Beth Wallis
Reporter for StateImpact OklahomaBeth Wallis holds a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. Originally from Tulsa, she also graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelor's degree in music education and a master's degree in conducting performance. She was a band director at a public school for five years.
Beth is an alumnus of the Carnegie-Knight News21 Fellowship and NPR Next Generation Radio. She's been recognized for her work by the Hearst Awards, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Collegiate Press and the Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association. She was awarded Best Podcast from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists for her series "At the Seams," which explores Norman's relationships with political division, police funding and its own racial history.
Beth enjoys hiking, playing with her four dogs and discovering new favorite musical artists.
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A bill that would prohibit schools from using corporal punishment on children with certain disabilities passed the Oklahoma Senate Tuesday.
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In Tulsa, there are about 450 after-school programs at risk of shrinking to just 75 once ESSER funds are gone.
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According to the newly shucked Senate Bill 36, chaplains may not be convicted sex offenders or sex offense defendants, but it doesn’t require any state certifications or background checks.
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In a special education classroom at Tulsa Public Schools’ Skelly Elementary, Kathleen Bitson presses colored blocks into a student’s hand, counting aloud as she picks up each one.
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Sarah Lucas, secretary of the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalition, set out plates of apple pie slices on a red, white and blue table while public school supporters filed into a room at the Oklahoma Capitol building Wednesday.
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The Oklahoma Senate Education Committee was scheduled to hear a bill that would have removed authority over school district accreditation decisions from the State Board of Education. But at the end of the committee meeting Tuesday, the bill’s author and chair of the committee sidelined it.
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The State Board of Education unanimously approved 15 new or amended administrative rules at its Thursday meeting.
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An Oklahoma Watch investigation last year revealed a pervasive culture of harassment at an elite Oklahoma high school. StateImpact’s Beth Wallis spoke with Jennifer Palmer, the reporter behind the story, about a recent update: the agency responsible for addressing those issues failed to perform required inspections for 16 years.
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Lawmakers are considering another initiative to incentivize teachers to stay in Oklahoma classrooms that would allow teachers’ children to be eligible for the state’s tuition scholarship program.
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A bill that would incentivize school districts to ban cell phones on campus got one step closer Tuesday to becoming law, but committee members opposing it say it doesn’t go far enough and shouldn’t come with a price tag.