The story about Oklahoma City Superintendent John Porter’s suspension is more than just front-page news: It’s national news.
By virtue of the fact that Porter used to work for a school district just outside D.C., The Washington Post picked up the story Tuesday. (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/07/AR2008010702942.html)
Bloggers are picking up the story, too — some from Oklahoma, and some not.
I am not endorsing any opinions expressed on any of the pages, but want to share these as a way to show and promote the continuing dialogue surrounding the recent days’ events.
-The McCarville Report Online: The Gadfly on the Boardroom Wall: “Oklahoma City’s now-suspended school superintendent, John Porter, is fighting tooth and toenail to keep the job he’s held for slightly more than five months. But Porter’s strategy to keep that job, accusing Board of Education Chairman Cliff Hudson of things Hudson said never happened, or happened differently than Porter claims, is a poor way for Porter to wage his campaign.” (Read more: http://wwwtmrcom.blogspot.com/2008/01/gadfly-on-boardroom-wall.html)
-The Green Flame: My Take on John Q. Porter: “I wish that we could say, ‘We’ve all learned a valuable lesson here, and we will do better together in the future.’ That only works in sitcoms. Perhaps the board could allow Dr. Porter the opportunity to state how he would change his procedures to comply with board policy. I think he could become a good community leader. But I fear he has been weakened too much to do the job he was hired to do.” (Read more: http://greenlynn.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-take-on-john-q-porter.html)
-Moving at the Speed of Creativity: Political Fireworks in Oklahoma City Public Schools: “Clearly ‘interesting politics’ are involved in this situation. It will be instructive to follow this news thread in the weeks ahead.” (Read more: www.speedofcreativity.org/2008/01/06/political-fireworks-in-oklahoma-city-public-schools)
-Peyton Wolcott: ‘Family emergency’ – or ‘vacation’? “Could it be that because John was an assistant (superintendent) and information officer in Maryland before taking over the top spot in OKC in July that he was not used to the daily demands of the new job? Or was this a clash of work ethics and cultures? … We’re watching something play out in Oklahoma City Public Schools which goes to the core of one of the most fundamental issues in public education in America today: Who really runs our schools?” (Read more: www.peytonwolcott.com)
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
January 9th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Who decided to hire Sandra Park as interim superintendant?
Why wasn’t the current Assistant hired?
Sandra Park practically bankrupted Blanchard schools within 4 years and still wanted to use $700,000.00 of a bond issue to buy and remodel an old funeral home just so she could move her office off-campus. She came to Blanchard from Woodward, where that district had a lot of financial problems. Even though she was not the superintendent there, she was part of the administration.
Better find out whose idea it was to hire her.