TULSA, Okla. — Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Lindel Fields visited 2 NEWS the morning of Oct. 31.
Superintendent Fields spent nearly ten minutes speaking with 2 NEWS anchor Christine Stanwood live on air. Their conversation touched on the new Superintendent's focus for students, differences in policy from his predecessor, and his advice for parents concerned about impacts from the Federal government shutdown.
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Superintendent Fields lives in Tulsa, about a mile from the 2 NEWS studio on Brookside. He drives to Oklahoma City for work, a commute that takes him about an hour and 25 minutes.
"Most of the mornings are full of phone calls, at least so far," said the Superintendent, describing his morning.
Christine asked about the government shutdown and Superintendent Fields' message to parents.
"I hope this gets settled really soon because so many people are dependent on the SNAP benefits," said Superintendent Fields. "For our children in schools who rely on free and reduced lunches, for example, those will continue; you will see no interruptions to that."
He also reminded parents that they can still sign up for free and reduced lunches for their school-age children.
"To parents who may not have signed up for free or reduced lunches," said Superintendent Fields, "if you've had a change in your income, recently, as a result of SNAP or anything else, put that applicaiton in immediately, because that can change at any time, and we can get those meals to students quickly for the rest of the year."
The previous Oklahoma Superintendent, Ryan Walters, garnered attention with bold policies, including putting Bibles in classrooms and changing state history standards. Superintendent Fields discusses his focus and the changes being made.
"(Our focus is) ensuring that the 12-14,000 students that graduate our high school programs every year have a path, a clear path, whether it's career tech, or college, or military."
Some of Walter's proposed policies ended up in court. Fields touched on how that impacted the Department of Education's focus since he took over.
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"Some of those had been put into a stay by the courts, so we had to make decisions quickly," said Superintendent Fields, "and most of those decisions were to move things forward, save money for taxpayers in Oklahoma, and get those things off high center. And we've responded to the courts in one of those cases, and we'll have another response very soon regarding social studies and our request to extend that stay so we can have additional input."
Superintendent Fields also discussed a recent story in Coweta, where multiple cases of abuse were uncovered. Fields was quick to say even one incident of abuse is too many, before elaborating on what he felt educators' roles are in these situations.
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"As professionals, as educators, we have a responsibility to report any activity if we suspect it, not if we've proven it or investigated it. If we suspect it, we have a responsibility to report it to the authorities immediately."
Wrapping up the interview, Superintendent Fields reiterated his focus on quality education for all Oklahoma students.
"It's our future, so most kids go to public school, and whether it's public or private, having a good education for their future is just so very important, and my plan is just to get us back to the basics."
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