Noble school board member speaks out against bill requiring five-day school weeks

"Noble Public Schools board member Erika Wright said Senate Bill 441 wouldn't be easy on her district," FOX 25 reports.

The bill would require public schools to be in session for 180 days out of the year, where Noble only has a school year of 151 days. "What that would translate to for our district is we may have to let teachers go," Wright said. "Because of that we could probably very much expect that we would have larger class sizes."

Five-day school week bill could cause districts to add days to school year

"A bill to force all of Oklahoma's school districts to have five-day weeks could also require schools to add days to their calendars," the News on 6 reports.

The bill would require every school to be in session for 180-days per year. This means Tulsa Public Schools would have to add 14 days to the calendar and Union would have to add 10. 

Officials with other districts say they're concerned about the bill's impact on classes. A recent study also shows 81 percent of parents with children in four-day districts like having their kids out on Fridays.

Oklahoma nonprofit works to make college credit more accessible for rural high school students

The Tulsa World's Kyle Hinchey has the story.

Boren says stopping four-day school weeks ‘should be a top priority of our state government’

In Oklahoma, "far too many schools have only four-day school weeks," former Democratic Gov. David Boren declares. "It should be a top priority of our state government to stop this practice and fund five days for all of our children."

Stillwater News Press defends four-day school weeks

The Stillwater News Press editorial board doesn't like the idea of prohibiting four-day school weeks:

“We’d love to come do business in Oklahoma, but it turns out some of your smaller school districts are only in class four days a week, so we’ll have to pass.”

Let’s go ahead and file that under things that almost certainly have not been said by major companies.

Two bills are running through the Oklahoma Legislature that would mandate five-day school districts, mainly as even our Sen. Tom Dugger has said, because four-day school weeks make us look bad. We probably shouldn’t go into all the things coming out of the Capitol that have made Oklahoma look bad to outsiders, but we can address the school week issue with ease because we have several local districts that use the four-day school week. Here’s the thing—they like it. And whatever happened to wanting local control for districts?

The bills are hedged by the caveats would allow for school districts to remain at four days a week if they can prove it’s saving money and improving student performance. That the burden of proof would retroactively being put on the school districts doesn’t make much sense. If anyone had bothered to ask, they would probably have heard from many districts ready to share proof that the shorter week has been working for them, possibly even helping with teacher retention. And, once districts are able to prove this, and manage to stay at a four-day week, then what becomes of the national perception legislators were worried about? The bills were created to give a better impression of the state, right?

Putnam City student arrested for gun in backpack at school

KFOR has the story.

Putnam City West student to face attempted rape charge

News 9 has the story.

Study finds school choice improves mental health

Staci Elder Hensley has the story.

Former Durant teacher arrested on child porn charges

KFOR has the story.

Taxpayers' ROI on public education is not good, survey says

According to a new survey commissioned by OCPA and conducted by WPA Intelligence, only a third of Oklahoma voters say taxpayers are getting a good return on their investment in public education. Just over half (51 percent) say the ROI is bad.

Hope Scholarship bill for bullied kids fails in committee

"Lawmakers in Oklahoma just voted against a bill that would have given [bullied] students another option," the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia reports. 

"Senate Bill 570, authored by state Sen. Rob Standridge (R-Norman) and co-authored by state Sen. Gary Stanislawski (R-Tulsa) and House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols (R-Oklahoma City), failed to clear the Senate Education Committee this week, falling on a 10-6 vote," OCPA reports.

Senators who opposed SB 570 were J.J. Dossett (D-Owasso), Carri Hicks (D-Oklahoma City), Allison Ikley-Freeman (D-Tulsa), Tom Dugger (R-Stillwater), John Haste (R-Broken Arrow), Chris Kidd (R-Waurika), Roland Pederson (R-Burlington), Dewayne Pemberton (R-Muskogee), Paul Scott (R-Duncan), and Jason Smalley (R-Stroud). 

Senators voting in favor were David Bullard (R-Durant), Marty Quinn (R-Claremore), Wayne Shaw (R-Grove), Joe Newhouse (R-Broken Arrow), Gary Stanislawski (R-Tulsa), and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat (R-Edmond).

Parent Jessica Visalli supported the bill. She told the NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City that her son "has been beaten multiple times in the head with a fist as he was walking in a classroom at the middle school."

After Moore teacher's actions, mom says first-grader is 'this little boy that is scared of life'

"Mother of three Kaitlyn Proctor said she has spent the last few months fighting to make sure her 7-year-old child, Eli, gets justice," KFOR reports.

“It’s hard now because it’s made him into this little boy that is scared of life,” Proctor said. 

Proctor said, in October, Eli went home crying, saying his legs hurt. The boy told Proctor that his 1st-grade teacher had shoved down his legs. The mom said, through investigation, Plaza Towers Elementary located a video of the incident. While the school declined to release it to us, Proctor described it as horrifying. 

“When I went up there to see the video, she repeatedly shoved his legs down on the ground and held them there, then grabbed him by the throat and lifted him to a standing position,” she said. Proctor said after the school showed her the video, Moore police were called and she filed a report against the teacher. 

“As soon as we found out about the incident, we immediately started investigating and found video of the incident. The police were contacted, and they requested the video. We immediately turned that video over to them,” said Dennis Horstkoetter, director of Safety and Security for Moore Public Schools. The school tells us that the teacher is no longer with the district. 

Now, police said no charges will be brought against her. 

“I am so lost with everything right now. I am speechless,” Proctor said. 

The Cleveland County District Attorney’s Office sent us a statement, saying, in part, “Based upon her review of the charges, it was determined that, although the teacher’s actions were inappropriate, they did not support the filing of a felony child abuse charge due, at least in part, to the lack of any physical harm or injury as well as the nature and extent of the force used.”

Wagoner school leaders defend four-day school week

The Wagoner County American Tribune has the story.