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Source: Tulsa World, Okla.self storageAug. 18--Champions and critics of Janet Barresi give dramatically differing accounts of the state's superintendent of schools.Those in her inner circle say she's misunderstood, that she's fighting for change because she truly cares about children. But those on the outside say they're treated as adversaries and that she's simply not interested in finding common ground.In more than a dozen interviews with educators, friends, lawmakers and other constituents, one thing they all agree on is why this first-time public official has fast become one of the most controversial figures in all of Oklahoma politics -- it's not just what she's trying to accomplish, but how.Barresi declined to be interviewed for this story. Her spokeswoman at the Oklahoma State Department of Education said she is unhappy with the coverage she has received in the Tulsa World."We appreciate the offer. I just don't think we want to do that at this juncture," said Sherry Fair.Former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys, who returned to the private sector after an unsuccessful primary bid for the U.S. Senate, helped raise funds for Barresi's 2010 campaign and has known her since their children became friends in middle school.He laughed out loud when asked why he thinks Barresi has been so controversial."That's really her nature -- Janet has always been controversial," Humphreys said. "I have known Janet a long time. She is more worried about getting done what she thinks needs to be done than about whether people like her or not."Humphreys knows more about public education than most politicians whose professions are outside the field because of his eight years of service on the Putnam City school board, followed by his oversight of a massive taxpayer investment in Oklahoma City schools, called MAPS for Kids.Although he admits to disagreeing with Barresi's "style" on occasion, Humphreys said he's glad she's willing to pay the political price for shaking up public education."I think the educational establishment needs to partner with and embrace people who care and people who want change and not view them as threats. People who want change need to be more collaborative in how they approach it and realize people on the inside are not evil," he said. "If we are ever going to change education, we are going to have to change it from the inside."Political entranceBarresi represented a sea change for the Oklahoma State Department of Education after Democrat Sandy Garret announced she wouldn't run again after 20 years in office.The former dentist and school speech pathologist would go on to win the financial backing of many of the richest, most powerful individuals in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, according to campaign finance records. In a statewide election against State Sen. Susan Paddack, a Democrat and former educator from Ada, Barresi took 56 percent of the vote.But Barresi's first foray into the politics of public education actually occurred more than a decade earlier, when she led a group of parents who were unsatisfied with school climates and low test scores at middle schools in northwest Oklahoma City.After three months of debate with district administrators and school board members, they established a new school for their children called Independence Middle School. It was converted into one of the state's first charter schools after Oklahoma enacted the Charter School Act in 2000.Barresi later founded Harding Charter Preparatory High School in Oklahoma City.Former Secretary of Education Floyd Coppedge, a career educator who served in Gov. Frank Keating's Cabinet for eight years, said he was drawn to Barresi as a potential change agent because of her experience with those two successful charter schools."I have always liked Janet. I thought she did excellent work with the charter school movement, and she has good evidence that deregulating schools via a charter approach accomplishes a lot of good," Coppedge said. "It frees teachers to be more creative and innovative with their teaching, and you still set high expectations. I don't know why she varied from that so quickly, and I wish she hadn't."In his view, the controversy Barresi has seen in office is backlash against government's increasing "micromanagement of schools.""The role of a state Department of Education, as well as the federal Department of Education, is to provide resources and support," Coppedge said. "I don't think the schools are a place for controversy. I think they are a place for collaboration, and that means a lot of listening has to take place."Glenna Voegel taught at Independence for 14 years, beginning the year it was founded through her retirement last year.She said Barresi helped hand-select her for the school's first faculty, and she went on to personally tutor Barresi's twin sons for all three years they were in school there."The first three years she was there as president of the board, and she was very supportive of the teachers and excellent to work with because she listened to us. She really did," Voegel said.As an example, Voegel offered that as the leader of the school's governing board, Barresi helped teachers by holding students and parents accountable for serious discipline and academic problems."They confronted them with, do you really want to stay at this school because you signed this code of conduct and you're not following through with this," she said. "They could be released or not asked back the next year. She did back up the teachers. Also, there were several of us who had been in the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System for quite a few years and didn't want to lose out on that and do what she was talking about going into a 401(k). We objected to that, and she honored our wishes."Voegel said it may seem impossible to do on a statewide scale, but she thinks Barresi needs to reconnect with those roots if she wants to help classroom teachers."It's the same way for principals. The longer you're away from the classroom, it almost becomes like a fantasy of what things are like," Voegel said. "She's got a hard job. If she was able to do what she did when she was at our school, everybody would love her."At odds with educatorsFreda Deskin, founder and chief executive officer at ASTEC Charter School, another of