The Daily Ardmoreite
The Ardmore City Schools Board of Education last week quietly updated the elementary dress code to prohibit “social or political content.” The district’s top official said the move was not in response to a mother’s protest that briefly put the school’s decision in a national spotlight after two of her children were removed from classes for wearing Black Lives Matter shirts.
“Nothing was discussed at all. The only thing I remember was we changed some of the facilities that the board was willing to lease to outside groups,” said Superintendent Kim Holland on May 20. He spoke by phone two days after a school board meeting that approved student handbooks for elementary, middle and high school students for the next academic year.
John Lunn is retiring from his position as Will Rogers Elementary principal.
He spent nearly 40 years with Putnam City Schools.
PC teachers and parents tell us he puts the pal in Principal and he s never too busy to lend a hand.
Jordan Herbert, last Tuesday (May 4) wearing matching Black Lives Matter tees.
Herbert told the newspaper her sons,
Bentlee, 8, and
Rodney Herbert, 5, were taken out of their classrooms because the shirts violated a political expression dress code rule the schools have. Herbert claims, however, that she had previously spoken to
Kim Holland, superintendent of the Ardmore School District, regarding the shirts when the principal of Bentlee’s school had told her to speak to him regarding the school’s dress code.
“He told me when the George Floyd case blew up that politics will not be allowed at school,” Herbert said on Friday, referring to Holland. “I told him, once again, a ‘Black Lives Matter’ T-shirt is not politics.”
Amazing Teacher nominees
High School: Vanoss HS (Ada, Okla.)
College: East Central Univ.
From her nomination: This educator goes above and beyond the call of her duty. When distance learning first launched, she began thinking out of the box to reach her PreK students to meet their individual needs. She made drive by visits, orchestrated drive by parades with music to make it fun for her students. Her online learning platform is very creative bringing the classroom right into her students homes. Her students aren t missing the beat to their educational experience. Everything she would have done in the traditional classroom setting, she has adapted and made it work virtually. She is a true example of an outstanding educator making the best of any situation for to benefit her students.