OKCPS Board Chair Paula Lewis announces re-election

Today, Oklahoma City Public School Board of Education Chair Paula Lewis announced that she will run for re-election in 2021. 

“When I first ran for Board Chair, I made several promises to the people of OKC,” said Lewis. “I wanted to lead a Board that worked towards change in OKCPS by improving transparency, addressing our students’ mental health, and improving district stability with a strong Superintendent.”

A few highlights of her term include implementing the Pathway to Greatness plan, increasing communication with families, providing more access to district audits, budgets, and school staffing formulas, ensuring that 100% of students have a full-time counselor in their building, and securing the second-longest tenure of a district superintendent in more than 15 years.

Paula led the Board in ensuring that every school provides equitable education by unanimously passing an Equity Policy. This also led to the creation of an Equity Department -- one of the first in the country. Paula knows that the board, the district and the community must continue to have hard conversations and urgently work towards addressing and correcting systemic racial inequities.

“I know there is still much work to do,” said Lewis. “That’s why my new promise is this: I will lead the board towards policies that will facilitate the district's implementation of culturally responsive leadership and practices that will remove barriers to academic success associated with implicit bias and structural racism.”

“ I believe that the diversity of OKCPS students and our community is one of the district’s greatest strengths and we will only rise when we provide each of our students with exactly what they need to take flight!”

Filing for Chair of the OKCPS School Board takes place in December with the primary election to be held in February of 2021. For more information visit www.paulaforokcschools.com. 

The Gayly. 8/4/2020 @ 3:26 p.m. CST.