Kendra Wesson: Lessons From Her OK State School Board Appointment
Wednesday, April 2nd (2025), former Oklahoma State School Board Member, Kendra Wesson, joined us to talk about all the things – what she felt like after Governor Stitt (King Stitt) fired her from the school board, how she got the news, the frustration she felt at her firing – was it for political drama and NAEP scores, or because she was ‘hurting’ kids – and what she learned from her years of serving.
Our conversation was wide-ranging and covered a lot of ground between politics and education and I truly suggest you watch the whole thing. It really was a great interview. You can find the full interview on our Rumble and YouTube channels.
Because I’m still angry about her firing, I would just like to remind everyone that, King Stitt – as I like to call him, because Kings do whatever they want whenever they want, without a care in the world as to the ramifications – has a truly ‘off-with-your-head’ governing style (don’t forget, one of his houses burned down so he fired the head of the Oklahoma Forestry Service much to the anger of Oklahoma firefighters who apparently loved the guy) and because of this, removed one of the hardest workers in the state from that board. I hope that fact is NEVER forgotten. I hope that’s his legacy – that he acts first, doesn’t get all the facts and does what he wants. But enough of my rant about our lame duck governor.
At any rate, as usual, Kendra was exceptionally poised and graceful throughout the interview and it was clear that her time on the Board gave her perspective she hadn’t had previously. We talked about school boards several times – and those are the things we’ll cover in the clips because it’s such important information. For example, in the clip below we all talk about how important school boards – and even other boards. Why are ‘regular’ people not on these boards? Why not moms and dads? Why is it always business associates or cronies? Kendra and I both have seen many people sitting on boards who don’t VALUE their job. It’s just padding their resume. Few on a board really do the work. And since the boards aren’t doing the work, that puts the oneness on CITIZEN to go to ALL board meetings to keep the members accountable to doing their jobs. “It’s just one meeting a month,” as Kendra says!
In the clip below, Kendra calls us all out – school board elections are one time a month, but we should be going to the meetings EVERY MONTH. Holding the board accountable is the job of The People. If we only show up at election time, it’s like coming into a play after intermission! We’re far, far behind at that point. It’s a YEAR ROUND JOB.
Though is is truly an AWFUL miscarriage of justice that Kendra Wesson is no longer on the State School Board, she has learned a whole lot in the process and that will not only make her stronger, but allow her to make US stronger as she educates us on her lessons!
In fact, we’ll have Kendra back with Sherrie Conley on Wednesday, May 21st! You won’t want to miss that!
