Janet Barresi Believes You're a Liberal If You Disagree With Her?

I watched the excellent video made of the 2nd District GOP meeting with Linda Murphy and Janet Barresi (Thank you for sharing Don Krumme). I came away with several thoughts, not the least of which is the meme:

1. So businesses are SCARED they can't find workers for their jobs and that is why we must push School to Work and Common Core? What happened to On The Job Training provided by the company? Did you know that even early engineers were trained OJT? But then, that would be expensive for the company. Wouldn't it be better for them if the state paid the cost of their OJT and they just got the 'trained' worker? Gosh, how can I get someone trained for free to start my farm?

2. At 54:00 into the video Dr. Barresi tells the crowd that "Governor Fallin is directing me" to work closely with Robert Sommers, Secretary of Education and THE WORKFORCE (hired in from Ohio after Phyllis Hudecki resigned - which is also when the job title was changed to add THE WORKFORCE) to make sure - in essence - Oklahoma's children are trained for jobs. So it's Governor Fallin - intent upon pushing her School To Work initiative for the National Governor's Association - a national organization that does not promote initiatives good for specific states but initiatives that expect to get states on COMMON ground. Is that what America is about? Common? I thought it was EXCEPTIONAL!

3. "Rigorous Standards will transform communities" Dr. Barresi says after speaking with great affection for US Grant High School in Oklahoma who has - according to her - made leaps and bounds of improvement. Of course we are ALL ecstatic when students and schools do well, but here's the question; how do we know they are doing well? The A-F grading system is SO flawed that there is really no way of knowing exactly what it means for schools to get either an A or an F. Not only that, but isn't it the job of the COMMUNITY to grade the schools and NOT the state?

4. Finally, ROPE is liberal? We disagree with Dr. Barresi vehemently. We're liberal? ROPE's board is populated with mothers who are all registered Republican voters. I can't count the number of people who have unfriended ROPE's Facebook page because of our level of CONSERVATISM. Is education about Republican or Democrat or is it about what's best for Oklahoma kids? Superintendent Barresi's seeming necessity to reduce all of Oklahoma education policy to the point of PARTISAN POLITICS shows me she really has little idea about the concept of education policy in any substantive form and has no business being elected for a second term.

Part 2 of the video has not yet been released. We look forward to hearing the kinds of questions Dr. Barresi entertains from this even - and her answers...

*I would like it understood that we do not intend this to be a personal attack on Joel Robison.  We have no disagreement with Joel as a person.  We merely intended to point out the inconsistencies in Dr. Barresi's statements versus her actions.