OKCPS, KIPP compromise signals room for agreement
Monday was a great night for Oklahoma City Public Schools when the OKCPS board rejected KIPP charter school’s proposed takeover of the Martin Luther King Jr. neighborhood school.
Superintendent Aurora Lora deserves great praise for extricating the OKCPS from a bitter conflict and negotiating a common sense deal. Ultimately, the board made the right decision for the right reasons: It voted for stability while also backing the district’s incoming leader, and it did so in the right way — through a compromise.
The decision respects the voices of patrons and educators. It must also be noted that KIPPsupporters responded graciously. Most KIPP patrons are primarily concerned about their own children instead of attacking adult opponents. After Monday’s meeting, several leaders who sought to use the charter-conversion law to defeat the school system and the teachers union expressed a willingness to move forward in a collaborative manner.
Maybe they will or maybe they won’t continue to push win-lose competition between schools as the path to educational improvement. Maybe they will or maybe they won’t work with educators who support win-win policies.
Regardless, there seems to be an opportunity to seek out areas of agreement.
‘No harm, no foul’
The most important part of the compromise was that the forced conversion of a neighborhood elementary school into aOKCPS, KIPP compromise signals room for agreement - NonDoc: