Quotes of the Day

“Darn near every program we have has a waiting list. It’s a forgotten issue. We kind of have to stand on a table waving our hands.”

-Blair Schoeb, Executive Director of the Areawide Agency on Aging serving Oklahoma, Logan, Lincoln and Canadian counties, speaking about how demand for senior services is skyrocketing as more baby boomers enter their mid-60s [Journal Record].

“I know that it is really a huge issue that we are facing. We tend to take the infrastructure that we have around us that we depend on for granted.”

-Geophysicist Dwain Butler, who published a study on how Oklahoma’s earthquake swarms caused by oil and gas industry activities could be doing long-term damage to the state’s critical infrastructure [Tulsa World].

“I asked, ‘What’s wrong?’ And he said, ‘Mr. Chandler, you suspended me for three days and I didn’t eat.'”

-David Chandler, principal at Douglass Middle school in Oklahoma City, who has been working to find alternatives to school suspensions after seeing the harm they can do to students [Source].

“Instead of saying, ‘Why not?’ which is where we’re at, people that have to be with us to approve them say, ‘Why? Why change it if it’s not broken?’ Well, it is broken.” 

-Michelle Robinette, Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office Mental Health Coordinator, who said the challenge for having better responses to mental illness is selling everyone in the criminal justice system [Source].

“We do what we need to do for our students and for us to be able to do our job. It would be less of a burden if we were also paid a livable wage.” 

– Anna Graven, a high school American literature teacher in OKC, speaking about how she and most of her colleagues are forced to pay out of pocket for classroom supplies [Source].

“I think this law, in general, is one of those interesting ways out; lawmakers have found a way (to ensure) it’s exactly legally permissible. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean it’s good policy or that you should.”

-Allie Shinn, director of external affairs for American Civil Liberties Union Oklahoma, speaking about Oklahoma’s voter ID law which was recently upheld by the state Supreme Court [Source].

“While we celebrate the many great achievements in our public schools, we are ever mindful of the crisis that continues to face public education in Oklahoma. While our teachers have received much-deserved raises, we still suffer from an unprecedented shortage of certified teachers, shortened school weeks, larger class sizes, and outdated text books and learning resources. I am hopeful about the level of civic engagement recently at our Capitol and the number of people running for office who are seeking long-term funding solutions for our public schools.”

-David Boren, writing in an editorial for The Oklahoman [Source].

“We have about 70 bills left to make a decision on from the legislative session. There are a lot of bills that are drawing a lot of attention, but we’re carefully analyzing them, looking at the pros and cons – is it good public policy or is it not, what’s the public support, and certainly looking at the constitutionality of all of our laws too.”

– Governor Mary Fallin, speaking about the dozens of bills left to review before the May 18 deadline to sign or veto a bill. If a bill doesn’t get the governor’s signature by then, it cannot become a law [Source].

“Without her, my room would simply be a day care.”

– Elizabeth Wilson, a prekindergarten teacher in Yukon, praising the help she gets from her teaching aide, Nancy Novosad. An Oklahoma Watch investigation found that many school districts are hiring more aides and assistants as they struggle to hire certified teachers (Source)

“The expenditure of so much effort just to continue inadequately funding that which is the most popular expenditure of state government —public schools — does not bode well for other needs of a forward leaning state.”

– Former Oklahoma House Speaker Steve Lewis, writing about the massive amount of effort to pass and then protect revenues that were passed to fund a teacher pay raise this year (Source)