Skip to main content

Official Statement of 1889 Institute: Open Oklahoma’s Schools


Byron Schlomach, director of the 1889 Institute, issued the following statement today regarding the ongoing school closures throughout Oklahoma as a result of the Oklahoma State Board of Education’s response to the COVID-19 virus:


Way back in March, the 1889 Institute first protested school closings based on then-existing evidence that school-age children are not prone to the disease, evidence confirmed in intervening months. This evidence, combined with the failure of school districts to provide a rigorous online education and the hardship on two-earner families created by distance learning, makes it clear that closing the schools has, indeed, been a policy error of epic proportions.


To that end, 1889 Institute is calling on the Board of Education to rescind its current guidance that recommends such closures and reopen traditional brick and mortar schools immediately following the upcoming Christmas break. Not doing so is a disservice to both students and parents and will have a lasting impact on the educational achievements of an entire generation of Oklahoma students.


Background: On March 24 of this year (2020), the 1889 Institute released an official statement opposing the closing of Oklahoma’s public schools. They closed, nonetheless, as a result of a State Board of Education order. Despite claims that instruction would somehow continue online, the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year for most of Oklahoma’s public-school students was essentially lost.


For the 2020-2021 school year, the State Board (chaired by State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister) did not order schools closed, but issued guidance based on color-coded county-wide COVID-19 infection rates. The suggestion to districts (ongoing now) was to implement various forms of increased social distancing and mask protocols as county-wide infection rates met various thresholds, and then once they hit a “Red Level” (50 cases per 100,000 population, an infection rate of 0.05%), the State Board suggested school closures, with districts implementing distance learning. During the fall, Oklahoma City’s schools have been open for in-person instruction a mere week. Tulsa’s schools are closing for December. Many other districts are closing and have closed for various periods in an effort to follow State Board guidelines.


Florida’s schools are currently open and will be in Spring 2021. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has called the closing of schools amid COVID-19 “the ‘biggest health blunder’ in U.S. history.” Much of Europe apparently agrees, as Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy have kept their schools open and operating, given the evidence that schools have not been significant centers of transmission of the virus. 


Conclusion: Due to existing scientific evidence and other policy considerations, the 1889 Institute strongly recommends the following:


  1. The Oklahoma State Board of Education rescind its current guidance to school districts recommending school closures and distance learning based on county-wide infection rates, and                                                                              
  2. The Oklahoma State Board of Education order that all traditional brick and mortar schools be opened to in-person instruction no later than the end of the immediately upcoming Christmas break, providing an online option for students/families who wish it.

Byron Schlomach is 1889 Institute’s Director and can be contacted at bschlomach@1889institute.org.

Popular posts from this blog

Present Reforms to Keep the Ghost of State Questions Past from Creating Future Headaches

Oklahoma, like many western states, allows its citizens to directly participate in the democratic process through citizen initiatives and referendums. In a referendum, the legislature directs a question to the people — usually to modify the state constitution, since the legislature can change statutes itself. An initiative requires no legislative involvement, but is initiated by the people via signature gathering, and can be used to modify statute or amend the constitution. Collectively, the initiatives and referendums that make it onto the ballot are known as State Questions.   Recently, there have been calls to make it more difficult to amend the constitution. At least two proposals are being discussed. One would diversify the signature requirement by demanding that a proportional amount of signatures come from each region of the state. The other would require a sixty percent majority to adopt a constitutional amendment rather than the fifty percent plus one currently in place. ...
Read more

Muddy, Shallow Thinking Versus Clarity in Education Reform

Monopolies are the best! If we are to gain maximum efficiency and create the greatest value for people, monopoly is the way to go. Competition creates administrative inefficiency since instead of one set of managers, there are as many as there are companies, and all of them cost money. Competitive companies make products that do the same basic things, but waste resources by making products with different features. Standardized products would save money. Were research and development under one roof, instead of many competitive ones, researchers could coordinate more closely, saving money and ultimately being even more innovative. Monopolies would therefore benefit everyone. Everything in the first paragraph is, of course, balderdash . Monopolies, especially those created by government, stifle innovation, develop bloated management, produce too little at low quality, and charge too much. Why? Because they can. They’re monopolists. Without competition and with nearly guaranteed ...
Read more

If Data Is Supposed to Be Our Guide, the Great Coronavirus Shutdown of 2020 Should End

According to the most widely cited model projecting the course of the coronavirus outbreak, today is supposed to be Oklahoma’s peak in daily deaths. Now is a good time to go back to the beginning of the Great Coronavirus Shutdown of 2020, review the goal of our policy, and assess our current status. If our policy should be “data-driven,” as we are constantly told, then let’s actually look at the data and determine our next policy steps accordingly. Spoiler alert: according to the terms set out by those advocating for the shutdown policy, the policy’s continuance is no longer justified. The stated goal of the shutdown policy was to “flatten the curve” so as to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed with COVID patients. The fear was that the virus would spread so fast that at its peak, the number of cases would exceed the overall capacity of the healthcare system. If that peak could be stretched out over a longer period of time, lives would be saved. This concept was il...
Read more

The Truth About COVID-19: Better Than You Think

As the media turns its attention back to COVID-19, there is a renewed push to shut down the economy. Some states have even begun to scale back reopening plans for their economies; others continue to delay opening. It is essential to look past their catastrophizing and focus on the facts of COVID-19. One fact to consider: while testing has risen 23%, the rate of positive results has only risen 1.3 percentage points to 6.2%. Even as alarmists point to the rise in cases, they still admit that the boost in testing has played a role in the rise in the total number of known cases. Therefore, the total number of positive cases is not of much use in this case, as it only paints a partial picture. The rate of increase in total positive cases is a more meaningful measure, and it has barely increased. Even more important is who is getting infected. The data show that recent cases are primarily younger people. But that’s a good thing; these are precisely the people that are key to building herd ...
Read more