Miscellaneous
This week: A bogus witch hunt in public education. The Governor ended his McGirt panel due to protesters. Power struggle in Western Heights school district. A former Cherokee chief will be featured on the quarter. Episode outline: The State Board of Education https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/education/state-education-board-adopts-temporary-rules-on-teaching-race-gender-in-oklahoma-public-schools/article_117d56b4-e1bf-11eb-b493-336e22605c9d.html#tracking-source=home-trending (adopted rules following passage of HB1775). Western Heights school district fired superintendent, appointed a new one, then SBE said no and appointed their own, THEN https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/education/2021/07/15/western-heights-school-district-appoints-superintendent-continues-fight-oklahoma-authority/7986555002/ (this week Western Heights said no to the state and again appointed their own.) We mentioned in our last episode that Governor Stitt was going to hold a “community impact panel” this week about the McGirt ruling. Well, he did...but https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/residents-voice-concerns-at-panel-discussion-on-mcgirt-supreme-court-ruling/collection_29e1694a-e447-11eb-ad0e-b3a5303301ea.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest (it did not go well for him). On a related note, the https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2021/07/16/mcgirt-v-oklahoma-ruling-thousands-new-cases-fbi-director-christopher-wray/7979571002/ (FBI anticipates 7500 new cases) in federal court next year as a result of the McGirt ruling The board of Epic Charter Schools shared information about https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/how-oklahomas-largest-virtual-charter-school-decided-to-cut-ties-with-its-founders/ (why they distanced themselves from the founders), and it’s kind of fascinating. Let’s end on a good note: the US Mint https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/design-candidates-set-for-wilma-mankiller-quarters-coming-next-year-from-u-s-mint/article_a039e680-e3f2-11eb-9d87-e75a44d3377e.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 (announced) the designs for the new quarters featuring Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller that will be released next year. Support this podcast