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Jenks Public Schools addresses safety concerns, COVID, and staffing for new school year

JENKS, Okla. — Students in Jenks begin a new school year Thursday morning.

FOX23 spoke with Rob Loeber, the Director of Communications for Jenks Public Schools, about what families can expect this year.

While Green Country is in a much better place when it comes to COVID-19, Loeber said the district is asking parents to make sure to check their child for symptoms every day before school, and if they’re sick, keep them home.

The district continues to stay on top of cleaning protocols and Loeber said, “we’ve installed new air filters over the last couple of years in all of our buildings to recirculate the air, remove some of those droplets and kind of recycle 100 percent of the air every 8 hours.”

Students at the Freshman Academy will be starting off the school year with more than 10 new classrooms. Loeber said it’s an older building, and phase two of a three phase renovation project will be finished by day one.

With school safety always a top concern for families, Loeber reassures parents the district has its own police department, an incident management and threat assessment team. There’s also the Trojan Tipline where students and staff can anonymously voice safety concerns via text, computer or the app.

He said, “we really want to enforce this culture of if you see something, or you hear something, then say something.”

Like many Green Country districts, Loeber said Jenks is also dealing with a significant staff shortage. He said classroom teacher positions are filled, but there are more than 100 open support staff positions like for bus drivers, paraprofessionals and cafeteria staff if you’d like to apply.

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