Category Archives: Education

Education

No More Shaming — Stand Up For OKC Public Schools!

Credit KOCO TV.
Credit KOCO TV.

The first day of classes for Oklahoma City Public Schools was Monday, August 3rd.

That district is the biggest and most criticized school district in the state. It is also the most ethnically and economically diverse. School “reform” advocates love to show just how bad they think it is in OKCPS. The A-F school grading system is meant to show that.

It is up to the rest of us to remind “reform” folks of reality, which is more complex than their portrayals.

And it is not just out of charity that we move in close to stop the shaming and advocate for OKCPS. Many of the problems with economic and cultural diversity present in the core of the OKC metro are coming to our communities eventually.

Continue reading No More Shaming — Stand Up For OKC Public Schools! →

Education

For-Profit Charters Still A Live Idea — Let’s Demand Answers from Candidates

For profit charter school corporations have proved in several states that they aren’t likely to abandon their crusade to turn the public good of public education into a private investment opportunity.

This is fair warning: They won’t quit in Oklahoma, either.

And leading up to the November elections this year, voters in Oklahoma have every right to ask for answers about each candidate’s policies toward for-profit charters, how transparent they should be, and who will control those charters.

Continue reading For-Profit Charters Still A Live Idea — Let’s Demand Answers from Candidates →

Education

Cox Responds to Questions About Charters, ALEC, Campaign Finances

Earlier this week I featured Dr. Freda Deskin’s answers to questions that I suggested in two earlier posts: The 3 Education Questions We Should Ask all Candidates for Public Office; and, Necessary Questions for Oklahoma Supt of Schools Candidates . 

She is in a Democratic Party Primary Runoff race with Dr. John Cox. Dr. John Cox Promo PicHe has responded to those same questions, and has some interesting answers. Some of those answers diverge significantly from Deskin’s.

I have included all questions from each blog post for readability. These are Cox’s answers as sent to me on Thursday, July 24th.

Continue reading Cox Responds to Questions About Charters, ALEC, Campaign Finances →

Education

Deskin First to Volunteer Answers to Questions About Charters — Campaign Finance

In two earlier posts I have raised education questions for candidates for any public office in Oklahoma, and specifically for Oklahoma Superintendent of  Schools.

Deskin Promo PicTo my surprise, Freda Deskin, volunteered her answers to both blog posts in her comments on my Google + timeline where I had posted the separate links. I did not solicit her responses.

Deskin is in a Democratic Party runoff with John Cox for state Supt. of Schools. Voting will be on August 26th. The winner will face Republican candidate Joy Hofmeister in November.

Continue reading Deskin First to Volunteer Answers to Questions About Charters — Campaign Finance →

Education

Barresi as Fallin’s Education Secretary — That OK With You?

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IMG_0192

Some people just won’t go away when they should.

Barresi has revealed a lot in her recent self-righteous comments that I included in the post Barresi Misses the Fact that She Is the “Power”.  Those comments show us that she believes she and her allies are the righteous few – misunderstood geniuses – fighting against a stupid, corrupt rabble of teachers unions and administrators who are just trying to defend their turf at all costs.

Of course, she never seems to believe that her opponents may be the ones who are right.

Certainly too many education “reformers” fall into this category. While talking a “disruptive innovation” game, they bring only disruption and not for the sake of innovation.

Instead, it’s about the money.

Continue reading Barresi as Fallin’s Education Secretary — That OK With You? →

Education

Person of the Week – Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins

Judge Clay Jenkins, credit: The Scoop, Dallas News
Judge Clay Jenkins, credit: The Scoop, Dallas News

Dallas County, Texas Judge Clay Jenkins is coordinating a church — local government — Texas — federal government effort to develop temporary, humanitarian shelters for the flood of refugee children who have crossed the Texas border and are now in detention.

Continue reading Person of the Week – Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins →

Education

Barresi Misses the Fact That She Is the “Power”

IMG_0192Right on cue, she delivered.
  • Angry.
  • Self-righteous.
  • Martyr pose.

It’s just what we were expecting. Amazing.

There was a larger-than-usual crowIMG_0217d gathered at the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting yesterday, June 26th. The room filled completely although the location had been changed to a huge Oklahoma Senate hearing room to accommodate it.

After some formalities, Supt. Barresi started off saying that she wanted to first make “some brief comments”.  Here is about the first 2 1/2 minutes of those opening remarks. If you can’t take even that much, just stop it and keep reading.

Continue reading Barresi Misses the Fact That She Is the “Power” →

Education

Necessary Questions for Oklahoma Supt of Schools Candidates

Congratulations to Joy Hofmeister for winning a tough Republican primary campaign. It was even tougher because Ms. “I’m-Not-A-Politician” pulled out every underhanded politician stunt her campaign thought that she could get by with.

The Democrats still have some sorting and choosing to do. Congratulations to John Cox and Freda Deskin for getting into the runoff. That part will come to a conclusion August 26th.

No matter what party these three represent, it is important to ask questions that will allow us to understand who might have the most influence on them later.

And that is important, isn’t it?

Continue reading Necessary Questions for Oklahoma Supt of Schools Candidates →

Education

Don’t Believe Right-Wing Rhetoric About “Teachers Unions” in Oklahoma

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The ads for Janet Barresi in the Oklahoma City TV market are almost surreal. Are they even talking about Oklahoma? Yes, they are. But I don’t recognize what they are describing.

Now to get the effect, use that deep, male, monster-truck-tractor-pull scary voice to say the words “teachers unionzzzzzzzzzz“. What? You mean there are for-real teachers unions in Oklahoma?

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Education

June 24th Matters – So Does the Plan for the Next Day and Following!

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The election of Janet Barresi was the culmination of many years of planning and working by the Far Right in Oklahoma to reduce and eliminate the power of a large group of intelligent people who just ask too many pesky questions: teachers.

Contempt for teachers, administrators, and inexplicably the students, has been at the bottom of most of her administration’s missteps. It was the main reason she was elected in the first place. Now it’s time to remove her because of that contempt.

Continue reading June 24th Matters – So Does the Plan for the Next Day and Following! →