Ward 4 school board candidates take part in one last forum before voting begins

Mar. 27—In a packed room at the Stillwater Public Library, school board Ward 4 candidates Gay Washington and Shelia Means were together for the last time Tuesday evening in an open forum to talk about where they stand on education issues before the election.

The Stillwater Chamber of Commerce and the Stillwater News Press hosted the event.

Early voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and tomorrow at the Payne County administration building in the Gloria Hesser Conference Room (Room 201).

For more than an hour, the two candidates answered questions regarding issues affecting the Stillwater Public School district.

Talks revolved around their platforms, and both reiterated their stances regarding the need for teachers, local school board control, reading initiatives at SPS, parent involvement, school board policy changes, vaping, gender identity, books in SPS libraries, bullying, bus routes and bathroom policies.

Both candidates agreed, if elected, policy needs to reflect the concerns of parents.

"Most of the ones who ask me those questions (on gender policy), they are in total disagreement of boys being allowed to go to the girls' bathroom and boys being allowed to be in the girls' sports," Means said.

Washington said the issues she's heard from parents are about classroom time and security.

"Since COVID, those doors have been tightened up for security reasons, and there's all kinds of security reasons," Washington said.

Washington said one question both of them had been asked at several forums was arming teachers in the classroom for security.

"I don't agree with that being a teacher responsibility," Washington said.

Means said she would support a program with teachers who are willing to undergo security training.

Both know managing school finance is part of the job and have different skills that could reflect their future performance.

"I have had experience in managing school finance, which is very complicated," Washington said. "I understand the process, I understand what you can buy and what you can't buy."

Means approach to managing money would be collaborative, and she would use her experience from time served in the military and nursing.

"You learn how to work with different groups of people and you learn how to do it really fast, so that you (will) accomplish the mission that you're supposed to be accomplishing," Means said.

Having the Ten Commandments displayed in the school district was another topic.

"On a personal level, I'd be more than happy to see that, I live by that," Washington said. "But I learned very quickly when I was an elementary principal that there is a clear line between church and state as far as posting (them) in the school building."

Means said the Ten Commandments are "just basic rules."

"If you're of the Christian faith, we look at them as something that came down to us from God, but they are basic rules to live by whether you believe in a Christian God or not," Means said.

Another differentiating topic was public funding and its use for non-public education, such as private schools and homeschoolers.

The Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act (HB 1934) was signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt in 2023. The bill gives parents options to parents who may want to send their child to an accredited private or charter school outside of their zip code-assigned public school.

"On a personal level, I don't understand the removal of public funds that were designated for public schools based on the Constitution to fund religious public schools or home school," Washington said. "Those are choices parents have. I respect those choices."

She said SPS has an obligation to work with other private schools, saying that they currently partner with Stillwater Christian School and with homeschool parents for specific services, especially special education services.

Means said all the money that comes from state funds comes from taxpayers.

"Taxpayer money, then, is divvied back out, and some of it goes to provide for public education," Means said. She said public schools have designated money that goes with the child.

Regular voting is 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at polling locations.

The newest location for residents of Precinct 402 is at the Central Rural Electric Cooperative Community Center at 3372 South Boomer Road.