Northeast parents considering grievance
All Yolanda Shelton wants is a seat at the table.
Shelton, whose daughter attends Northeast Academy, says parents are not being included in decisions being made by Oklahoma City Public Schools that adversely affect students.
“They have not included us in the process so that we can actually help students and administrators with the transition,” she said Friday. “I don’t know these people; they are around my child and some of them have bad attitudes.”
Shelton and others who attended a recent meeting at the school organized by school board member Ruth Veales, said their concerns are being ignored by Superintendent Aurora Lora.
Lora and her staff, along with several other departments, have occupied space at Northeast, 3100 N Kelley, since July. They are expected to do so until the district’s administrative offices are relocated to 615 N Classen in 2019.
Shelton said there have been problems ever since administrators moved in and she believes race plays a part.
“According to the kids, some administrators will walk on the other side of the hallway when they see them coming,” she said. “Surely, district personnel didn’t think they weren’t going to have problems when you take a majority white group and put them with majority black students.”
Another Northeast parent, who requested anonymity, said district administrators and staff need to be separated from students.
“They need their own wing or something,” she said. “They don’t need to be mixed together, because it’s not a school environment. It’s more of a business, and the kids can’t be kids.”
The same parent said her daughter doesn’t like the way district workers look at her or her friends.
“The kids have overheard them saying mean things about the kids,” she said. “They look down at them like they’re nothing, like they’re not wanted. And it’s their school.”
Lora could not be reached for comment Friday. In a statement, spokeswoman Beth Harrison said the district “continues to work with the families, students and staff at Northeast to make sure students are receiving the best educational experience possible.”
“As always, if a parent, student or staff member has any issue or concern they are welcomed to contact the district so we work together towards a solution,” Harrison stated.
Things came to a head at the school on Oct. 23 when about about 150 students staged a lunchtime protest to complain about overcrowding and other conditions.
Shelton said parents had requested a meeting with Lora prior to the protest and expected to be included when Lora met with student leaders afterward.
“They proceeded to meet with the kids and not the parents,” she said. “They completely ignored our request to meet.”
Lora told school board members that night she addressed several concerns and cleared up “some miscommunication and misinformation” about “how we are sharing the building at Northeast.”
Parents and students who attended the same board meeting characterized the district’s occupation of the building as disruptive, complained about overcrowding and said Principal Sue Starr received little support from the district.
The parent who requested anonymity said her ninth-grade daughter was placed in two PE classes to start the school year. She spent a month in both before being placed in a biology class with 50 students, the parent said.
“So she’s like four weeks behind in biology,” the parent said. “The district needs to provide some remediation or tutoring to get caught up.”
Two days after the protest, Starr was placed on paid administrative leave with little explanation. She has since been recommended for termination by Lora.
Shelton said Starr was wrongly removed, adding she looked out for students and could “always be counted on.”
Shelton pointed out that Northeast no longer allows students to assemble in the gym for announcements after eating breakfast, something she said Starr did “for cultural reasons.”
“Sue would let ‘em get settled in before they went to class,” she said.
Shelton contends parents were not notified about other rule changes, including a new one that prevents students from leaving the building and re-entering after regular school hours.
She said a member of her daughter’s middle school basketball team walked outside before a game then tried to re-enter and was told she could not play in the game.
At a meeting Wednesday night organized by school board member Ruth Veales, Northeast parents, alumni and volunteers voiced their concerns over changes at Northeast.
Some told Veales, who represents the school, that students are being robbed of educational opportunities by a district they claim does not provide enough academic and emotional support.
They spoke of overcrowded classrooms; one teacher teaching two classes at the same time; and a media center that would close when the media specialist had to teach a class. Parents said the school only has one elective — Spanish — and that teacher recently quit.
“Really and truly I feel like it needs to be investigated,” said Veales, who took a tour of the building last week. “I really believe there are two sides to every story. I want to speak to central office staff.”
School board members Rebecca Budd and Charles Henry also attended the meeting organized by Veales.
Budd said those in attendance are “fighting to get Northeast students educational resources that they should have had from the beginning of the year.”
“They’ve received some of them, and the district still has to deliver on a few outstanding issues,” she said. “The meeting was about what their students deserve, both from an academic standpoint as well as a normal student experience.”
Shelton, meanwhile, has met in recent days with the school’s interim principal and a district administrator to discuss her concerns. She said she and other parents are prepared to file a grievance against the district if their concerns are not addressed.
“The problem is we cut the number of people who take care of our kids and then you put more pressure on the people who are still there,” she said. “The kids are at a heightened emotional state ... because their foundation has been shaken. The structure that was there has been shaken.”