State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister discusses the state of Oklahoma public education as Pastors for Oklahoma Kids Executive Director Clark Frailey, right, and Observer Editor Arnold Hamilton listen during the Mar. 14 Oklahoma Observer Newsmakers event at Full Circle Books in Oklahoma City.
BY JOHN THOMPSON The Tulsa World’s headline nailed the big picture, Staggering: 30,000 Oklahoma Teachers Have Left Profession in the Past Six Years, Report Shows. The World’s Michael Dekker cites state Superintendent Joy Hofmeister who explained, “The loss of 30,000 educators over the past six years is staggering – and proof that our schools must…
BY JOHN THOMPSON Here are a retired teacher’s suggestions for New Year’s Resolutions for educators, school patrons, and students, as well as anyone else seeking a better Oklahoma. I’ll start with the easy ones. First, ask yourself when you last heard anyone who has been in our schools who said anything nice about standardized testing. Then,…
BY GARY EDMONDSON Oklahomans have spoken. State voters re-emphasized their preference for shady, unqualified bidness people to lead their governments – even a Kevin Stitt who didn’t even care enough about this state to vote semi-regularly. In this year of educational crisis, Oklahomans picked a new governor who prefers indoctrination over public education and who would have…
BY DAVID PERRYMAN Being born a “Baby Boomer” generally means that my primary school experience was filled with Dick and Jane books. It also means that in the absence of kindergarten classes, when a little boy or girl turned six years old, they arrived at school in first grade, ready or not. Ms. Smith taught…