the state's first charters, said advocating for higher quality and school choice doesn't have to be done at the expense of educators."I believe a lot of the controversy comes from a lack of dialogue and devaluing people who have spent their lives in education," Deskin said. "We are disenfranchising the great teachers and great administrators who are out there."She also argues that it is a misnomer to describe Oklahoma's charter schools as "deregulated" because except for collective bargaining rights for their teachers, they have most of the same requirements as traditional public schools, such as standardized testing and extensive documentation."I think it's very unfair to say educators don't want change and accountability because everyone I know is for accountability and reform," Deskin said. "Like those folks, I do not believe you make important changes by getting people a drink of water with a fire hose. There are no winners when everyone starts taking sides."Tulsa Superintendent Keith Ballard said he reached out to Barresi repeatedly after she took office but was rebuffed."I started out trying to be friends with Janet Barresi. I said while I may not agree with everything you have advocated for, I think we have common ground and I want to work with you to understand what you're doing," he said. "But if she doesn't think of something or it doesn't fit her Chiefs for Change model, she isn't interested in it."He was referring to Barresi's membership in a Jeb Bush foundation-sponsored group of state schools chiefs, all of whom are pursuing a similar agenda of education policy changes.Ballard said the response was particularly confounding because of the sweeping, difficult reforms Tulsa Public Schools has been engaged in. Those include an overhaul of alternative education programs and a voluntary consolidation called Project Schoolhouse that shuttered 14 schools and restarted a low-performing elementary school and high school.But more notable, Ballard said, was the creation of a cutting-edge, high-stakes evaluation system for teachers and school leaders, which was aided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and financed by some of the same big-name Tulsa donors who contributed to Barresi's campaign."I think my record on change and reform is really clear. The year before we started the Teacher Leader evaluation, we only exited four ineffective teachers, but since then we have exited more than 200," Ballard said. "If I had approached the Project Schoolhouse efficiency initiative in the manner with which she has tried to cram things down the throats of professional educators, it would have been a disaster."He added, "I truly believe Janet Barresi is anti-public education, and I really didn't believe that at first. I also no longer believe her to be an honest or truthful person."The working relationship with the state superintendent described by Tracy McDaniel, founding principal at KIPP Reach College Preparatory School, could not be more different.McDaniel, of the Oklahoma City school in the same charter network as KIPP Tulsa College Preparatory, said Barresi seeks him out for input regularly because he's too busy to attend any of her advisory council meetings."I'm a supporter of he迷你倉s, but I knew she would have difficulty," he said. "We're probably in the bottom (in national rankings) of most categories -- per-pupil expenditures, standards. The sad part is no one knows that here. We are so far behind, and now we are trying to get ready for Common Core standards. We have a Common Core mentality with sports, but not education. They would crucify (OU football coach) Bob Stoops, as well as (OSU football coach Mike) Gundy, if they had low expectations."McDaniel also said he freely disagrees with and questions Barresi about certain decisions."She's definitely misunderstood, but I'm not going to say I agree with every decision Janet makes," he said. "I don't agree with her decision to pull out of (a consortium of other states developing new standardized tests). I haven't talked to her about that yet, but when I do, I will say, 'Explain to me why we did what we did.' "Other Republicans' reflectionsState Rep. Todd Thomsen, the majority whip, said he has experienced a "total lack of respect for legislators with an opposing view or a question about anything" on Barresi's agenda."A very small percentage of people at the Capitol are controlling the education agenda, and there is no attempt to change anything to reflect Oklahoma's specific needs," said the Ada Republican. "I can't help but wonder, are we being pushed into a national agenda? Because there is an overriding urgency to do everything on a schedule, and any push-back or modification is trampled."Still, he said, Barresi is only one "catalyst" for change at the Capitol and as such shouldn't bear the brunt of all of the controversy on her own."When we as a party took over completely, we basically did every single thing all at once. I think it was a poor implementation strategy," Thomsen said. "I would probably get criticized for this, but we've never actually seen the hard data to prove that any of the reforms actually work, and we're asking every school to do the same thing."Thomsen said he has never before witnessed the level of statewide consensus on any one issue as currently exists about standardized testing's negative effects on students' education and teacher morale."As an old football player, I think of things in sports terms," said Thomsen, who played for the University of Oklahoma from 1985-1988. "You want to see a coach that gets long-term results because people work really hard for them? It's a coach that coaches out of optimism, of appreciation, of respect, and as a teammate. The leadership style that has been implemented is one that is motivation by fear. We do it in the name of 'reform,' but that's our fancy way of justifying that we use a stick to try to improve education."State Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing, works regularly with Barresi on budget requests for common education and was a co-author of legislation based on one of Barresi's campaign platform issues -- replacing old school accountability scores with annual report cards with an A-F letter grade for every school in the state.An intense fight over the method for calculating those grades dominated news headlines throughout the fall of 2012. Eventually, the bill's