Oklahoma
It's time to think differently about how we educate Oklahoma children. Community schools would help • Oklahoma Voice
![It's time to think differently about how we educate Oklahoma children. Community schools would help • Oklahoma Voice It's time to think differently about how we educate Oklahoma children. Community schools would help • Oklahoma Voice](https://oklahomavoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/P4082517-scaled.jpg)
Oklahoma’s dismal bottom 10 rank in education outcomes highlights a need to think differently about how we’re educating our children who continue to struggle with academic performance, chronic absenteeism and emotional and behavioral issues.
It’s time for our education leaders to take a hard look at the evidence-based benefits that come from increased investments in the community school model.
Community schools provide students with “wraparound services.” They focus on holistic approaches to educating children, understanding that for a child to thrive in school an integrated support system is also needed for their families at home. The model focuses on student and family engagement, collaborative leadership, enriched learning opportunities and integrated support systems.
Fortunately, in part by the pandemic and federal Covid funding, the Federation of American Scientists found that in 2023, “60% of public schools were utilizing a “community school” or “wraparound services model.” That was up from 45% the year prior.
If you think this model won’t work in a state that has an abundance of charter and private schools and is known for perpetually underfunding our public school systems, think again.
Tulsa Union is an example of an Oklahoma public school district that has successfully integrated the model. As one of the earliest adopters, the district received national attention for its student success.
Education expert, David Kirp, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece that contrary to the pressure to focus on rapid academic test score growth, former superintendent Cathy Burden understood that “focusing entirely on academics wasn’t enough, especially for poor kids.”
Instead, Union, which at the time reported 70% of students received free or reduced-price lunches, laid a foundation for meaningful learning by offering a “cornucopia of activities — art, music, science, sports, tutoring — that middle-class families routinely provide.”
Kirp wrote that the district opened its schools early. It helped families access health care. It worked to connect parents with job-training opportunities. It provided clothing, furniture and food to struggling students. It even offered daycare for teen mothers so they could graduate.
U.S. News and World Report now ranks Union High School as one of the nation’s top high schools. It is over 70% minority, and nearly 50% low-income, but it is basically tied with Oklahoma’s high schools for academic achievement.
Other districts have also experimented with the model.
In 2017, when a bus load of Oklahoma City partners visited Rosa Parks Elementary School, we toured their health center, the “Tinker Lab” for hands-on learning, and their organic gardens built around the theme of “Peace.” The key to success was teamwork. The students selected the crops they wanted to grow and built a kiln in the garden. A teacher created “Wind Wonders” to teach aeronautics.
My favorite story was about the Rosa Parks teacher who rushed out of the building, saying she had to go to Jiffy Lube. The teacher had been trying to track down a parent for a conference and she’d just learned that the mom was about to take her lunch break.
Drawing on Tulsa Union’s success, a scientific consensus, and the work of Linda Darling-Hammond’s Learning Policy Institute regarding the benefits of community schools, a grassroots movement created the David R. Lopez Community School at Edgemere.
Despite its great success, Oklahoma City School Public Schools shut it down during the implementation of its Pathway to Greatness plan.
In spite of that setback, I see the community school model as being one that could increase our academic outcomes by acknowledging a holistic model is needed for our children — and their families — to thrive in a post-pandemic landscape.
But in order to achieve greatness, we’d need visionary leadership. We need leaders who are patient enough to lay the groundwork today in hopes of netting substantial gains years down the road.
The model won’t succeed if our leaders are looking for a short-term, easy political victories and immediate results because wraparound services are more expensive and take considerable resources to get off the ground.
I’m hoping we have some visionary education leaders.
Because I don’t see a path forward for improving the academic and social outcomes for low-performing schools until we commit to implementing community schools statewide.
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Oklahoma
Oklahoma high school football scrimmage canceled after car backfire mistaken for gunshots
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Oklahoma HS football event canceled after noise mistaken for gunfire
An Oklahoma high school football scrimmage was called off Thursday night at Taft Stadium after car noises were mistaken for gun shots.
The annual Oklahoma City All-City All-Conference football scrimmages at Taft Stadium were canceled midway through the event Thursday night after noises from outside the stadium were mistaken for gunfire.
Oklahoma City Police Department officers at the scrimmages confirmed to The Oklahoman that the gunshots were mistaken for backfire coming from a Chevrolet Camaro driving near the stadium.
People inside the stadium heard the loud sounds of the car backfiring shortly after 8:30 p.m. during the final set of football scrimmages between John Marshall and Southeast High School. Soon after, players, coaches, and others in attendance scattered from the stands onto the field and eventually out of the stadium.
