Instead, a credit check exposed the high number of underperforming students. OKCPS Superintendent Karl Springer and board president Angela Monson noted on Nov. 29, 2012, that the last audit of Douglass had been in 2009. The remarks came as they declined to blame the crisis on Brian Staples, the former Douglass principal who had resigned […]
Jerry Bohnen
Posted inNews
School daze
The revelation comes amid allegations by some former Douglass teachers and administrators that former Principal Brian Staples altered student grades and attendance records to make it appear that the beleaguered school was improving. At a heated news conference yesterday, Oklahoma City Public School officials blamed the mess on violations of policy and procedures, but declined […]
Posted inNews
A tale of email
Credit: Mark Hancock The hundreds of emails were obtained through an Oklahoma Gazette open records request submitted June 4. They were not released until October because of technical problems with the email system, according to Tierney Tinnin, a school district spokeswoman. Staples resigned after the conclusion of a district investigation into allegations of altering grades […]
Posted inNews
Killing fields
Sgt. Gary Knight Credit: Shannon Cornman Compare that to 2011, when there were only 60 homicides recorded in the city. “We don’t know why,” said Sgt. Gary Knight, assistant public information officer with the Oklahoma City Police Department. “Some were domestic, some involved gang violence, others involved robberies and still others were drug killings.” The […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Setting up camp
Feeling normal when you’re battling a terminal illness is a sizable challenge, but it’s what the people behind the Cavett Kids Foundation hope to help thousands of children accomplish. For more than 30 years, Danny Cavett, a chaplain at the OU Medical Center, quietly went about his goal of providing special camps for children fighting […]
Posted inNews
Info on informants
The battered and bruised body of Kenneth Trentadue raised the suspicions of his family. And the journalists might not be alone. FBI informants might also be found on the White House staff, in the offices of U.S. congressmen, in the courts and among the clergy. The allegations stem from Trentadue’s ongoing legal battle with the […]
Posted inNews
School shakeup
Karl Springer and Brian Staples visitedwith Jesse Jackson at Douglass earlierthis year. Credit: Shannon Cornman District officials did not disclose details of that probe, but said the results were being turned over to the Oklahoma County District Attorney, the state Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education. As Oklahoma Gazette first reported in […]
Posted inNews
The principal’s office
Fired Douglass teachers who raised the allegations, however, contend the district officials had ignored their complaints for three years. Oklahoma Gazette first reported the allegations in June, when district officials launched the probe at the request of former teachers and the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Sandra Park, […]
Posted inNews
Back at school
Some held a large orange banner that proclaimed, “We can … We shall … We will … Stand up.” One fired teacher, Stephanie Carter, waved a sign asking motorists to “honk for justice.” The planned three-day demonstration was organized by several fired teachers whose accusations have prompted a district investigation. A district spokesperson has said […]
Posted inNews
Municipal money
And a check of municipal salaries in the metro shows maybe that’s where college graduates should be looking for a high-paying job. What municipal officials in the area earn might be surprising in a county where the median household income — the combined income of the breadwinners in one house — is less than $43,000 a […]