OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s State Board of Education meetings are known for fireworks. May 21, however, the tone changed, with the board calmly conducting the business of the state’s schools.
The meeting opened with comments from State Superintendent Ryan Walters, encouraging school districts to get students ready for the workforce.
WATCH: State school board approves myriad actions in May meeting
2 News listened to Lindsay Bruehl’s response to those comments.
“There’s more to it, then just getting [students] ready for work,” Bruehl said, “I wanna address that in our education, and I think that would make a big boost if we were to work on the human spirit.”
The board then spent half an hour debating approval of previous board meeting minutes. Moving down the agenda, the board finally made some news.
Starting with an issue concerning Mannford Public Schools.
MPS leaders canceled several days of school in the wake of wildfires that ravaged Mannford in March. The cancellation made MPS miss the minimum threshold of 165 school days for the year. District leaders asked the board for a waiver.
“There can sometimes be federal issues with that, I don’t see any issue here. They’ve met every criteria both by the state and the federal government,” Walters said, “So the State Department of Education, we would recommend, for Mannford public school district, that we give them their waiver to go under 165 days of school this year.”
LOOKING BACK >>> 2 News covered the MPS closure
The board took that recommendation seriously, granting the waiver unanimously.
Becky Carson, a career educator from the Oklahoma City area, made her debut as a new board member.
Making her mark by speaking out on Oklahoma’s teacher shortage.
"We have … 4500 emergency certificates in the state, year to date,” Carson said, “Even though I knew we were in a crisis, it kind of slapped me in the face.”
A study by the Oklahoma Business & Education Coalition found that 17% of Oklahoma teachers leave Oklahoma education after just one year on the job. Walters and the board committed to their efforts to recruit and retain the best new teachers for the state.
The meeting closed with revocation and suspension of various teaching licenses. Glenpool assistant superintendent Kim Coody was on the agenda, but the board skipped over her matter entirely.
2 NEWS OKLAHOMA'S REPORTING >>> Coody recently resigned her post
The meeting adjourned after a brief public comment session.
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