Oklahoma City superintendent strives for 'equity' in school district

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Oklahoma City schools are back in session and have a new leader for the district.

The new superintendent told FOX 25 he is pleased with what he has seen, but acknowledges there is work needed to improve the entire district.

“Over the years people outside the school district have taken over the narrative of the school district,” Dr. Sean McDaniel told FOX 25.

He expected to find a dysfunctional district based on the public perception of city schools. What he found was something far different.

“I don't want to talk about the challenges without balancing that without talking about all the good people in this district," he said.

McDaniel says the district is filled with passionate and talented educators who care about children, but he says the district should do more to support them.

“We've got to really be thoughtful about equity in this school district,” McDaniel told FOX 25.

This talk of “equity” has become something of a mantra as McDaniel takes the reigns of the district. But what does it mean?

“For me, we want to create equity for that access to opportunity,” McDaniel said. “Not by taking it away from someone else, but by lifting everyone together.”

In this vision, success will not be dependent on your address. Each school will have what it needs to meet the needs of its population.

McDaniel hopes that making sure each school is as successful as the best schools in the district it will help recruit families back to the district.

“We have families here that have made decisions over the years that while they live in our school boundaries, they attend school in other school districts," he said. "We need to get the appeal back so we can say to those families, you need to come back here, this is where you need to send your kids to school.”

The district is also looking into how to best use the resources available. McDaniel says the decision on how to use each building and each dollar will be made based on research and not emotion. Oklahoma City Schools have hired an outside auditing firm to analyze the way the city does school.

“I think it is premature to talk about repurposing, or closing or consolidating,” McDaniel said, “I want to get very familiar with this data that comes to us.”

McDaniel said he is hopeful that that his reforms to lift up under performing schools will attract more families and in turn will increase enrollment and performance at schools that once might have been considered for closure.

Oklahoma City is expecting to get back the audit of the district's performance later this fall. In the meantime, Dr. McDaniel said he plans to continue many of the reforms that have been put in place over the past few years that have led to improvements throughout the district.