Despite efforts to restart play, the atmosphere remained tense and game officials canceled the remainder of the scrimmages soon after announcers told patrons that the presumed gunshots were a false alarm.
Gun violence at sporting events has become all too common in recent years across the country, including in Oklahoma. A shooting at a high school football game at Choctaw last August left one person dead and several injured.
More: Vote for Oklahoma high school football’s top senior player heading into OSSAA 2024 season
Jordan Davis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Jordan? He can be reached at jdavis@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @jdavis34_. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Jordan’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
Oklahoma
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Signs Wingman Glenn Taylor Jr.
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By OU Media Relations
NORMAN – Oklahoma men’s basketball head coach Porter Moser announced the addition of transfer Glenn Taylor Jr. to the 2024-25 roster on Thursday.
Taylor Jr., a 6-foot-6 wing, joined the Sooners after one season at St. John’s and two at Oregon State. He has appeared in 95 career games with 59 starts and holds career averages of 7.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per outing. Taylor Jr. shot 44.9 percent (229-510) from the field, 33.9 percent (59-174) from deep and 78.3 percent (206-263) from the line.
“Glenn gives us a big, athletic and experienced wing,” said Moser. “He started 59 games at the high major level and is a proven scorer, averaging 11-plus points per game as a sophomore at Oregon State. Glenn is dynamic in the open court and is a veteran defender with length and physicality.”
As a junior at St. John’s in 2023-24, the Las Vegas product appeared in 33 games and made 21 starts. Taylor Jr. buried 44.9 percent (48-107) of his shots from the field and knocked down a career-best 42.4 percent (25-59) from 3-point range. He recorded career highs in steals (25) and blocks (seven).
While in Corvallis, Ore., Taylor Jr. appeared in 62 games and made 38 starts.
As a sophomore, he made 32 appearances and started 26 games. Taylor Jr. recorded 11.6 points on 43.1 percent (113-262) shooting and added 3.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He scored 10-plus points on 19 occasions, including a trio of 20-plus point outings.
He appeared in 30 contests and started 12 as a freshman, playing 22.2 minutes per outing. Taylor Jr. contributed 6.9 points on 48.2 percent (68-141) shooting from the field and 2.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.8 steals per contest. He was selected to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team and named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Jan. 3, 2022.
Taylor Jr. spent his senior season of high school at Arizona Compass, averaging 14.3 points per game in 2020-21. He was labeled a four-star prospect and ranked as the No. 22 small forward in the nation by 247Sports.
Before his time in Arizona, Taylor Jr. spent three seasons at Cheyenne High School in Las Vegas, starting every game and averaging 24.2 points per outing as a junior.
Oklahoma
Tough Blocking or Dynamic Receiving, Oklahoma TE Bauer Sharp Can Do It All
![Tough Blocking or Dynamic Receiving, Oklahoma TE Bauer Sharp Can Do It All Tough Blocking or Dynamic Receiving, Oklahoma TE Bauer Sharp Can Do It All](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_6000,h_3375,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/all_sooners/01j56c3wevte8nzqb1gt.jpg)
NORMAN — From Southeastern Louisiana to the Southeastern Conference, from playing high school ball in Dothan, AL, to playing a college game in Auburn, AL, from playing quarterback to playing tight end, Oklahoma’s Bauer Sharp is adept at rolling with the situation.
Need an acrobatic third-down catch? No problem. Need a hard-nosed plunge on the goal line? Easy peasy. Need a tough down-block on a 260-pound defensive end?
Bauer Sharp is your guy.
“I trust whatever our team has planned for me in the future for these games,” Sharp said Tuesday after practice. “We’ll get it done for our team for sure.”
Quarterback Jackson Arnold said pretty much the same thing last spring, but with much more effusive praise.
“Yeah, he’s extremely athletic. He’s super physical too,” Arnold said. “Obviously he runs great routes and catches the ball, but he’ll go and move some people in the run game too, which is what I love. He’ll do it all, you know? And of course, like you said, he’s super athletic, and that showed the first week when he was here. We were running routes and you could tell this dude was a little different.”
The 6-foot-4, 247-pound Sharp had but one scholarship offer coming out of Dothan as an unrated quarterback prospect, and it was for the Lions of Southeastern Louisiana, a solid program on the FCS level. He redshirted as a true freshman in 2021, then made the move to tight end the following spring.
That fall, Sharp caught 11 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown, and also doubled as a wildcat quarterback by running the ball 10 times for 83 yards and a score. That included a 55-yard touchdown on a fake punt.
