Tag Archives: Education Oklahoma

TPS Leadership Panic Proposal Passed

By David Arnett

Analysis: With millions of missing money still under investigation, the Tulsa Public School District (TPS) Board of Education Monday voted to approve a staff proposal to close or consolidate 14 elementary schools, two middle schools and one alternative program beginning with the 2027-28 school year.

The decision came after a short series of public meetings in which parents, grandparents, teachers, state legislators, education specialists (including a candidate for State School Superintendent), and citizens spoke against the plan. Public comment at the final meeting was respectful, reasoned, and at times tearful as they begged District officials to delay or reject what they considered a deeply faulted school disaster.

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Report on Garland Memo Released

By David Arnett

Records show the Biden White House and Justice Department pushed for a federal “hook” to prosecute parents and charge those protesting lockdown mandates and deviancy in schools with federal crimes.

October 5, the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group issued a report detailing how Biden Administration officials at the Department of Justice explored avenues to prosecute parents and protestors who spoke to school boards and school officials.

The report focuses on the production and circulation of an October 4, 2021 memorandum sent from Attorney General Merrick Garland to the Director of the FBI, the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, and United States Attorneys.

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Discipline Retains Teachers

By Jonathan Small

As policymakers seek to improve the poor academic outcomes in Oklahoma’s public schools, strengthening teachers’ ability to maintain discipline will be a key component of that effort.

State Rep. Rob Hall, R-Tulsa, recently led a legislative study exploring that challenge and declared, “A well-ordered classroom is a precondition of effective instruction. It is the foundation upon which all other educational activities are built. Because when chaos reigns in a classroom, both teaching and learning become exponentially more difficult, if not impossible.”

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Second Lady Vance’s Reading Challenge 

By Staff Report

Second Lady Usha Vance’s Summer Reading Challenge concluded this week with over 30,000 Submissions and 360,000 books read in the three months of encouraging childhood literacy.

“I am so proud of all the children who completed my Summer Reading Challenge! I hope every participant saw just how fun and exciting reading can be and that they continue reading beyond this summer. Thank you to all of the parents and teachers who encouraged their kids and students to dive into books over the past few months and to all of our partners who made this such a rewarding experience,” said Second Lady Usha Vance. 

Second Lady Usha Vance Summer Reading Challenge
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Schools Teach. Health Providers Treat.

By Deborah Campbell

Analysis: School-based healthcare is no longer limited to services traditionally connected to special education. Oklahoma already permits certain health-related and rehabilitative services through schools, while federal policy is encouraging states to expand school-based Medicaid and behavioral-health services. At the same time, school-based health centers can introduce a broader healthcare-delivery operation into a public school.

The question is not whether children need healthcare. They do. The question is whether public schools should become a larger part of healthcare delivery systems, and if so, where the boundaries should be drawn.

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