Sixth grade students of Seminole Public Schools were set to spend next week at Camp Goddard, but the outing has been postponed over COVID-19 concerns.

Superintendent Dr. Bob Gragg said the district learned of a positive case of COVID in a student on Thursday, resulting in the last-minute postponement of the camp.

“We felt like we didn’t want to duplicate what happened at some of the church camps this summer, so we made the difficult decision to reschedule the camp for another time,” Gragg said on Friday. “I know our sixth graders are disappointed, but we have to put safety first. We will do our best to make Camp Goddard happen at a later date, even if we have to delay it until next spring.”

Seminole Public Schools takes sixth graders to Camp Goodard, which is nestled away in the Arbuckle Mountains, every year. High School students are eligible to attend as counselors.

In addition to postponing Camp Goddard, the COVID-19 virus disrupted in-person learning at Wilson Elementary on Friday, Aug. 27.

“Due to a significant number of illness related absences today, Woodrow Wilson Elementary School will move to distance learning status on Friday August 27th. We hope to be back to In-Person Learning status next week, and we will provide additional updates accordingly,” the district said in a statement released on Thursday.

The district has posted its COVID-19 safety protocols to its website at www.sps. k12.ok.us. the filing by the law firm “of any and all briefs of amici, whether in support of either or neither party, at the certiorari stage.”

Alex Gerszewski, communications director for the AG’s Office, told the News-Capital he could not say where the funds to pay the law firm will come from since the state has not been billed for the services yet.

Bosse’s death sentence was overturned after the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision to apply the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma to the Chickasaw Nation, meaning the case fell under federal jurisdiction as per the 1885 Major Crimes Act, which gives the federal government exclusive prosecutorial power in cases involving Native Americans defendants and victims within tribal lands.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the Appeals Court decision reversing Bosse’s conviction and gave the state until Sept. 9 to file a writ of certiorari in the case.

“Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically,” states a Supreme Court order. “In the event the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the issuance of the mandate of this court.”

Attorney General John O’Connor said the McGirt decision was “recklessly overbroad” and the decision is throwing Oklahomans into danger of having no law enforcement respond to a call for help.

“The U.S. Supreme Court got this decision wrong, and we are respectfully asking the Court to overturn its decision or to limit it to certain federal crimes,” O’Conner said.

If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, the state is asking for three questions to be answered:

1. Whether a State may impose procedural or equitable bars to postconviction relief on the claim that the State lacked prosecutorial authority because the crime of conviction occurred in Indian country.

2. Whether a State has authority to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians in Indian country.

3. Whether McGirt v. Oklahoma should be overruled.

The United States and the Cherokee Nation have both filed motions for leave to file amicus briefs in the case.

(Reprinted with permission from McAlester News-Capital)