Making music
Despite playing the clarinet during my years in school, I never knew what went into keeping an instrument in playing condition, but I recently got a little lesson from some Oklahoma City band directors.
The band directors are working this summer to repair and catalog all of the more than 2,000 band instruments in the district’s middle and high schools. Chris Lehew, assistant band director at Northwest Classen, was kind enough to let me tinker with a clarinet when I visited one of their repair sessions. He showed me how to cut and glue down the cork on the joints of the clarinet and then sand it so that the instrument’s pieces fit snugly together. I tried my hand at a little sanding and felt a little sentimental for my clarinet-playing days.
Lehew and other band members replaced pads, fixed bent keys and replaced screws on instruments that day. They said they hope that their efforts will make for sweeter music after school starts.
- Staff Writer Dawn Marks
Board Member Calls for Reform
After executive session at Monday night’s Oklahoma City School Board meeting, member Steve Shafer read a prepared statement urging board members to commit themselves to making Oklahoma City a better district. Shafer said that to do that, board members must vote on issues put before them and pursue answers to questions from the board clerk or Superintendent Karl Springer. Shafer said that board members often ask for too much information on small topics rather than concentrating on a larger vision and trusting the leadership they have put into place. The actions of the board are unpredictable and do not convey confidence to leaders on decisions regarding management of the district and hiring and firing of employees, he said.
Shafer said that the relevance of his statement was again demonstrated that night when board members voted not to hire Lanette Lowe as principal for Wheeler Elementary School going against Springer’s recommendation. Board member Thelma Parks abstained while Chairman Angela Monson and members Wilfredo Santos Rivera and David Castillo voted no. Though the remaining four members voted yes, the board needed five votes to hire Lowe.
Several board members voiced their disapproval of Shafer’s statement, but Shafer said he will no longer stay quiet about the issues and the honeymoon is over for the board.
I guess the people of Oklahoma City will be watching.
- Staff Writer Dawn Marks
MAPS for Kids meetings
Two schools will host MAPS for Kids meetings next week to hear discussion from the community on upcoming renovations.
The Monroe Elementary School meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the school’s cafeteria, 4810 N Linn Ave. Monroe was established in 1950 and will have more than $2.9 million in improvements.
Rancho Village Elementary School will host its meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday in the school’s cafeteria, 1401 Johnston Drive. The school, established in 1949, will receive a $3.2 million renovation.
- Staff Writer Dawn Marks
Job openings at OKCPS
Oklahoma City schools Superintendent Karl Springer left me a voicemail last night referring to yesterday’s post about the Dallas district layoffs. Here’s part of his message:
“Hi Wendy, it’s Karl Springer. Hey, I’ve been reading your blog on the Dallas Independent School District. We have openings in Oklahoma City for some teachers – several elementary positions. Be nice to be able to get some of those people from Dallas to apply.”
If you know someone who was affected, you might want to pass this information along. A list of vacant positions is available here: www.okcps.org/jobs/okcpsvacancy.pdf.
Dissecting the teaching of science
CutoutDissection.com. It’s more than a Web site. It’s also the legal name of a North Carolina 19-year-old formerly known as Jennifer Thornburg.
Thornburg changed her name and started a Web site by the same name to protest animal dissections in schools, according to this article.
Separately, Oklahoma City science teacher Sherry Groeger-Godwin was selected from Northeast Academy as one of 185 middle and high school teachers nationwide as a fellow in the year-long 2008 New Science Teacher Academy. The program is designed to curb what the National Science Teachers Association says is a high attrition rate of science teachers.
Groeger-Godwin is one of four teachers selected from Oklahoma. The others are Holdenville resident Orvilla Coleman of Moss Public School in Holdenville, Mead resident Angela Joines of Silo Public School in Durant, and Pryor resident Leland “Terry” Newton of Union Intermediate High School in Broken Arrow.
Share your thoughts on dissections and science education in general in the comments section below.
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
Driving Miss Daisy, and other highlights from last night’s board meeting
Last night’s Oklahoma City School Board meeting was held at John Marshall High School instead of at the administration building.
