TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa's lone election Feb. 11 is for District 3 of the Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education spot. It's the first time North Tulsa will vote for a new board member in eight years.
Support for educators and the dollars to prove it is a goal all three candidates present in Feb. 4's candidate forum at McLain High School agreed on.
Former educator and social worker Eartha McAlester, realtor Dorie Simmons, former teacher Kyra Carby, and talent agent Brandi Joseph are running to replace Dr. Jennettie Marshall, who's stepping down at the end of her second term. Joseph was the only candidate not to attend.
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"Our focus is and should always be on the children. Children do not have a political party," moderator and Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association president Shawna Mott-Wright told 2 News. "Children need to eat. Children need critical thinking. Children need care, regardless of the letter by your name."
While Mott-Wright was adamant that politics don't belong in Tulsa schools, all three on stage took a stance against ideas pushed by State Superintendent Ryan Walters.
"(With) disclosing the documentation status of our students, that is unconstitutional," Carby said during the forum regarding Walters' encouraging of disclosing immigration status of students. "It is detrimental to our society. We have a very diverse district."
"If we are not able to support every religion, every spiritual belief, then I don't think it's okay to support just one," McAlester said regarding Walters' bibles in schools mandate.
"When we allow school vouchers to go to the private sector when they can pay to go to a private school to begin with, we have a problem," Simmons said about the Oklahoma Legislature's progressively pro-school voucher stances.
Marshall said she won't endorse any of the women running, but does stress that the next few years will be vital for the school board.
"(The position) takes someone that's going to press forward to really take in what the district needs," Marshall told 2 News.
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"We just had a man convicted for stealing over $700,000 from the district, misappropriated. And we have the state auditor's report that's coming out. And those incidents, it's going to speak volumes to where we go and how we go. And then when we look at the legislation that's coming forward, we're pressing into areas that violate our constitution," she added.
"There's a lot of things that we have to take under consideration. And we have to work hard to become unified, but become people who hold one another accountable."
If none of the four candidates reaches 50% of the votes on Feb. 11, a runoff of the top two will be decided April 1.
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