Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Former Pocola teacher charged with rape had previous indecency conviction involving student

"A former Pocola High School teacher accused of having sex with three different students had a previous conviction for sexual indecency with another student in a different Oklahoma school district," KFSM reports.
Janet Kaye Barnes, 44, was indicted last week by an Oklahoma grand jury on two counts of second-degree rape and one count of sexual battery. The indictment alleged that Barnes had sex with the minors when she taught at the high school between January 2014 and November 2016. She's no longer employed by Pocola schools.

Barnes pleaded guilty in January 2012 in McCurtain County District Court to outraging public decency involving a student younger than 16. A student at Smithville Public Schools in Smithville, Okla., told police in 2010 that Barnes asked him to have sex and sent him nude photos over four months, according to court documents. The boy, who said he felt like Barnes was "stalking him," also said she exposed herself to him.

It's unclear what Barnes' role was at the school. Court documents show the boy described her as a teacher and a coach, but school officials didn't immediately respond Monday to questions about her employment. Barnes was given a nine-month suspended sentence and had to pay more than $400 in fines and court costs. The judge also issued her a no-contact order with the student.

However, the boy later reported that Barnes attended some of his athletic events and came to a school concert he performed in. Barnes pleaded guilty in August 2012 to violating a protection order but received no jail time.

Sand Springs mom devastated over cyberbullying incident

"For a mother to find out a revealing video of her daughter was released all over school is devastating," KJRH reports. "For her to find out her child didn't even know it was taken, and that it sparked a nasty, false rumor, is even more so."

Monday, May 20, 2019

Oklahoma teacher featured in upcoming film on socialism

"In the space of about three years, socialism has gone from a total nonstarter to a persistent object of curiosity for millions of ordinary people, and the name of a real movement for tens of thousands of dedicated new organizers," Meagan Day writes for the socialist publication Jacobin. "With Jacobin‘s support, the upcoming film Socialism: An American Story documents the new wave of socialism in the US and traces its lineage through American history."

In an interview with director and producer Yael Bridge, Day asked: "One of the major characters of your film is Oklahoma teacher Stephanie Price. Can you tell us about Stephanie’s journey from pissed-off public school teacher to a member of a socialist organization?" Bridge replied:
Stephanie was a wonderful discovery for us as filmmakers—she’s just a really bright, charming, courageous person. She is a person who can see that certain aspects of her life are f***** up but not really someone who has an analysis of where those pressures come from. And ultimately through participating in the strike, even though the Oklahoma strike ended in a way that was somewhat frustrating for the rank and file, she develops an entirely different sense of what she deserves, and what she can achieve.

We filmed a panel at the Socialism conference in 2018, where many of the leaders of the strike wave spoke, and the common thread was the power of that experience of solidarity. We can talk about it and write about it all we want, but I think until you actually go out and strike and find out the power that you collectively have as workers, it’s hard to really grasp.

You could see that all of these people, mostly women, had kind of found their voices as people through participating in a strike. Most of them had just been rank-and-file teachers beforehand, and here they were just a few months later addressing a room of thousands with absolute poise and confidence. That’s hard to do, and it was extremely moving to witness. That experience of solidarity is what Stephanie’s journey in the film is all about.
The film is scheduled to premiere next year. 

Friday, May 17, 2019

Former Pocola teacher indicted for rape and sexual battery

"A former Pocola High School teacher has been indicted on charges of rape and sexual battery—accused of having sex with three different students," KNWA reports.
A LeFlore County judge signed the arrest warrant and an Oklahoma grand jury brought forward an indictment for Janet Kaye Barnes on Friday, May 17. The Supreme Court of Oklahoma indictment states Barnes, 44, had relations with multiple minors between 2014-2016 when she was an employee at the high school. Barnes faces two second-degree rape charges for each incident.

Who is the OEA?

Many Oklahomans don’t realize that the state’s largest school-employee labor union is an advocate for far-left causes—including abortion, gun control, and transgenderism—and for far-left politicians, including Hillary Clinton.

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Oklahoma public schools send more than $1 billion to private companies every year

Including companies offering teacher preparation, Curtis Shelton writes.

Piedmont teacher doesn't like Petro Pete

Melissa Lau, a sixth-grade teacher in Piedmont, says some of the curricular materials provided by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board are "borderline propaganda."

‘Multiple people’ report being sexually assaulted by longtime Prague teacher

A Prague Middle School history teacher accused of sexually assaulting students met with investigators the night before he died in a car crash, The Oklahoman reports today. The district attorney for Pottawatomie and Lincoln counties told the newspaper that "multiple people have come forward in recent days" to report being abused by this educator, who taught for 32 years in the Prague Public Schools and was twice named the district's Teacher of the Year.

Friday, May 10, 2019

How long can Christians leave their children in public schools?

As the sexual revolution picks up steam, Albert Mohler observes today ("The war for the minds of our children: New California sex education framework for public schools is a manifesto for the sexual revolution and LGBTQ movement"), "Christian parents considering all this have to understand that it raises the question district by district, state by state, as to how long Christians can leave their children in the domain of the public schools."
Because when it comes to many of the sex education and comprehensive health education programs, it turns out that parents do not even know what is being taught to their children. They are not even aware of the moral messaging that is being presented, and you can count on the fact that there are going to be an awful lot of Christian parents in California who are going to be asking how long they can leave their children in the public schools.

At this point there is still local control of the public schools in many states to the extent that it really does matter where you live, district by district, but we have to ask the question as to how long that can last, because the moral revolutionaries aren't going to be satisfied until their new moral framework becomes the curricular framework of every single public school in every single public school district coast to coast. They will not rest until that is done.

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Tulsa junior-high student found with handgun

"A Tulsa Public Schools junior high student was taken into custody after being found with a handgun on Monday," KJRH reports.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Bixby bus driver suspended after young student left on bus

KJRH has the story.

With an eye toward school shootings, Oklahoma teachers learn how to 'stop the bleed'

"Because of the rise in school shootings across the nation, Oklahoma teachers are learning life-saving tactics in case they need to use them," the News on 6 reports.
It's part of a national program called “Stop the Bleed." On Friday teachers in Oilton learned how to treat traumatic wounds and more specifically how to keep someone from bleeding out. "The procedures to do that will be very helpful. Whether we are on the playground, or in the classroom or even if I am out on the highway, I think I could help somebody stop the bleed," said Oilton teacher Shelley Tunin.