2 weeks Ago
Each week, City Editor Paul Tyrrell and I have the chance to sit down and talk with reporters Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton and Andrea Eger. They always come with something to say. It just so happens to be about the biggest issue in Oklahoma: the state of public education and all the forces at play, from the classrooms to the school board to the floor of the Legislature to the state agency with the largest budget to the U.
S. Supreme Court and soon a new White House. There was a week not too long ago — and it’s not the first time — that five reporters and a photographer were focused on stories on education in Oklahoma on a single day.
I look forward to these conversations with Lenzy and Andrea about what people are talking about — and what they should be talking about — to help guide us to develop a content plan for that week, the month and the coming year. People are also reading..
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Lenzy and Andrea both ask a lot of questions, request a lot of public documents that always seem to take longer than needed to be delivered, and accept a lot of phone calls with sources with something to put on their radar. I like how Lenzy says it, and it’s true for the journalists in the rest of our newsroom when it comes to those who reach out: “It’s taking the time to just hush and listen to what they have to say.” For Andrea, she sees her job not just as a profession but also as a way to contribute to her community.
“I’m proud to work at a community newspaper that believes in highlighting what works and what’s possible, as well as examining the underbelly of public institutions to expose mismanagement, abuse, corruption and injustice,” she said. Both of them have found a lot of mismanagement, abuse, corruption and injustice. But they have also uncovered a lot of good news.
Lenzy and Andrea know how to use a spotlight to bring attention to principals, teachers and students. Which gets me to a great event happening in Tulsa next Sunday, Nov. 17, when the Tulsa World is happy to help host the Tulsa premiere of a documentary by the Oklahoma State University College of Education and Human Sciences.
“Educating Oklahoma: Keeping the Promise of Public Education” will be shown at 6 p.m. at the OSU-Tulsa Auditorium, 700 N.
Greenwood Ave. The event is free and open to the public with support from OSU-Tulsa, the Tulsa World and the Tulsa Press Club. We’re having the screening on a Sunday to draw a lot of educators to the event.
We want to take an hour to let them watch the film and see what others are saying. It’s a film by Kelly Kerr, a former Tulsa World staff photographer and an award-winning multimedia producer at OSU. He’s collected interviews with teachers across the state and filmed what is happening in today’s classrooms.
The hourlong documentary highlights the value of teachers and the work they do. “The feeling you will get is that Oklahoma teachers are giving everything they got,” Kerr told me. “That is what I came away with.
There was not one teacher who wasn’t giving 110%. It’s incredible.” Kerr interviewed more than 50 individuals, including teachers, administrators and legislators.
Appearing in the film: Traci Manuel, the 2023 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year who taught at Booker T. Washington High School; Jenks Superintendent Stacey Butterfield; and Sarah Vann, who has won multiple national teaching awards in her career at Owasso Public Schools. In the documentary, Kerr followed first-year teacher Anna Perry as she taught first grade at Aspen Creek Elementary School in Broken Arrow.
He also featured Andrea and Ken Stern, a Tulsan who is an emeritus professor of educational leadership at OSU. I will be at the event, and I hope you will join us..
