Candidates in the race to represent Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education District 2 introduced themselves and their platforms at a virtual forum Tuesday.
Judith Barba, Marsha Francine Campbell and Theresa Hinman are campaigning to replace board member and current Vice President Jania Wester, who opted not to run for reelection, in a primary election this coming Tuesday, Feb. 9.
In an event hosted on Facebook Live by the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association, Barba said that, as someone who immigrated from Mexico, she can connect with the needs of families in the district, which she said is more than 30% Latinx.
"I may not have, like, a lot of experience, I may not have been born here, but I know what the immigrants are having, I know what they are going through, and I know what the community needs [to] have more equitable, accessible public education," said Barba, who said she has worked in the education space since arriving in Tulsa five years ago.
Hinman, who said she grew up in and attended schools in the district including Carver Middle School, Will Rogers High School and Booker T. Washington High School, said she would be the "first full-blooded Native American" to serve on the board, and made community outreach and input a focus of her campaign pitch.
"I really would like to see the board members get out and really develop focus groups, like I am already beginning to do, and get the true voice of the people in your community, and the stakeholders," Hinman said. "That's one thing I would change, is get the board members out into the community -- physically out -- and developing these little special groups."
Campbell said her 17 years spent as a TPS teacher herself -- "the love of my life, the occupation that I truly loved" -- would inform her service on the board.
"To retain teachers, we need consistency," said Campbell, who introduced herself as African American and a member of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation. "We need to let teachers be a part of the decision-making process so they have buy-in to a lot of the changes that they face -- curriculum changes, policy changes."
"A lot of times teachers are dictated to and they are not a part of the decision-making process. They are sometimes given pseudo-positions to be a part of the decision, but in actuality they are not true stakeholders, they are just like what I consider window-dressing in some instances," Campbell said.
TCTA President Shawna Mott-Wright, who moderated the forum, said she was inspired by each candidate.
"It just really touches me to see such a diverse field of strong female candidates. Thank you ladies," Mott-Wright said. "Putting your name on a ballot is no small thing."
If no candidate receives a majority of all votes cast in Tuesday's election, the top two vote-getters will proceed to a general election on April 6. Also on the ballot April 6 will be a choice between incumbent board member Jennettie Marshall and challenger David Harris to represent TPS District 3.
