Do school shootings worry you?
U.S. Grant High School student Hodauri Latifu McCoy was arrested Monday on a felony complaint of carrying a firearm in a school. An officer removed ammunition from the pistol, according to a police report.
No one was hurt, but all of the Oklahoma City School District is now on high alert.
And this morning, almost 5,000 miles away in Finland, a 22-year-old gunman killed 10 students in a classroom at a trade school before taking his own life.
Do school shootings worry you? What would ease your fears?
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
Houston schools plan mirrors OKC ice storm recovery
Houston administrators plan to reopen about 120 of the district’s 300 schools tomorrow, and will roll out the rest as electricity is restored and damage repaired from Hurricane Ike, according to this Houston Chronicle story.
The list of open schools will be updated on the district’s Web site, and officials are thinking about how to make up the lost time.
This is similar to how Oklahoma City Public Schools recovered from the devastating ice storm last December – cancelling classes for a week, then opening all the buildings that were safe for children as they were ready.
Meanwhile, many commenters on the Chronicle story sounded off about what’s expected of teachers, and if it’s realistic or fair to expect them to all be back in the classroom at a moment’s notice while they’re still coping with the personal impact of the storm.
What advice would you share from your ice storm experience with parents and teachers in southern Texas as they roll out their school reopenings? Post it here.
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
What’s the purpose of a school board?
I blogged yesterday about the role public comments play at school board meetings. Today I’m following up with an answer for Kandis, who commented on the entry to ask for a defined purpose of a school board.
To answer her question, I called Jeff Mills, the new executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association.
I’ll start with his response about what a school board is: a local governing body of a school district whose members are either elected or appointed to represent the public. Now on to what they do.
“One of their main functions is to hire a superintendent or a CEO to run that organization. … Their other major responsibility is setting policy,” Mills told me.
He went on to explain: “If I’m a superintendent, I can set a directive or I can set an interoffice activity, but the board is responsible to set legal and legislative type policy to manage the district. … A school board wouldn’t necessarily be involved in the day-to-day operations — that’s what the superintendent or CEO is for.”
Now if you’re wondering just what types of policies he’s referring to, don’t worry, he elaborated. Such policy responsibilities can include everything from school safety to budgeting and expenditures, he said.
Oklahoma City School Board meeting, Sept. 2, 2008 / By Wendy K. Kleinman, The Oklahoman
Mills also talked about the public comments issue that started this conversation.
“There are public participation policies out there, and some of those may limit (comments) to three minutes or so — each one will vary — and they may limit the number of people who may speak on one topic,” Mills said, “for the simple reason that if you have no order you could be there all night.”
UPDATE: To answer a question this entry prompted, school board members’ phone numbers and addresses, at least for Oklahoma City Public Schools, are available to the public. They are listed on this site.
Keep the comments and questions coming!
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
Who does a public school board meeting belong to: the board or the public?
Back at the Oklahoma City School Board’s Sept. 2 meeting, Chairman Kirk Humphreys said he doesn’t think patrons should be able to raise personnel issues during public comments, upsetting the few parents in attendance.
Although his comments were made a few weeks ago, I’m bringing them up now because of a column in the most recent issue of The School Administrator magazine, which I just received.
The column is by Nicholas Caruso with the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. You can read the whole piece here, but one line in particular intrigued me. He wrote:
The board meeting is a meeting held in public,
not a public meeting.
It seems to me that view aligns with Humphreys’ comments, while the parents I spoke with afterward said they feel as though the meetings belong to them.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
Hurricane Ike and the Teacher of the Year
Hurricane Ike’s waves are still rippling.
Toyota representatives who came to Oklahoma City to present a hybrid Prius to the 2009 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year today weren’t present at the ceremony.
They were with Gulf States Toyota — based in Houston — and had to return home to clean up from Ike, said Tim O’Toole, president and general manager of the Oklahoma State Fair.
O’Toole extended some words of thanks and hope to the representatives and others in the hurricane’s path before stepping aside for the teacher recognition program to continue.
Check out NewsOK.com and tomorrow’s Oklahoman for more about the state’s new Teacher of the Year, math teacher Heather Sparks of Taft Middle School in Oklahoma City.
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
Former OKC superintendent Payzant in the news
I got word of the following story from a fellow reporter in Oregon:
The Register-Guard newspaper published an interesting profile today on Thomas Payzant, who led the Oklahoma City School District from 1979 to 1982. Payzant recently visited Eugene, Oregon, where he was a superintendent before coming to the Sooner State. He’s now a professor at Harvard University.
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
Springer, Ballard: Subject to the same process?
Oklahoma’s two largest school districts both will have new superintendents by the end of the calendar year.
Last night, the Tulsa School Board voted to offer a contract to Keith Ballard to take the place of Michael Zolkoski.
But some people in the district are disgruntled over the process, or what they say is a lack thereof, that led to his selection. (The board brought up the possibility of hiring Ballard the same day it agreed to part ways with Zolkoski.)
When the Oklahoma City School District was faced earlier this year with a similar situation — hiring a new leader after the old one departed before the end of his contract — it took a different approach of soliciting community feedback first.
The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools held meetings and compiled a report with patron suggestions.
How about some more feedback now that it’s over?
Do you think that input sincerely influenced the Oklahoma City School Board’s decision to hire Karl Springer this summer? Do you think Tulsa should have taken the same route as Oklahoma City?
Share your thoughts on the superintendent selection processes here.
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
First board meeting for OKC Superintendent
Karl Springer started a new tradition for the Oklahoma City Board of Education tonight during his first board meeting as superintendent.
During each school board meeting, Springer wants time set aside for a “superintendent’s report” – which he says he’ll use to tell the public about what he’s been doing around the district. Springer said he requested this time and received unanimous support from the board members.
“We need to be transparent,” Springer said, during his first report to the board. “We want to cause everybody to rally around the students. . . My politics, my agenda is to make sure every child gets a quality education.”
School board chairman Al Basey applauded Springer’s work during his first six days in the superintendent’s role, calling him “the greatest advocate of employees and kids we’ve ever had in our district.”
As Springer was introduced during the meeting, he received a lively applause from parents and community members in the audience.
Springer appeared enthused about his new role – describing with excitement the various things he’s done during his brief time with the district: media interviews, visits to schools and speaking at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
As several parents and family members of Classen SAS students spoke about the administration issues at the school, Springer sat attentively and seemed interested and responsive in the parents’ feedback.
~ Kristen M. Daum, City Desk intern at The Oklahoman (reporting for The Oklahoman’s Wendy Kleinman).
** Also featured on NewsOK’s intern blog.
School foundation gets a makeover
An education foundation in the metro area has just undergone a makeover of sorts.
The Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation is now The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, a.k.a. The Foundation.
The organization has a new logo to match.
“First, the logo reflects the hand of the community supporting our kids,” foundation chairman Stanley Hupfeld said in a news release. “Second, the logo shows a child growing into an adult with the support of the community.”
The nonprofit was created in 1984 to support the work of Oklahoma City Public Schools.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Lights, camera, education
Oklahoman editor Ed Kelley occasionally records videos that focus on education in the state for his “Oklahoma Matters” feature. One went online today in which he talks about the big job facing new Oklahoma City Superintendent Karl Springer.
Here are some other recent examples:
-Early education: The next Oklahoma City superintendent must be a champion of early childhood education if the district is ever going to improve.
-Dropout dilemma: Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor has intriguing things to say about Tulsa public schools, trying to put badly needed focus on the high number of teenagers who drop out.
If you haven’t been keeping up with them before, you can do so from now on at http://www.newsok.tv.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
