TU hires Deborah Gist
- Thread starter TULSARISING
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Take away the over $600k stolen funds and terrible academic performance of TPS under her watch and she did just fine. Looking forward to her advising TU going forward. TPS was paying her almost $300k a year. Assume TU is giving her substantially less
She had nothing to do with the funds that went missing. Someone is going to prison. I don’t like some of what went on there with certain employees, but she had nothing to do with it. It’s a Ryan Walters talking point.
As far as I can tell, this is about navigating certain donors in Tulsa. She was good at that. I get tired of the martyr stuff, too. But TPS is a hard job. The district has some issues that other suburban districts just don’t. She had probably been there long enough.
As far as I can tell, this is about navigating certain donors in Tulsa. She was good at that. I get tired of the martyr stuff, too. But TPS is a hard job. The district has some issues that other suburban districts just don’t. She had probably been there long enough.
She is in all likelihood a good addition. Her resume coming into TPS was solid, but that has been the case with those who preceded her in the role of superintendent. It has been that way since the late 70's-early 80's when the oil industry fled the city and the economic situation changed dramatically as it began to contract and consolidate. Likewise, the demographic wildly differs from the days that Dr. Gist was a student at Memorial HS as daughter of a prominent pediatric physician.
True, that she is very well connected with community leaders that seemingly supported her through her complete tenure, and these folks were very willing and generous in supporting her initiatives. That certainly is the greatest benefit of her addition. She's certainly well educated, personable, and would be engaging in interacting with education majors if that was a part of her role.
True, that she is very well connected with community leaders that seemingly supported her through her complete tenure, and these folks were very willing and generous in supporting her initiatives. That certainly is the greatest benefit of her addition. She's certainly well educated, personable, and would be engaging in interacting with education majors if that was a part of her role.
Good points. And to that end, the education program is our biggest black mark in decades. She’s the sort of person that can improve its credibility with the people who matter. I don’t think she’s perfect, but I can see a lot of reasons we did this.
TU flew through the most recent accreditation review with flying colors including the education department. It doesn’t need help. In fact it’s a model now for schools the size of TU.
I don’t get the impression she’s doing anything specific with the department of education. Her role seems to be forward facing, such as helping us with the scores of high school counselors in Tulsa and OKC who have closed the door on TU because they view it as a poor risk for their talented at risk students and a poor investment for wealthy smart kids. One of the best ways to stop the enrollment bleeding and reach that magic goal of 1000 students is by making sure everyone who should buy local is buying local. If using her history with TPS, she can open even some of those doors she will be changing lives and changing TU’s fortunes for the better. And more than pay for her part time salary, I get the impression this isn’t her only gig.
I don’t get the impression she’s doing anything specific with the department of education. Her role seems to be forward facing, such as helping us with the scores of high school counselors in Tulsa and OKC who have closed the door on TU because they view it as a poor risk for their talented at risk students and a poor investment for wealthy smart kids. One of the best ways to stop the enrollment bleeding and reach that magic goal of 1000 students is by making sure everyone who should buy local is buying local. If using her history with TPS, she can open even some of those doors she will be changing lives and changing TU’s fortunes for the better. And more than pay for her part time salary, I get the impression this isn’t her only gig.
'I will be serving as Superintendent in Residence for Transcend Education and as senior advisor to the president at the University of Tulsa.'
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It was a black mark because of how it was publicized, and was completely avoidable. If my recollection is correct, it came down to the lack of filing the correct paperwork, and doing so in a timely manner that caused the accreditation issues. If I understood correctly, at the time of the accreditation issues, our students were passing the certification exams for licensing at a rate that far exceeded that of students from other state universities. Thus the quality of education was great, but the adults in charge dropped the ball on the clerical and reporting side.
You make it sound like they just didn’t fill out forms or didn’t put enough info in them. Far from the truth, but kinda sorta technically correct. They learned some lessons the hard way. Stead cut compliance and monitoring to the bone for reasons known only to him. A lot of good people got let go or moved around. Measuring and documenting academic performance for accreditation purposes is more than timely filing of forms. We couldn’t show our work because of our antiquated business systems/poor leadership and understaffing.
The kids are great. They passed the exam at a 99% rate measured over a decade. As usual, it’s self interested and underqualified adults that let them down.
Praise the Lord none of the people responsible for this situation being allowed to happen are still around.
The kids are great. They passed the exam at a 99% rate measured over a decade. As usual, it’s self interested and underqualified adults that let them down.
Praise the Lord none of the people responsible for this situation being allowed to happen are still around.
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I just had the Cliff Notes version as I'm not well connected. I was aware of the lack of documenting that would have been required to fill the forms and knew they figuratively couldn't cram at the end to finish the test. I should have included that in my post... I was attempting to say that the kids were great and prepared to take the next steps to enter the classroom and as always, it's the adults that sh!t the bed and made a mess of things.
