Group Of Parents Circulates Petition To Recall Entire Owasso School Board

The parents of some Owasso students are signing a petition to recall all five members of the school board.

The parents say they are not happy with the district's decision to start the school year online and that they want the choice to have their child physically in school. A Facebook group called Parents for Choice already has more than 1,500 members. This is where the petitions began to circulate and now you can find them being signed in neighborhoods and around local businesses. So far, 500 signatures have been gathered. Organizers say this is happening because they don't feel the school board is listening to them.

"We're still confident that if we could just have a dialogue with them, sit down, let's talk, face to face, I'm sure we can get this figured out, have this go away, have the kids back in school, at least have the option," said Owasso Parent Jared Johnson.

Organizers say they have support for teachers and their frustrations lie with the administration. In response, Owasso Public Schools released a statement, saying in part

"With each decision made by Owasso Public Schools since the onset of COVID-19, we are mindful that citizens in our community may agree and disagree with those decisions. We understand that each citizen will respond in their own way to our decisions. We respect those individual approaches just as we respect the right of citizens to create a petition or gather to discuss their thoughts."

The district says there is not a specific timetable for their return to the classroom. They say they are watching trends and monitoring incoming data.

The Tulsa County Election Board says regardless of any amount of signatures on the petitions, they simply don't have the power to call a new election. They say it's up to the school's governing board.