TPS board candidates address bullying, safety and local control

Editor’s note: This story originally omitted comments from District 6 candidate Sarah Smith. The story has been updated.

Questions related to State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ initiatives, a former administrator’s alleged embezzlement, and school safety issues such as bullying, fighting and gun violence were among those asked of school board hopefuls at a candidates forum Tuesday.

Four Tulsa Public Schools board candidates (right) answer questions from Tulsa World journalists Andrea Eger (from left), Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton and Ginnie Graham on Tuesday night at the Lorton Performance Center at the University of Tulsa. Tulsa World Editor Jason Collington (left) was moderator.

Cambry Shields, Tulsa World

The public forum, sponsored by the Tulsa Press Club, the Tulsa World and the University of Tulsa, was held Tuesday evening for candidates in the April 2 Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education election.

All six candidates were invited, with four of the six participating in the event, which was held at the Lorton Performance Center on the TU campus.

Participants included Calvin Moniz, District 2; John Croisant (incumbent) and Teresa Peña, District 5; and Sarah Smith, District 6.

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The four fielded questions over 10 rounds asked by Tulsa World staff writers Andrea Eger and Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton and Editorials Editor Ginnie Graham.

Tulsa World Editor Jason Collington moderates a school board candidates forum as World journalists Andrea Eger (seated, from left), Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton and Ginnie Graham ask questions.

Cambry Shields, Tulsa World

Asked how as school board members they could advocate for strong policies and practices in schools to address bullying, Moniz said he would push for more mental health resources and a better appreciation for diversity.

“As we take out Diversity Equity Inclusion education in our schools, we lose the respect for each other that we should have,” Moniz said. “That’s why bullying and the things that you’re seeing are happening. We’re on the wrong track in Oklahoma, and my plan is to get us back on the right track in Tulsa.”

Said Croisant: “We’ve got to let kids know that it’s OK to be who you are, no matter who you are. And that’s whether it’s in Tulsa Public Schools or in a suburban school or a rural school. This is a problem everywhere. And until we really address the root causes, we’re not going to solve this problem.”

Among questions directed at individual candidates, Peña was asked if she supports Walters’ lingering takeover threat against Tulsa Public Schools and what she would do as a board member regarding his agenda.

“Like I said before, and I truly believe this, we must have local control,” she said. “The first thing I’d do is ask for a meeting with Ryan Walters. There are many things that I do not agree with in the way it has been done. … I have many questions. Where are the resources if you’re planning on takeover?

Added Peña: “I want to have that conversation with him because we live in Tulsa. We know the community. We need to save our schools. And I don’t know that he knows the Tulsa community as well as we do.”

One question directed to Croisant referenced the criminal case against former top TPS administrator Devin Fletcher, who is accused of embezzlement and vendor contract abuse.

Asked as a board member what policies he would like to see implemented and what questions he could ask to prevent such abuses, Croisant, chair of the district Finance Committee, said he would work with the auditors directly to try to figure out what caused the issues and how they can be solved.

But a lot of the problem, he added, is “just hiring the wrong people — people who want to hurt kids by taking money from them. I feel like if there’s anything we can throw at them, I hope it gets thrown at them, because I just can’t stand it myself.”

In response to a question about why she has expressed an interest in serving on the board’s finance committee, Smith said “looking at safeguards to prevent employees or others from defrauding the public school district is vital.”

Smith said she has heard the board has had a hard time finding members willing to serve on the finance committee “and when there’s nobody serving on a committee that work can’t be done.”

“I would love to be a part of the process to vet vendors and making sure those guidelines and policies are in place and again reviewing the new safety guidelines and making sure that those are truly able to catch and prevent improprieties in the future and looking at the budget from a wide view and making sure that the expenditures are aligning with the priorities that are set and the guidelines that the department the district want to have,” Smith said.

Four Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education candidates answer questions from Tulsa World journalists Tuesday night at the Lorton Performance Center at the University of Tulsa.

Cambry Shields, Tulsa World

Participants also answered one question each submitted by students in the district they are seeking to represent.

Moniz was asked by Rogers College High School leadership students his views on in-person student attendance, given that most assignments are now online-based.

“There’s nothing more valuable than having that interpersonal connection as you’re building your education, learning the diversity of each other and learning how each person learns differently,” Moniz said. “You don’t have those conversations when you’re looking at a computer screen. So for me, in-person education is the only type of education.”

Candidates KanDee Washington and Maria Seidler did not participate in Tuesday’s forum.

Washington, opponent to Moniz in District 2, never replied to the invitation despite multiple emails and phone calls, organizers said. Seidler, opponent to Smith in District 6, declined the invitation after initially accepting.

March 8 is the last day to register to vote in the April 2 school board elections.

The forum was the first of three public forums related to upcoming Tulsa elections sponsored by TU, the Tulsa World and the Tulsa Press Club. The next two will focus on the Tulsa City Council and mayor’s race. Dates for those events will be announced soon.

Tulsa Public Schools patrons listen to school board candidates at Tuesday’s forum at the Lorton Performance Center at the University of Tulsa.

Cambry Shields, Tulsa World

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