30 years ago today, a 🧵:

30 years ago today, I was a junior at Norman High. My buddies and I skipped school & were driving around, listening to 100.5 KATT. We heard breaking news…something about an explosion downtown. We thought it was a ruptured gas line.

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The radio reports mentioned broken windows, smoke, & fire, & we thought it was pretty localized, until we got to Sooner Fashion Mall and saw the footage on TV. The destruction was unlike anything I’d ever seen. I’ll NEVER forget the magnitude of it.

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This is a thread of screen shots taken from a post on FB from NC-area educator, Matt Townsend. Note that he differentiates between SPEND & INVEST, regarding public schools & kiddos. This is a 🎯 take that I need all y’all to read…his take mirrors my feelings:

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“Unlike countries that outperform 🇺🇸, like Finland, Canada, & Japan, 🇺🇸 doesn’t start by making sure all kids have a strong foundation…”

Exactly, yet we expect every child to achieve academic excellence in the same manner & timeframe here in America.

🤦‍♂️

And now, I present to y’all in a thread how @PamelaBrownCNN is all of us when the Supt. Ryan Walters opens his mouth:

First, she asks a thought-provoking question over what gives him the authority to force all schools to watch a video of him praying for Trump…

🧵 1/5 He spouts some nonsense that he’s “fighting the left” or some BS that doesn’t come close to an answer…she’s all 😑

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What’s that?

You want a timeline of the incompetence, grift, & petty 💩 perpetrated by Supt. Walters, his Board, & their minions?

Do I have the 🧵 for you! 👀

*Thx to my friends @ Moms for Oklahoma & @DofD_OKLAHOMA for their work on this! 🙏

Sept. 2020-Jan. 2023:

🧵1/9 Timeline on all the crap Ryan Walters and his minions have done…Feb. 2023-June 2023:

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Impressions of my first State Board of Education meeting:

Ohhhh what a long weird day at the State Board of Ed Committee meeting! I was greeted by SDE staff and their legislative liaison, Lindsey McSparrin, who was kind, and directed me to overflow with Sen. Boren…

🧵 1/10 Couldn’t get a seat in the actual room (there’s a list & needs to be a bigger venue). We spoke to the B of Ed legal staff about my being allowed in executive session. Was told I need to reach out beforehand so the Board could vote on it, but she’d try to figure it out.

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Woke up to my official email address being sullied by an email from Supt. Walters on the “guidelines” (dictatorial 🤡 still uses words like “immediate” & “required”) on the Bible in the classroom.

A 🧵 of my take on this document*

*Screenshots of the document provided after 🧵 This brings up more Qs than As, such as: Who’ll be paying for the Bibles & other required docs? How much will that cost? What version of the Bible? Who enforces this? What happens if a teacher doesn’t use the Bible in this way, or if they do use it for religious purposes?

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Earlier today, I was asked a very simple question, that does not have a simple answer:

“Why are the public schools failing in our state?”

My relatively brief reply (many people seem to tune out when I explain anything in-depth lol) is in this 5-part 🧵: 🧵 1: I asked him this question:

Corporate Ed Reform WHO WHAT WHERE WHY & HOW to combat…a thread:

With Walters & company attacking Tulsa Public Schools & their “failing” test scores, you’ve heard or seen my rage against the corporate education reform machine. But what is it & who’s pushing it? 👀 🧵 1/7 Corporate Ed Reform WHO?

Reagan & “Nation At Risk” (‘83), Bush & No Child Left Behind (2002), Obama & Race to The Top (2013), well-funded national foundations & think tanks like Bill & Melinda Gates, Walton Fam, Koch Bros, ALEC, locals like OCPA, & many elected officials
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And now…a short thread 🧵 about why we need to look past standardized test scores as a way to determine if a school district is failing or not, if kids can or cannot read, etc, etc. & it’s because of 3 words: Corporate education reform (feel free to Google that on up) 🧵 1/4 Why standardized tests are a poor way to measure student achievement and teacher accountability, and why corporate reformers love them 🧵 2/4

On Ryan Walters, grants, toxicity, & lies. A 🧵

This news broke last PM when I was in a 🌪️ Warning out here in Norman, so I’m just now digging in. 👀 Wow. Though I don’t know Terri Grissom, I’ve heard from others at SDE who share her experiences. 1/4

tulsaworld.com/news/local/edu… SDE has become a toxic work place where nothing gets done, everything is slowed down; the only constant is new folks working to curry favor with Walters and his puppeteer, Matt Langston. 2/4

Ok HD 46…Norman. This is a developing tornado and after a massive turn east…it looks like it’s heading directly to West Norman. It is off and on, not super strong…but if it drops…we could be affected. We’re taking our precautions now, and I would suggest y’all do so as well. View from west Norman now.

Gun violence, a 🧵:

After yet another horrible mass shooting, this time just down I-35 in Allen, Texas, I’ve been thinking long and hard about what we see unfolding here in America regarding gun violence. 1/7

cbsnews.com/amp/news/allen… If this many folks died from literally any other means, elected leaders would throw away party politics and usher in policies to protect the people. But for whatever reasons, that’s not happening here in America. 2/7

Lots of folk wondering what the House just did w/ HB 1934, a stand-alone voucher bill. I’ll attempt to explain as clearly as I can 🧵 1/4 The House did vote to accept Senate amendments on HB 1934, a voucher bill in tax credit clothing, & there was bipartisan opposition. After passage, the Speaker then made a procedure which holds it in limbo, basically the House is holding it. Why? 2/4

My quick take on Walter’s SDE Budget plan so far: His plan is a mix of some of what Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, & Texas are doing and then sprinkling things in we’ve already invested in, like LETRS training. This is a Frankenplan! 🧵 His plan is asking for a ton of $ with very little deets. It’s like: “Just trust me and my SDE.”