Two bills filed by state Sen. Mark Allen, R-Spiro, take aim at teachers for having the audacity to ask for more funding and become politically active. The bills are retribution for last year’s teacher walkout and subsequent elections that saw educators swept into office and incumbents who came out against the funding largely defeated. In […]
education
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Chicken-Fried News: Bus(ted) fleet
Oklahoma City Public Schools faces quite a number of challenges. There are teacher shortages, big class sizes, outdated facilities, upcoming school closures — Chicken-Fried News could keep going, but we would be here all week. As if there were not enough challenges to overcome, the district also has an ongoing issue with buses. Since 2003, […]
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Taking a seat
Oklahoma City Ward 2 councilman Ed Shadid has held his position since 2011 but decided last year he would not seek a third term. Five candidates are vying to fill his spot. Candidates with varying levels of experience in politics and activism will appear on the Feb. 12 election ballot, which could result in an […]
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Head start
Kendra Horn pulled off a surprising upset in November after defeating incumbent Rep. Steve Russell for the state’s 5th Congressional District. Horn defeated Russell on Nov. 6, making her the first female Democratic member of Congress in state history. “I think we won because we met people where they were, because we went out to […]
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Oklahoma turnaround
Oklahoma’s 28th governor took the oath of office last week, right before giving an inaugural address that echoed many of his campaign promises. But beyond getting a fresh face, Oklahomans want Gov. Kevin Stitt to look at issues that might be outside his agenda. Mary Fallin was Oklahoma’s governor for the past eight years. Much […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Sooner grown
Among the Oklahoma-centric news alerts this month were the all-too-usual national embarrassments: fracking-induced earthquakes, negligent parenting, prison violence and Kevin Stitt sworn in as governor. But a closer look at Oklahoma’s mentions revealed something unexpected: In at least two areas, our state is something of a progressive trendsetter. A Jan. 9 Associated Press story on […]
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Chicken-Fried News: 2018 takeout
Fallin away The queen is dead; long live the king. Mary Fallin’s eight-year reign of terror over the state is over, and her successor Kevin Stitt is a political outsider who campaigned on his version of “drain the swamp” but has surrounded himself with insiders during his transition to the Governor’s Mansion. Oh, Gov. Fallin, […]
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Chicken-Fried News: School’s out
Oklahoma has once again found itself in the national spotlight after a letter from Canadian County Republican Party chairman Andrew Lopez to newly elected Republican lawmakers was leaked to the public in late November, exposing the overweening bonkers mentality of anti-education extremists for all that it is. Lopez begins his welcome letter by warmly letting […]
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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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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 […]