University of Oklahoma is going through a tumultuous period with the departure of more than 80 employees, donations down by at least a third from last year and multiple racist incidents on campus resulting in no disciplinary actions. Professor emeritus Alan Velie is the university’s longest-serving faculty member with more than 50 years under his […]
Education
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Grade schools
Oklahoma’s schools will have a new way to analyze their work and see how they stack up. After going without school report cards for two years, the state board of education unanimously approved a revamped system that launched Feb. 28. Previous school report cards came on a single sheet of paper, with a large, bold […]
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Schools out
Oklahoma City Public Schools superintendent Sean McDaniel announced last week three possible paths to realign facilities and resources with the district’s needs. The announcement is part of Pathway to Greatness, an OKCPS project that has been in the works for more than a year. “The theme, the story that we want to tell, is a […]
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Keeping promises
Before 33-year-old Oklahoma State Rep. Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, made history in 2015 by becoming the first Asian-American woman elected to the state Legislature and the first Democrat to win representation in House District 85 and inspired a wave of female political newcomers in 2018, she was a starry-eyed middle school student in Lawton with […]
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Banking on education
Oklahoma City Public Schools will move their administration office to a building better-suited for its needs and services. The school district is going forward with plans to renovate the old Central National Bank building on 615 N. Classen Ave. into its new headquarters. “The past nine to 12 months, we’ve been working on plans to […]
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Strong foundation
Mary Golda Ross Elementary School bilingual assistant Elizabeth Claudio, 26, had never met the president of The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools when she received an email from her a few years ago. But the email, she said, led her to believe that the woman must be an angel. It basically asked Oklahoma City […]
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Battle cry
Northwest Classen High School’s cafeteria was filled Sept. 22 with teachers, students, families and politicians who eagerly trickled in and stood up in the crowd to hear Oklahoma born and raised Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, speak about education reform in the Sooner State and across the country. If the crowd anticipated a somber speech by […]
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Native victory
Bella Cornell, 17, remembers the day in middle school when her classmates asked her if she was a cannibal. The only Native American student in her Oklahoma City public school, Cornell was in history class when her teacher began describing Native Americans as savage barbarians who ate human flesh. When her peers asked her if […]
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Nature’s classroom
John Rex Middle School has no loud alarm that rings letting students know that it’s lunchtime and no locker doors slamming shut and echoing throughout the hallways. The 75 sixth-graders who belong to the new middle school do their learning in the spacious and modern interior of the lower-level Crystal Bridge Conservatory at Myriad Botanical […]
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Taking charge
Like any student who just moved into town, new Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel is starting this school year as the new kid in class. Though he won’t have to worry about earning good marks in math or science, there are plenty of other ways McDaniel will be tested in his first year […]