Oklahoma

Teachers’ union tacitly admits CRT is in Oklahoma schools

Published

3 years ago

May 17, 2022

Teachers’ union tacitly admits CRT is in Oklahoma schools

When Home Invoice 1775 grew to become legislation in 2021, banning the educating of sure ideas broadly related to Important Race Principle (CRT), opponents claimed CRT was not taught in Oklahoma faculties.

Critics proceed to make that declare at present. However a current request from the Oklahoma Schooling Affiliation (OEA), the state’s largest academics’ union, signifies that union leaders consider CRT is being integrated into Oklahoma college settings.

Home Invoice 1775 made it unlawful to show Oklahoma college students that “one race or intercourse is inherently superior to a different race or intercourse” or that “a person, by advantage of his or her race or intercourse, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether or not consciously or unconsciously.”

The laws additionally banned educating that “a person ought to be discriminated towards or obtain opposed remedy solely or partly due to his or her race or intercourse,” or educating college students that “meritocracy or traits similar to a tough work ethic are racist or sexist or have been created by members of a selected race to oppress members of one other race.”

Opponents dismissed the legislation as pointless.

Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, a Norman Democrat and former instructor, raised that criticism once more in a current TV information interview. Rosecrants said, “CRT shouldn’t be one thing taught in our Ok-12 faculties,” and mentioned the problem “actually was made up.”

However when the Oklahoma State Division of Schooling solicited public remark in the course of the company’s everlasting rulemaking course of for HB 1775, the Oklahoma Schooling Affiliation requested the company to offer safeguards for academics who’re ordered to include CRT into the classroom setting.

Heath Merchen submitted a touch upon Feb. 1, saying he was “writing on behalf of the Oklahoma Schooling Affiliation to suggest an addition” to the company’s HB 1775 rules “for the aim of defending academics from litigation which will comply with implementation of the rule if Faculty Districts are non-compliant and require academics to instruct in a way that might violate the usual.”

Merchen mentioned the OEA wished the HB 1775 rules to incorporate language stating, “No particular person instructor or college worker shall be present in violation of this provision, or face any type of self-discipline, retaliation, or different opposed consequence as a consequence of an alleged violation of this provision if the instructor or college worker is educating the curriculum authorised by their using college district, however that the using college district could also be discovered to have violated this provision.”

Merchen’s LinkedIn web page identifies him as an lawyer for the OEA, and the remark was submitted from an OEA e-mail account.

State Rep. Kevin West, a Moore Republican who was Home writer of HB 1775, shouldn’t be stunned.

“Clearly, that is what we mentioned proper on the very starting,” West mentioned. “We all know that that is taking place and, completely, I’ve had a bunch of contacts from dad and mom all around the state.”

West mentioned he has additionally been contacted by academics who thanked him for working to ban CRT from the classroom “as a result of they have been seeing that inch into totally different topic issues.”

Whereas opponents of HB 1775 have claimed the legislation prevents academics from offering instruction on correct historical past, a information launched by the Nationwide Schooling Affiliation, of which OEA is a state affiliate, admitted that’s not the case.

The “Know your rights” information launched by the NEA and OEA acknowledged, “The legal guidelines enacted to this point typically don’t prohibit educating the total sweep of U.S. historical past, together with educating about almost 250 years of slavery, the Civil Conflict, the Reconstruction interval, or the violent white supremacy that introduced Reconstruction to an finish and has continued in a single or one other type ever since.”

The NEA/OEA information knowledgeable Oklahoma academics that HB 1775 “doesn’t stop the educating of historical past and social research or another material space that’s in compliance with the Oklahoma Educational Requirements,” and famous state requirements mandate the educating of a variety of occasions associated to racial points.

Even so, OEA officers have beforehand criticized HB 1775 and OEA programming has embraced many ideas loosely related to CRT.

Notably, former OEA president Alicia Priest was amongst those that criticized HB 1775 as a part of a June 2021 panel.

In August 2021, the Oklahoma Aspiring Educators Affiliation, an affiliate of the OEA, hosted a symposium the place audio system knowledgeable teachers-to-be that “white supremacy tradition practices” embody “worship of the written phrase,” “individualism,” and “objectivity,” and have been instructed that the “pillars of white fragility” embody being “taught to see themselves as people relatively than as a part of a racially socializing group.”

The OEA’s web site has additionally included materials on “Racial and Social Justice” that usually aligns with CRT tenets.

West mentioned the persevering with vocal opposition to HB 1775 is the surest signal that CRT has seeped into Oklahoma’s public faculties.

“I feel the most important inform is how exhausting they’ve been combating this each step of the best way,” West mentioned. “In case you’re speaking about making one thing unlawful and also you’re not doing it, then you definately’re like, ‘Okay, no huge deal.’ However simply the truth that they’re combating it so exhausting tells me that they’re, in actual fact, doing this.”

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Oklahoma

Trio of Oklahoma Sooners selected to preseason All-American teams

Published

3 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

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.

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.

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Oklahoma

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

Published

11 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Oklahoma

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

Published

18 hours ago

January 8, 2025

Press Room

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

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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