearbook staff will be using their skills to produce a campaign to encourage their peers to be safe drivers and passengers.

Please contact the high school if you are unable to access Parent Portal. This allows students and parents to access real-time grades 24/7, attendance information and update personal information. I include a parent/portal link for all parents/guardians on every Parent Newsletter. This link is located immediately below this message. It's very important all parents have access to parent portal.

Please complete this form linked here if you are need of a Parent Portal Account:

https://forms.gle/kcw4yFh9UghpFKW76

If you have any problems accessing Parent Portal please contact the school directly: (405) 442-0099