As a lifelong Oklahoman, I know that we strongly support our public schools and the locally elected boards from our communities that oversee them. I’m thrilled that many of my former students work in Oklahoma public schools – and heartbroken that many are out of state or have entered other fields. Though they’d still like to be teaching here, they are part of the growing teacher exodus that still plagues our schools.

“I want a fantastic teacher for every child, every year.”

As a proud public school parent myself, I want to ensure that all of our schools have a strong pool of comprehensively prepared educators each fall when they are hiring, rather than having few, if any, qualified applicants as is the case today statewide. I want a fantastic teacher for every child, every year.

I have a proven record of leadership, advocacy, and service. A teacher leader in the OSU Writing Project since 2003, I appreciate this network of educators learning from one another to best serve student learning with a focus on literacy across content areas. I served as President of the Oklahoma Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (OACTE) in the 2018-2019 academic year and have remained active, earning the Distinguished Service Award in 2020, the Jane M. Morse Award for leadership in teacher education in 2021, and the Ted Gillespie Advocacy Award in 2022, all from my OACTE colleagues. I’m humbled by these awards and grateful to be recognized for the work I’ve done alongside my wonderful colleagues across the state. 

I love serving as a trustee on the Stillwater Public Education Foundation (SPEF), working to ensure we can support educators’ creative ideas to serve students’ learning and am currently President-Elect of SPEF. These last few years as Band Booster Secretary have offered even greater appreciation for the incredibly hard work and passion that our directors and my fellow parents pour into our amazing band program. I recently served a term as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and was elected and served as national Chair of the Advisory Council of State Representatives (ACSR), the network of state AACTE affiliates working to advocate for state policies that foster a diverse, thriving pool of teachers and strong public schools to serve every child, whatever their background or zip code. 

“I will hold self-serving officials who repeat divisive culture war fictions accountable…”

Whether on one of my trips to the Capitol to advocate for education or at a school board meeting speaking up to ensure that a small minority of parents don’t remove access to a full look at our shared history and a breadth of high quality choices in their reading materials, my commitment is clear. As a public school parent myself, I won’t let others usurp our rights while they’re claiming to protect them. I will hold self-serving officials who repeat divisive culture war fictions accountable for spreading misinformation manufactured in well-funded out-of-state think tanks as an excuse to deplete our communities’ school funding. I will work hard to keep our public dollars in the public schools that benefit us all. 

“Oklahomans are resourceful, smart, and solution-oriented, and I look forward to working with you toward an Oklahoma where we can all thrive.”

Early in my career as an educator over twenty years ago, I learned that I’d have a window into students’ lives – their joys, and, too often, their hardships. While teachers are the most important in-school factor for our children’s well-being, academic and otherwise, one of the reasons I am stepping up to lead is to address the out-of-school factors that matter for our communities. As a state with some of the highest rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), we can and must do better for our children and their families. 

Oklahomans are resourceful, smart, and solution-oriented, and I look forward to working with you toward an Oklahoma where we can all thrive.