Connect with us

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City Schools Issue Guidance on Bible Teaching

Published

on

Oklahoma City Schools Issue Guidance on Bible Teaching


This article was originally published in Oklahoma Voice.

OKLAHOMA CITY — New guidance from Oklahoma City Public Schools regarding a state mandate to teach the Bible requires teachers to reference the text’s historical and literary aspects only in the “specific instances” that state academic standards allow.

In issuing the guidance on Wednesday, Superintendent Jamie Polk also advised teachers to document detailed lesson plans and not to stray from district-approved curriculum materials.

The Bible must “not be used for preaching or indoctrination,” and Oklahoma City schools, the state’s second largest district, must maintain “absolute neutrality and objectivity” when referencing it, Polk said.

Advertisement

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter


“Our goal is to provide a balanced, objective approach that respects diverse beliefs by adhering to both state requirements and federal laws and regulations,” she said in a memo to teachers, who returned to work this week.

Last month, state Superintendent Ryan Walters ordered all Oklahoma districts to teach about the Bible’s historic and literary value starting in the 2024-25 school year.

Advertisement

His mandate also includes a provision that all classrooms keep a copy of the Bible, the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Related

Ryan Walters: How a Beloved Teacher Became Oklahoma’s Top Culture Warrior

Walters’ order aims to add extra guidelines to the state academic standards, which are a lengthy list of topics and concepts that Oklahoma public schools must teach.

The Bible is not mentioned in the existing standards for social studies, English language arts, fine arts or music — the subject areas Walters identified for Bible instruction. However, the social studies standards require schools to teach about major world religions and the role of religion in the establishment of some American colonial governments.

Advertisement

Walters’ guidelines seek a much deeper exploration of the Bible, including analysis of biblical passages, instruction on its influence in Western civilization and American history, and references to it in literature and fine arts.

“To ensure our students are equipped to understand and contextualize our nation, its culture, and its founding, every student in Oklahoma will be taught the Bible in its historical, cultural, and literary context,” Walters said in a statement on the mandate.

The order quickly became controversial over concerns for church-state separation and local control of school curriculum. Leaders of multiple school districts have since said their districts won’t implement more instruction on the Bible outside of what state standards already require.

Related

Advertisement

Oklahoma Supreme Court Knocks Down Bid for Virtual Catholic Charter School

Polk said her guidance is meant to give legal cover to teachers in case one of them faces a complaint.

“We have to protect teachers, and when this came out, one of the first things we did was we rallied together as a team, and I had the curriculum department at the table and I had the legal department at the table,” Polk said in an interview with Oklahoma Voice. “I asked the legal team, ‘If one of our teachers got in trouble because of the Bible, what would you need to defend them?’”

Documenting lesson plans, including the way teachers present the information to students, will be “essential,” she said.

The Center for Education Law, an Oklahoma City law firm that provides legal counsel to OKCPS, raised doubts over the viability of Walters’ Bible mandate. Any attempt by the state to direct how Oklahoma schools teach academic standards would infringe on local district authority and is “invalid under Oklahoma law,” the law firm wrote in a letter to schools.

Polk’s statement to teachers on Wednesday also referenced another, similarly polarizing announcement from Walters asking schools to provide a cost analysis of educating undocumented students. Walters said his administration would release guidance on the matter in the coming weeks.

Advertisement

Families don’t have to provide information on their immigration status to enroll their children in public schools. The Oklahoma City district doesn’t ask for these details, and Polk said it doesn’t plan to start doing so.

Related

‘Up in the Air’: Oklahoma Families in Limbo as Courts Decide on Religious Charter

The recent orders created a tricky start this summer to Polk’s tenure as Oklahoma City’s superintendent, but after 36 years in education, she said she knows “there’s always something” that will stir debate.

She said she still aims to maintain a working relationship with the state Education Department to ensure students “receive what they need in order for them to have a diploma in one hand and a plan in the other as they walk across the stage.”

Advertisement

“The topics change, but there’s always conflict,” Polk said while looking back on the national controversies that erupted over past decades. “But as Americans, how do we navigate problems?

“How do we come to the table then and let me hear your voice so I can accept your viewpoint, but you too then get to hear my voice?”

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and X.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Oklahoma

Trio of Oklahoma Sooners selected to preseason All-American teams

Published

on

Trio of Oklahoma Sooners selected to preseason All-American teams


The Oklahoma Sooners will open the 2025 softball season on Feb. 6 against the CSUN Matadors in San Diego. After a historic season, Oklahoma faces a lot of turnover after losing a number of fixtures in the lineup to graduation.

The Sooners certainly aren’t lacking for talent, however, as a trio of players were named to Softball America’s preseason All-American teams on Tuesday.

Sophomore outfielder Kasidi Pickering and Utility/DP Ella Parker were named to Softball America’s first team. Newcomer Abby Dayton was named to the second team.

