Back to home page.
Back to home page.

EDUCATION OVERSIGHT BOARD MEETING MINUTES
February 23, 2005 - 8:00 A.M.
Room 512A
State Capitol Building
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Don McCorkell, Kenneth Bridges, Gerald Dickerson, Susan Field, and Representative Odilia Dank
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Ron Dryden, Patrick Gilmore and Senator Angela Monson
OTHER REGULAR ATTENDEES: Office of Accountability Staff: Robert Buswell, Matt Hesser and Jerry Hsieh
VISITORS: Mr. Ray Pearcy
Call to Order and Roll Call: Mr. McCorkell called the meeting to order at 8:08 a.m. and declared a quorum to be present.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes for the January 26, 2005 board meeting was unanimously approved as submitted.
Discussion of Results of National Board Certified Teacher Survey: At the January EOB meeting, Board members were asked to judge the answers given on the final question of the "National Board Certified Teacher Survey" so that Mr. McCorkell could award a cash prize to the Oklahoma N.B.C. teachers who submitted the best answers. The final question asked N.B.C. teachers what they would do to improve Oklahoma's education system. Mr. McCorkell explained that there had been a misunderstanding as to when Board members should submit their top picks to Mr. McCorkell. As a result, he was not yet ready to announce the winners. McCorkell hoped that he would be able to forward the names of the winning N.B.C. teachers to the Board before the next meeting.
Discussion of "Agenda for Change: The Future of Common Education in Oklahoma": Mr. McCorkell lead the board through the paper titled "Agenda for Change: The Future of Common Education in Oklahoma." The paper was a compilation of the issues covered at the Education Oversight Board's October retreat. Recommended actions were put forth for each area of concern, with the exception of the eighth item. The eighth item listed several areas of concern for which recommended actions have yet to be developed. The eight areas of concern are:
  1. Enhance current programs for accountability and intervention
  2. Expand and refine professional development programs for teachers
  3. Create an Education Leadership Development Program
  4. Develop & implement an integrated program to improve student nutrition, health and fitness
  5. Encourage the downsizing of excessively large schools (especially high schools)
  6. Synchronize programs and standards between Common Education and Higher Education
  7. Improve the quality of career and personal counseling services for students
  8. Other areas of concern: a) arts education, b) customer sensitivity, c) civics education, d) promotion of innovations in education.
Mrs. Field made a motion to adopt "Agenda for Change: The Future of Common Education in Oklahoma" as the Board's working agenda. Mr. Dickerson seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously
Status Report on the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program: Mr. Buswell stated the Indicators Program was moving along, but was also frustrated with data collection process. Several key pieces of data from the State Department of Education were still outstanding. If the data were not forwarded to the Office in short order, it would begin to delay the release of the Profiles documents in the spring. The board requested that Mr. Buswell keep them apprised of the situation and to inform the Board if intervention was needed to expedite the process.
Status Report on the Oklahoma School Performance Review Program (OSPR): Mr. Buswell relayed to the Board that the Stillwater performance review was progressing well. He said that the contractor, WCL Enterprises, was working diligently and had submitted a first draft and summaries of the survey results. Buswell felt that the Stillwater community had shown great interest in the process and that things were moving along according to schedule.
Year to Date Expenditures Report for FY-05: Due to other pressing issues, Mr. Buswell had not prepared a printout of the year-to-date expenditures to distribute to the Board. He assured the Board, however, that there were no concerns regarding the budget.
Discussion of New Legislation: Mr. Buswell provided a brief summary and status of several education bills currently working their way through the legislative process. He noted that House Bill 1292 by Fred Morgan and Senate Bill 399 by Angela Monson would be of particular interest to the Board because these bills would modify the Office's School Performance Review process.
New Business: On behalf of the Board, Mr. McCorkell took the opportunity to thank Representative Dank for the legislative leadership she has provided. He felt that it was a breath of fresh air to have someone who truly wanted to invoke positive change upon the system and was not primarily interested in defending the status quo. He relayed that the Board looked forward to working with Representative Dank in the future. Representative Dank added that she looked forward to attending the EOB meetings and was impressed with how proactive the group was on addressing the educational issues that face Oklahoma. Representative Dank had the feeling that everyone in the room was there for one reason; to help the children of Oklahoma.
Announcements: None
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 a.m.
The minutes of the February 23, 2005 Meeting of the Education Oversight Board were approved as submitted on March 16, 2005