Lawmaker: No Apology Planned For Public School Remark

Monday, April 23rd 2007, 10:24 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A state lawmaker says Monday he has no plans to apologize for a comment he made that a group of Oklahoma educators says was offensive to public school teachers.

While discussing legislation on the state House floor on April 12, Democrat Representative Wallace Collins of Norman said, quote, "I'm only a public school graduate, so I'm not very literate."

Collins says he was trying to be witty with the off-the-cuff remark.

But Ginger Tinney, executive director of the Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators, demanded an apology for what the organization says were "flippant and inappropriate comments."

Tinney says that Collins' comment suggests that Oklahoma's public school teachers are incapable of producing well-educated, literate graduates.

Collins says he does not feel a need to apologize.

He says he probably should not have made the comment but that it was not meant in a derogatory manner.