The meeting started out with a rather significant turnout, and Chairman Kirk Humphreys told the crowd they made up “the greatest number of happy people I’ve seen in some time.”
The school’s choir kicked off the meeting with two songs, and first-graders from Martin Luther King Elementary School followed with one more. I don’t know what to make of it, but I did notice that only two of the twelve first-graders were boys.
The audience dwindled to just less than 50 people, including district administrators, once those presentations and the recognitions of more than 70 teachers and students were done. In other words, there were no more public comments than usual — three people spoke last night — because the meeting was held out at a school site.
Still, I liked seeing more of a school, even if the lack of wireless Internet access meant I had to wait to file my story about a truancy contract until after the meeting. (UPDATE: This link will take you to the PowerPoint presentation made to the board last night about the truancy program.)
The move also made for a little more banter among board members. At a previous meeting, Thelma Parks made a small fuss about traveling elsewhere, and Humphreys offered to pick her up and alluded to the movie Driving Miss Daisy.
“I did come as Miss Daisy, and he was really nice to me,” Parks said Monday as the meeting came to a close.
“And she was totally charming,” Humphreys cut in before Parks wound down her remarks.
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
All kinds of minds
After leading workshops last week at a regional math convention, state Teacher of the Year Heather Sparks is back in the news again.
All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit organization that tries to help struggling students, issued a congratulations today to Sparks.
Sparks graduated from an All Kinds of Minds program called Schools Attuned and went on to become a program facilitator.
The Oklahoma City Taft Middle School teacher said the professional development she received through Schools Attuned “significantly changed” her teaching and helped her with her algebra and pre-algebra lessons.
Oklahoma was the second state to launch a statewide Schools Attuned program thanks to funding from the state Legislature and Department of Education. The funding allows people to go through the training without paying the standard $1,500 fee.
More than 2,500 Oklahoma educators have gone through the program to date. If you’re one of them, share your thoughts on the program below.
UPDATE: Sheryl Flowers with Schools Attuned called me this morning, Oct. 7, to update the number of Oklahoma educators who have gone through the program. She said it’s up to 3,904 in 231 districts.
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
Stories that caught my attention: layoffs, boycott and confusion
-PERSONAL LOOK AT DISTRICT LAYOFFS: More than 60 central office employees in the Dallas school district were shown the door at the start of this week, and more cuts – including teachers - could be on the way later today as officials try to remedy an $84 million budget shortfall. Here’s a view on the situation from Donald Claxton, who briefly headed the communications department at Oklahoma City Public Schools under former Superintendent John Porter after working in the Dallas district.
-BOYCOTT MOVES TO THE BALL FIELD: An Illinois state senator from Chicago 
took his stab at school funding reform to last night’s playoff game between the Cubs and the Dodgers last night. Sen. James Meeks also led a student boycott of lower performing schools at the start of the year.
-CONFUSING STUDENT ASSESSMENTS: This Washington Post story talks about a literacy program’s assessments that start on a seemingly arbitrary scale of 2 to 16 and then switch to the letters J through P. I’m not questioning the scale or the program there, but the article did make me think about whether parents can always understand how their students are evaluated.
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
A little brown bear and other favorite childhood books
State schools Superintendent Sandy Garrett is reading Don Freeman’s book “Corduroy” to students at Oklahoma City’s Mark Twain Elementary this morning.
The reading time with students is part of a national effort to break the world record for the number of children reading the same book with adults on the same day.
A nonprofit organization called Jumpstart is spearheading the “Read for the Record” event. Jumpstart also raises money to provide books to children in low-income families.
Some of my favorite books to read at the age of Garrett’s audience today — prekindergarten through second-grade children — were the “Amelia Bedelia” stories.
What are your favorite childhood books?
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
Locked down: Too long or worthwhile precaution?
I talked to national school security experts yesterday for this story in today’s Oklahoman about the lockdown at Oklahoma City’s U.S. Grant High School.
Now that you know their views, share your own here. How do you feel about the ongoing lockdown?
(Comments are also still coming in about whether school shootings worry you. Scroll down or click here to add your thoughts on that subject.)
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