Last year in Hammond, he had an expanded role with 133 rushing yards and five TDs on 25 attempts, and 29 receptions for 288 yards and three scores.
In two seasons, Sharp produced 582 yards from scrimmage, nine touchdowns and averaged 7.76 yards per touch.
Sharp said his role as a tight end at Oklahoma isn’t too dissimilar from what he did at Southeastern Louisiana. His position coach, Joe Jon Finley, also was a high school quarterback who converted to college tight end, and thrived during his four years as a Sooner. Finley knows how to get the football to his big playmakers.
“Whatever’s best for the team and the offense, for sure, to get a win,” Sharp said.
Sharp might indeed find himself catching short-yardage snaps and plowing for first downs. But more often, Finley, the co-offensive coordinator, and Seth Littrell, the OC, will ask Sharp to flex out wide or find a soft spot in the middle of the field and simply try to beat his man.
He seemed to have a knack for it during spring practice, and he’s also impressed his teammates in his first training camp as a Sooner.
“Bauer has played a lot of ball,” Arnold said, “and it shows.”
That doesn’t surprise anyone who watched him play in Hammond.
“Strongest part of Bauer’s game is his athleticism,” Southeastern Louisiana radio broadcaster Mark Willoughby told Sooners On SI last spring. “Fast enough to beat linebackers and safeties in coverage, can split wide, get deep. Has a nose for the goal line in wildcat, speed to break a big play if he reads blocks correctly, power to run through tackles. Some Taysom Hill qualities. … Flashes elite receiving skills, hard-nosed runner with the ball in hand — (his) overall game needs refining but (the) upside is huge.”
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Sharp arrived in Norman in January and has been making plays and making friends ever since.
“It’s going awesome,” Sharp said. “Just going through fall camp, stacking days on days. It’s been different from what I’ve been used to. It has bettered me as a man, as a player. I’m thankful for it.
“I feel like it has slowed down a little bit (since spring ball). Joe Jon has helped me a lot in seeing the defense and what the d-line does and seeing tendencies and what can help me, and just basic fundamentals and blocking and routes and coverage.”
Sharp said the biggest difference is feeling his game get better literally every day.
“Just the competition and the practice, the 1 on 1s,” he said. “Going good on good. Just how good they make me, our defensive ends, and going against them every single day and preparing me for the season.”
Sharp’s athletic ability stands out, but teammates and coaches have also lauded his toughness and scrappy approach to stepping up — not only to FBS, not only to the SEC, but to a traditional powerhouse like Oklahoma, where he appears to be down for duty as at least the co-starter at tight end.
“I continue to say this, that I have a chip on my shoulder in everything that I do, from what I come from,” Sharp said. “I had one offer coming out of high school to play quarterback. So I have a lot to earn, a lot to prove. I’ll continue to say that each and every day.”
He said that junkyard dog mentality “definitely helped me move to tight end,” but it’s also a quality he finds in quarterbacks “all the time.”
While most quarterbacks might shy away from the more physical aspects of the game, Sharp embraced them and now uses them to his advantage.
“That’s one thing I loved at the quarterback position for some reason,” he said.
Now, he reads defenses from a different perspective.
“Basic fundamentals in everything I do — zone, man, what the tackle is doing. Just basic tight end fundamentals,” he said.
He said prior to spring practice that he felt “raw mentally in the QB room,” but acknowledged that a lot of offensive “concepts started to click for me once I started playing tight end.”
But he’s also not strayed too far from the quarterback position. Literally, he’s become very close to Arnold.
“We’ve always talked. We have a good relationship,” Sharp said. “I moved my locker right beside his in the locker room. Just strategy. Trying to get close to him.”
He said when he and Arnold talk about certain plays, he has developed “a better understanding of what he’s seeing and he knows that I have a better understanding of what he’s seeing too, for sure.”
Arnold ran the football a little last year as a short-yardage runner in the Sooners’ power packages, but it wasn’t very effective. No doubt Arnold would happily cede that role to Sharp, if he wants it.
As long as he doesn’t want to drop back and throw it, Arnold said. That was apparently a thing when Sharp began spring practice in March.
“Whenever we always warm up, he always tries to get a couple throws,” Arnold joked, “and I have to get on him to hand me the ball back.”
Growing up deep in the heart of SEC country, Sharp said last spring his family was always “die-hard Alabama fans” but will be cheering him on when OU plays the Crimson Tide on Nov. 23. Playing Bama, he said, will feel “surreal.”
It’s the Sept. 28 road game at Auburn, though, he’s anticipating the most.
“That’s going to be a big one I’m looking forward to,” he said. “All the family is going to be there.”
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