co-authors, Denney and Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, got involved to legislate changes to those grade calculations.At a time when improvement in Oklahoma's public schools is badly needed, educators have been disenfranchised, Denney said."I've worked with her just fine because I've been brought to the table. I think she's got some good ideas, but she's trying to implement change too fast. Also, when you try to ram the battleship for change and you don't try to bring people along with you, you have problems," Denney said. "Certainly, she has demonstrated her style of leading is this way because this is how she has led for three years."Election season loomingBarresi has already announced her candidacy for re-election, but with three straight years of controversy and at least a handful of potential opponents exploring a challenge, she is in for a fight for voters before next year's elections.Luanne Dillard, a registered nurse in Wynnewood who is among 200 or so members of a Facebook group of Barresi supporters, said she voted for Barresi in 2010 because she liked her charter school background and a friend of hers who attended college with Barresi spoke highly of her intelligence and work ethic."I thought we would have more opportunity for some kind of change with Dr. Barresi," Dillard said. "I am not a fan of the Common Core standards from what I know about them, and it was a surprise and a disappointment to see her support that. I, as a conservative, like keeping control more local. I will have to see who is running this next election. I'm not too sure right now."Tulsan Brian Hunt, executive director of a parent and child advocacy group called Stand for Children-Oklahoma, said a poll his organization conducted in June to gauge the attitudes of Oklahoma voters on education issues found "that Oklahomans don't believe expectations for teachers and students are clear, and they are highly dissatisfied with the state of public education.""It's clear there's been a breakdown in communication between the state superintendent and the people affected most by key decisions coming out of the state department. This is troubling," Hunt said."We're willing to work with anyone who understands the value of giving everyone a seat at the table when implementing reforms that must reach classrooms and help students."Timeline of biggest controversies-- Jan. 2011 -- At first state Board of Education meeting, members appointed by former Democratic Gov. Brad Henry refuse Barresi's proposed hires of three top advisers. Some cite concerns about an Oklahoma City nonprofit group already paying the salaries of Barresi's picks for chief of staff and communications manager, while another questions hiring of a pregnant woman.-- April 2011 -- Oklahoma Legislature strips state board of power over education department but lets it retain control over public schools. Governor will be allowed to replace seven-member board.-- May 2011 -- Gov. Mary Fallin signs into law two of Barresi's primary campaign issues -- mandatory retention of third-graders not reading at grade level beginning in 2014 and replacement of school scoring system with A-F report cards. Also, Attorney General Scott Pruitt issues opinion that Barresi broke the law when she hired two aides without board approval and arranged to have them paid through private entity.-- July 2011 -- Districts begin threatening lawsuit to regain $34 million for state-mandated health benefits for teachers. Within two months, Barresi and Fallin announce commitment to fund benefits.-- Dec. 2011 -- State's Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Commission votes 13-5 to make Tulsa Public Schools' new teacher evaluation Oklahoma's statewide model over two national vendor models. Barresi among dissenters. State board decides to let districts choose and nearly 500 select Tulsa model.-- Jan. 2012 -- Tulsa lawmaker says Barresi targeting Hale High School for possible state takeover.-- March 2012 -- State's focus shifts from takeover at Hale to "turnaround partnership" at McLain High School for Science and Technology.-- July 2012 -- Two state board members, joined by school leaders, question department for reserving a record amount of state aid -- and twice the legal minimum -- for anticipated growth, namely at virtual and charter schools.-- Oct. 2012 -- Coalition of 300-plus superintendents decries state's school report card calculation methods. State board initially votes to delay release of grades, but later in the month approves department's original calculations. Also, state auditor accuses department of spending funds from unauthorized account for expenses at 2011 summer conference.-- Dec. 2012 -- Department responds to state audit by saying it is changing its conference funding practices.-- Jan. 2013 -- Policy experts at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University criticize state's methods in A-F report card system. Also, Barresi calls on Legislature to dedicate lottery money to school technology but gets no response.-- Feb. 2013 -- Barresi tells parents that university policy experts renounced their criticism of report card system, but experts say that never happened. Also, Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group says Oklahoma is one of six states in which former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's education foundation is writing and editing education laws and regulations in ways that could benefit its private funders.-- April 2013 -- Computer servers of Oklahoma's new testing vendor crash, interrupting testtaking throughout state.-- July 2013 -- Barresi announces Oklahoma won't use new tests from consortium of 20- plus states for new Common Core curriculum standards; state will develop its own new tests. Also, educators question department's handling of testing debacle and why contract was renewed without public discussion of problems.State Superintendent Janet BarresiBefore her election in 2010, Barresi, 61, worked as a dentist. Her first career was as a speech pathologist in Harrah and Norman schools. She also helped found Independence Charter Middle School and Harding Charter Preparatory High School in Oklahoma City. She is the widowed mother of two adult sons.Andrea Eger 918-581-8470andrea.eger@tulsaworld.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) 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