The State Board of Education is slated to hold its first meeting of 2021 at 10 a.m. Thursday with the Epic Charter Schools Board of Education scheduled to meet Monday evening.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, this week Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed former businessman and University of Oklahoma football player Trent Smith to the Board of Education and continued his push for open schools.
Catch up on the week’s Oklahoma education news with this collection of headlines from reporters around the state.
Stitt appoints new State Board of Education member
On Friday, Gov. Kevin Stitt named former Oklahoma Employment Security Commission commissioner and former University of Oklahoma football player Trent Smith as his appointment to fill the vacant seat on the State Board of Education.
NonDoc reported that Smith will fill the seat for Congressional District 3, which was left vacant after Stitt removed Kurt Bollenbach from the board in December.
Smith said he is familiar with and supportive of Stitt’s goals for public education in the state, including Stitt’s statements that all students need to have an option for in-person instruction this year despite the pandemic.