I don't understand at all the hate directed at Gist. She is a Tulsan and certainly wanted TPS to succeed in the face of increased poverty and deprivation among students. She was certainly not a puppet of the teacher's union though she seemed to maintain good relations.
I hope Dr. Johnson will find new ways to improve the district but worry it will end up being a game of whack a mole.
I hope Dr. Johnson will find new ways to improve the district but worry it will end up being a game of whack a mole.
Gist needed to go imo for a number of reasons:
1). Test scores under her watch had consistently decreased. The number of failing TPS was unacceptable. Are there problems outside of Gist which contributed to our poor performance…absolutely. However, she appeared incapable or unwilling to take significant measures that would improve the situation. I’m curious to see how TPS fare under new leadership. If the decline continues then I will need to revisit this opinion.
2). One of her Administrators was able to set up dummy corporations and bill TPS tens of thousands of dollars which ended up in his pocket. He even submitted fake expense reports (one was for $50k) which was reimbursed by TPS without being questioned. He gave other huge bonuses again without being questioned. Gist did not want a state audit which found many of these details. I’m not stating Gist was directly responsible for the lack of financial control in TPS but as head of the district she does bear at least some the responsibility.
3). Covid was a disaster. TPS fell far short in their support and monitoring of its students. In many cases they simply didn’t care imo. Far too many students did absolutely nothing during the time physical school was out. Again….TPS faces difficulties due to demographics and economics of its students. However, the effort imo was lacking and the transparency of the number of students not attending virtual school was almost poor.
TPS needed a new Superintendent . Hopeful that Ebony Johnson is the person to lead TPS in a new and better direction. We will see but a change was needed imo.
1). Test scores under her watch had consistently decreased. The number of failing TPS was unacceptable. Are there problems outside of Gist which contributed to our poor performance…absolutely. However, she appeared incapable or unwilling to take significant measures that would improve the situation. I’m curious to see how TPS fare under new leadership. If the decline continues then I will need to revisit this opinion.
2). One of her Administrators was able to set up dummy corporations and bill TPS tens of thousands of dollars which ended up in his pocket. He even submitted fake expense reports (one was for $50k) which was reimbursed by TPS without being questioned. He gave other huge bonuses again without being questioned. Gist did not want a state audit which found many of these details. I’m not stating Gist was directly responsible for the lack of financial control in TPS but as head of the district she does bear at least some the responsibility.
3). Covid was a disaster. TPS fell far short in their support and monitoring of its students. In many cases they simply didn’t care imo. Far too many students did absolutely nothing during the time physical school was out. Again….TPS faces difficulties due to demographics and economics of its students. However, the effort imo was lacking and the transparency of the number of students not attending virtual school was almost poor.
TPS needed a new Superintendent . Hopeful that Ebony Johnson is the person to lead TPS in a new and better direction. We will see but a change was needed imo.
It’s a political position.
For good or bad, right or wrong, justified or not, turnover is not only part of the rules of the game, accountability breaks down without it.
P.S. Robust auditing and compliance would have caught the irregularities sooner. Thats on her, even if she didn’t steal,
For good or bad, right or wrong, justified or not, turnover is not only part of the rules of the game, accountability breaks down without it.
P.S. Robust auditing and compliance would have caught the irregularities sooner. Thats on her, even if she didn’t steal,
Fair enough. I just don't see the vitriol. And I had kids in TPS during her tenure.
Don’t know enough about her or the situation to comment on the politics. Just a general observation.
People claiming she stole or people claiming she is being scapegoated are focused on the wrong issues. And that is turnover is both inevitable and desirable for these types of positions. The overall performance record, whether due to her leadership or not, indicates the need for change.
The policy problem, and therefore the political touch point, is Oklahoma’s adherence to Jim Crow era independent school districts. A lot of these problems she’s being tied to, from what I can tell from afar, are systemic. You can put a great or poor captain on a leaky ship. They can make the boat more or less seaworthy. Some will remove the water better than others. It’s still going to take on water until the holes are plugged, now matter how many buckets you have on board or how well paid your union oarsman are that are doing the bailing.
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Like I said Dr Johnson is at risk of playing whack a mole. She may bring many schools out of the lowest reading proficiency category but at what cost?
What is a better model BTW?
Im not a professional K-12 educator and you are closer to that than I am, though I did teach undergraduates for quite awhile.
I’m just a country lawyer, but you don’t have to be Atticus Finch to see the injustice of trying to teach kids that schools were once segregated in 4th hour, then busing them across town to play a bunch of white kids in sports in $50 million or more facilities that they can’t otherwise use. I’m not sure I’d study math very hard either if the system is telling me every day that things will never be equal.
One school district per county like most of the rest of the country would be a good start.
I didn't realize that model was common.
My time living outside Tulsa was without kids so no real appreciation of these variations.
Do we have cities that are in multiple counties? That would be one point of confusion with moving to that kind of model, though surmountable I'm sure.
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