Oklahoma Academy Hosts Education Plan Meeting Sessions

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- In Norman, a diverse group of Oklahomans is giving up personal time and a lot more to address an important public issue. It's a different kind of brainstorming session and the group isn't leaving until they come up with a plan.

An annual town hall meeting is held, sponsored by the non-profit Oklahoma Academy.

"The mission of the academy is to bring together citizens to look at critical issues facing the state," Julie Knutson with the Oklahoma Academy said.

This year the critical issue is education and how to produce students capable of working in a global economy.

One hundred-80 Oklahomans from all over the state, from all walks of life are participating in the Oklahoma Academy Town Hall. While they're there, they must forsake certain amenities.

"The hardest problem is trying not to deal with my cell phone, so they have a zero call phone policy and so far it's going okay," University of Oklahoma student Spencer Pittman said.

"All of a sudden I was kinda put on lockdown, not allowed to leave, not allowed to use cell phones or anything like that, so it was pretty scary," S.E. State University student Timothy Sneed said.

Participants are encouraged to think outside the educational paradigm. How about foreign language training for pre-K and kindergarten students?

"That was a new one on me," said Rep. Lee Denney (R) Cushing said. "I could see moving it in to middle school, but they really feel like kids are a sponge at that level and it's time to bring in foreign languages."