State Superintendent Hears From Parents, Teachers In Town Hall Meeting

State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister is working to create a plan for a new school report card, a new plan for testing and graduation requirements. In a town hall meeting in the city's south side, she asked Oklahomans to help.

This was the third stop of her town hall tour in Oklahoma, gathering feedback under the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaced No Child Left Behind.

With two kids in school, Wyjuana Montgomery said she had to make her way to a microphone.

“If you’re not going to show up and at least make your voice heard, it’s kind of hard for you to be unhappy and complain about it,” she said.

Montgomery's message, along with dozens of others in the room, made loud and clear the teacher shortage continues to be a problem.

Hofmeister said class sizes are growing, some educators are feeling stretched, and there is a lack of resources.

It's all feedback she said she'll use to help make meaningful changes to our education system.

“This is an intentional step to reach out to hear from those who may have been overlooked in the past. Their voice matters. They want to be an advocate, they want to be involved, but sometimes you have to take yourself to them and that’s what we did here tonight,” Hofmeister told News 9.

The new plan will be submitted to the state board in December. Then that will go to the legislature - and possibly implemented next fall, according to Hofmeister.

She will be in Tulsa tomorrow and then onto Enid, Yukon and Muskogee.

If you cannot attend a town hall, click here to take the related survey.