By Brandon Carey OSSBA Staff Attorney I’ve written before about my experiences as a father of black children. As a white male, I’m certainly not qualified to truly speak to the experiences of marginalized communities.  But my experiences, as removed as they may be, might help illuminate others who, like myself, have not directly experienced discrimination and oppression. Being a witness to the […]

  For years, we’ve closely tracked how Oklahoma stacks up when it comes to teacher pay. The reason is simple: children need and deserve the best teachers. Oklahoma remains in a teacher shortage and must stay competitive to keep and reward the great teachers already in our classrooms. Just as important, our state must be […]

I’ve never sat awake in bed at night, restless and worried that skin color might determine whether my children reach their dreams. Not once.   I’ve never had a talk with my children about how wearing a hoodie or sagging pants or head covering might make them a target. Not once.  My heart has never raced when the phone rang, […]

OSSBA’s new member portal has features designed to improve the experience for school board members and administrative employees of member school districts. While much of the member portal will look familiar and operates similar to the existing portal, we’ve also made improvements based on feedback received since we first launched the member portal two years […]

OSSBA Executive Director Shawn Hime offered the following statement regarding the state Education Department’s analysis of Gov. Fallin’s Executive Order: The governor’s executive order was an ill-conceived political distraction that was on shaky constitutional ground from the moment she signed it. Superintendent Hofmeister’s firm stand to respect the constitutional authority of the legislature, the state […]

The week of Oct. 11, districts will receive information about student performance on state-mandated tests taken last spring. As district and school leaders begin analyzing that information, it’s important board members be aware of how these test scores differ from information reported in prior years. The scores that will be released soon aren’t comparable to those […]

By Christy Watson My 9-year-old son spent the first day of his fall break getting braces. My husband and I considered whether we should wait until he’s a bit older but opted for what we agreed offers the best long-term outcome. Hopefully, this dental intervention will prevent some future issues that might be more painful […]