I know it has been
some time since my last blog and I hope you will forgive my absence from the
blogosphere. I’ve been a little busy, but mostly I’ve been just trying to
keep my head down and my mouth shut (I have the right to remain silent, but not
the ability). Furthermore, with bloggers like my friends Claudia Swisher,
Rick Cobb (formerly OKeducationtruths), Rob Miller, Brett Dickerson, and Blue Cereal banging
away at the keyboard all the really good topics where completely covered.
That was until today. I, and a bunch of other first year superintendents,
attended the State Board of Education meeting fulfilling a requirement in what
Dr. Ann Caine of Stillwater calls Superintendent’s Kindergarten. I
didn’t know what to expect; I didn’t think it would be as contentious as it was
four years ago, but I also didn’t know it would go so smoothly. My
friends….. what a difference leadership makes.
I have said all along
that Oklahoma public education has been losing a slogan war. The
anti-public education crowd has had us playing defense for the better part of
my 17 year career. It started with “All kids can learn” and then morphed
to “No Child Left Behind”. From there we have heard politicians bloviate
with “hold our schools accountable” so that now they claim without fear from
reprisal that “our schools are failing”. The school choice people have
now started referring to public schools as “government schools” instead of
public schools. Why? Because it is a better slogan and allows them
to refer to public schools as “monopoly schools”. Some even go to calling us
“drop out factories”. For far too long, Oklahoma public
education officials have played defense in the slogan war. But our
silence has stopped as Supt. Hofmeister openly embraced social media with her
#OKhigh5 slogan. Declaring once and for all that every Oklahoma child deserves
to have the very best education provided by the very best educators. #OKhigh5
calls for the end of the shortest educational calendar in the region and shines
a spotlight on the more than 500 classrooms with an emergency certified teacher
…..what a difference leadership makes.
I refer to this
onslaught of words as the slogan war because its sole purpose is to destroy
public schools and not to help the children of Oklahoma. It is a
carefully crafted money grab. I firmly believe that the majority of
education reformers are less interested in helping your child get a better
education and more interested in helping their child get a cheaper
education. But I honestly believe the tide is changing. Oklahoma
now has a leader….an advocate for ALL of Oklahoma’s children. Supt.
Hofmeister has always held firm to the Oklahoma conservative belief that
parents not only have the right, but an obligation to make a quality
educational choice for their child. The difference here is that she
doesn’t think you have to destroy one to make the other better. What a
difference leadership makes.