Parker led the Oklahoma Sooners with a .415 batting average from the utility role. She also had 13 home runs and 62 RBIs as a true freshman. Parker hit .500 over Oklahoma’s final four games to clinch their fourth-straight national title.

Advertisement

Pickering hit .389 with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs as a true freshman for the Sooners. In the Women’s College World Series final against Texas, she had home runs in both games against the Texas Longhorns to win the championship.

Abby Dayton is one of a number of impact transfers for the Oklahoma Sooners this season. She led the Pac-12 in batting average, hitting .431 and also had an on-base percentage of .510 for the Utah Utes.

The Oklahoma Sooners will have a new look, but led by this trio of stars, the defending national champions will be ready to compete in the SEC.

More: 5 Oklahoma Sooners included in Softball America’s top 100

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.

Advertisement





Source link

Continue Reading

Oklahoma

Report Card: Oklahoma lets second-half lead slip, falls to Texas A&M

Published

on

Report Card: Oklahoma lets second-half lead slip, falls to Texas A&M


Report Card: Oklahoma lets second-half lead slip, falls to Texas A&M

With 17:00 minutes left in the second half, No. 17 Oklahoma led No. 10 Texas A&M 51-33, and with 19 seconds remaining, Zhuric Phelps hit a three-pointer to give the Aggies an 80-78 lead. That score ultimately held, handing Oklahoma a tough loss and dropping them to 13-2 (0-2) on the season, despite leading by as many as 18 points in the second half, getting 34 points from Brycen Goodine, and facing a Texas A&M team without its best player, Wade Taylor.

The first half was all about Brycen Goodine, who put together one of the most impressive halves from a Sooner in recent memory. He tallied 21 points on 6-8 shooting from deep, propelling Oklahoma to a 39-30 halftime lead. The Sooners shot the ball extremely well early, but things fell apart after the break.

Advertisement

The second half belonged to Phelps, who hit the game-winning three. Phelps, a career 26.1% three-point shooter, erupted for 28 points in the second half alone, including six three-pointers. He finished with 34 points on 11-25 shooting from the field and 6-10 from behind the arc. Despite Goodine’s stellar performance and Oklahoma’s strong start, the Sooners couldn’t withstand Texas A&M’s furious comeback.

Well, here’s the Report Card from Oklahoma’s loss despite: 1) getting 34 points from Goodine, 2) leading by 18 in the second half, and 3) facing a Texas A&M team without its leading scorer.

Offense: D-plus

Good or bad first? Let’s start with the bad.

Advertisement

In the final eight minutes of the game, Oklahoma made just two (!) field goals. If you’re looking for a “How to Blow a Lead MasterClass,” scoring only twice in crunch time is Lesson 1.

It was those last eight minutes — where the Sooners simply couldn’t get anything going — that cost them the game. That collapse makes it hard to fully appreciate their solid first half, when things were actually clicking.

Oklahoma shot an impressive 14-24 (58.3%) from deep, 25-46 (54.3%) from the field, and 14-17 (82.4%) from the free throw line. They put up 39 first-half points and were firing on all cylinders offensively. But when it mattered most — those crucial final eight minutes — they completely imploded.

Starting Five: C-minus

Let’s start with Jeremiah Fears, who logged only 21 minutes. Fears finished with 13 points, four rebounds, four turnovers, and three assists while shooting 4-8 from the field, 1-3 from behind the arc, and 4-5 from the free throw line. There were plenty of freshman moments, but it felt like his reduced minutes prevented him from finding a rhythm—something that became evident when Oklahoma turned to him as a potential hero late in the game.

Duke Miles added 8 points on 2-6 shooting from the field and 2-4 from deep, along with three rebounds, three assists, and three turnovers in just 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Kobe Elvis was a non-factor offensively, scoring 0 points in 27 minutes. He shot 0-3 from the field and 0-2 from beyond the arc but did record eight assists, most of which were to Goodine. Despite the assists, Elvis struggled with the physicality of the game and contributed little else.

Advertisement

Jalon Moore played 33 minutes and contributed 11 points on 4-6 shooting from the field and 2-3 from deep, along with four rebounds, three turnovers, and two blocks. Sam Godwin added 6 points, five rebounds, and three blocks in 26 minutes while shooting 3-5 from the field.

Overall, it was a rough night for the starting five. Fears had his freshman struggles, Elvis couldn’t handle the physicality, and while Miles and Moore were solid, neither had standout performances.

Bench: A-plus

The Sooners got an incredible 34 points out of Goodine on 10-14 shooting from the field and 9-11 from behind the arc. He also shot 5-6 from the free-throw line. Goodine was on fire from the jump, knocking down six of his three-pointers in the first half. He put together one of the best shooting performances ever seen by a Sooner, in fact, tying Mookie Blaylock and Hollis Price for the fourth-most three-pointers in a game in Oklahoma history. After a rough showing from the bench against Alabama, this performance from Goodine was exactly what the team needed.

