Sapulpa School Teachers made it a point last week to get out and greet the students that, in a normal year, would’ve been back in class by now, studying for end-of-the-year testing.
Packing up a long line of cars adorned with signs and window paint, and filled with teachers that wholly miss their students, the caravan made its way down the bus routes, waving, honking and shouting as families stood by with banners and smiles, just as glad and grateful to see their teachers as their teachers were to see them.
One woman called Sapulpa Times specifically to make sure that we ran the story because she was so touched by it.
“What they did today gave me hope. They care,” said Robin Sloan, a former teacher who did her student teaching at Sapulpa High School in 1979. “The fact that they drove by, made me feel really really good, and proud to be a former teacher,” she said. during a phone call on Thursday afternoon. “It was amazing. Especially with school closures, they didn’t have to do it, but they care, and that’s what people need to understand. They care about the kids.”
Sloan taught in Okmulgee and Ponca City and then in Fairfax, Oklahoma for over a decade before moving out of state completely to Minnesota when her husband was transferred.
She finally got the chance to back to Sapulpa in 2017 and she says “so glad to be home.”
SPS is currently working to get a formal plan in place for Distance Learning, which should start on Monday, April 6th. Extracurricular activities and athletics have been canceled for the remainder of the year, and plans for big events like Prom and Graduation are still being worked out by the administration. With all the changes and uncertainty, it’s been good to see teachers hold fast to the things that matter the most to them: the relationship they have with the kids in the community.