Additionally, Mohamed Wague had a solid first half, playing 12 quality minutes before only seeing two minutes in the second half. He scored 2 points, added two rebounds, one assist, and a block. His biggest struggle was not being able to playmake off the short roll, but aside from that, his first half was encouraging.

Advertisement

Oklahoma got 34 points from Goodine, solid minutes from Wague, and good contributions from Glenn Taylor, who scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting from the field. Overall, it was a strong performance from the bench, which makes this loss even more puzzling.

Ball Security: F

Arguably the main reason Oklahoma lost this game was turnovers. A team that has been solid at taking care of the ball all season long imploded, committing 18 turnovers—twice as many as their opponent. Beating a top-10 team while turning the ball over 18 times is incredibly difficult, and it wasn’t just in the second half where turnovers haunted this team. Despite getting 21 points from Goodine, Oklahoma led by just nine at halftime.

That was, in large part, due to turnovers, as they gave the ball away eight times in the first half. The turnovers made it difficult for the Sooners to extend their lead. Pair those eight first-half turnovers with Phelps’ explosive second half performance and Oklahoma’s inability to score more than two field goals in the final eight minutes, and you have the recipe for a tough loss.

Oklahoma’s guards collapsed when Texas A&M ramped up their pressure in the second half, leading to an influx of turnovers and ultimately contributing to the defeat.

Not an OUInsider.com premium member? Sign up today to get loads of inside information on Oklahoma football, softball, basketball, and recruiting, all for just a few dollars a month. Click HERE to get started!

Advertisement

Follow us on Twitter @OUInsider and on Instagram @ouinsiderofficial!

Subscribe on YouTube by clicking here for daily video content on all things Oklahoma!



Source link

Continue Reading

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City area shelters ready to house people through freezing temperatures, snow

Published

on

Oklahoma City area shelters ready to house people through freezing temperatures, snow


play

A local winter shelter has hundreds of beds for people experiencing homelessness, but the number of people seeking overnight shelter quickly swelled as freezing temperatures descended, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Taylor Self, communications director for the Homeless Alliance said the organization’s winter shelter, which opened in 2023, offers overnight shelter from November through March 31. Self said the Homeless Alliance leaders anticipated more people would seek safety and warmth at the shelter, 1601 NW 4, as temperatures plummeted in recent days, and their expectations were borne out.

Advertisement

“The great thing about it is it’s open nightly, and it’s open seven nights a week, so no matter the temperature, we’ve got space for up to 300 adults, and we also have space for pets and personal belonging storage,” she said.

“We’ve got space for up to 300, and when it was warmer in November and December, we were still seeing about 200 roughly, each night. Once the temperatures really started to drop, we’ve been seeing over 350 folks, especially since Monday, and I expect we’ll see it again, especially with the possible snow in the forecast tomorrow.”

Leaders at several other shelters also said they were meeting the need as people began seeking respite from temperatures dipping below freezing.

Advertisement

Annie Perkins, development and marketing manager for The Salvation Army Arkansas and Oklahoma Division Central Oklahoma Area Command, said the overnight shelter at The Salvation Army Center of Hope, 1001 N Pennsylvania, offers 120 beds for men, women and families, and it consistently stays full throughout the year.

Perkins said shelter guests check in about 3 p.m. each evening and are typically required to leave about 7 a.m., but they are allowed to remain at the shelter during the day during freezing weather.

“We are incredibly blessed to be able to offer emergency shelter and know that it’s of dire importance during this time of the year, and so we’re grateful for the community support,” she said.

Advertisement

Alex McGowan Rayburn, community engagement director at Sisu Youth Services, said the organization offers five emergency weather beds at its drop-in center for young people seeking shelter when the weather dips below freezing. She said the drop-in center has been full each night this week.

A single mother with an infant and two other young children was among families welcomed to an emergency shelter set up at a downtown Oklahoma City church this week.

The Rev. Katie Churchwell, dean of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, said the church opened on Sunday as an overflow shelter for families like the mom and her young trio. The church at 127 NW 7 began offering emergency shelter during freezing temperatures two years ago and, in April, the Oklahoma City Council gave its official approval for the house of worship to serve as a temporary cold weather shelter.

Advertisement

Churchwell praised the church volunteers, particularly Stephanie Jensen, a staff member serving as shelter coordinator, who had worked to get the shelter open on Sunday and continue to help in the ensuing days.

“We’ve got our outreach center to equip our families with items that they need, like shoes and things like that, and then, of course, space to sleep, to eat,” she said.

“It’s just been beautiful to see how many people have just given themselves to care for people in these really extreme moments.”

Churchwell said she was happy to report that the single mom was at the church for only a short time before more permanent shelter was found for them at City Rescue Mission. She said there were many partnering agencies working together to meet the needs of such families, offering things like housing and education for the children.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending