Reds, Whites & Brews
Woman of the Year Lesley Pollock-Noller was elected as Alpha Gam’s Panhellenic Woman of the Year. For more highlights of the Alumni Club’s year, see Page B5.
Jim and Dori Smith enjoy the evening of beer and wine tastings benefiting Catholic Charities. Page 10
OKC FRIDAY Vol. 53 No. 13 • Two Sections • 16 Pages August 2, 2019
www.okcfriday.com facebook.com/okcfriday OKC’s only locally-owned legal newspaper with all local news Serving Oklahoma City, Nichols Hills, The Village, Quail Creek, The Greens and Gaillardia for 45 years
Fridayland families find comfort at Hearts for Hearing By Vicki Clark Gourley Publisher
- Photo By Vicki Clark Gourley
Born deaf, he’s now a crusader for kids Fletcher Corp, yellow shirt, was born unable to hear even the loudest noise. Now, he listens, speaks and understands just like every other kid in his mainstream school classroom thanks to Hearts for Hearing. He is shown with younger brother, Sam, his mother, Alex Corp, left, Hearts for Hearing Executive Director Chris Coleman Hopper and his grandfather Randy Corp. Fletcher recently raised $4,010 with his lemonade stand at OKC’s Ball Golf for Hearts for Hearing.
FRIDAY’s
Pet of the Week Beaker Bunsen Williams is a 2year old, white-faced cockatiel who lives with Aubree and Kevin Williams. He loves sharing meals with them, especially if it involves chicken, cheese, eggs, or corn. He spends his time demanding kisses from his dad, sitting on his mom’s head, whistling the Addams Family theme song and dive-bombing his dog brother, Reggie. Email Dog of the Week, Baby of the Week, Pet of the Week and Cat of the Week submissions to rose@okcfriday.com. Submissions are used in the order they are received.
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Two Fridayland couples, along with numerous grandparents, experienced the trauma of a child born with profound hearing loss. More than 150 babies are born every year in Oklahoma in their silent world. By law, babies have a hearing test their first day. The parents say they got mad when they were told. It is the initial reaction for many after being informed of the test. “You have made a mistake. This cannot be my child’s test,” they said. Disbelief and denial are common. “Despair turns into hope and then a miracle,” said grandfather Randy Corp, with tears streaming down his cheeks, as he told the story of his six-year-old grandson, Fletcher Corp. Randy, a well-known civic leader and vice president of Quail Creek Bank, is the chairman of the Hearts for Hearing (HFH) board. It is a 501c(3) charitable organization. Kris Coleman Hopper, a Heritage Hall grad and executive director of HFH, has a daughter born with significant hearing impairment. Kris said the anger and stress related to her daughter’s diagnosis ended her first marriage. Her daughter was born before the invention of the cochlear implants, but now new technology has helped her live a normal life. Both Randy and Chris are now evangelists for Hearts for Hearing. “Why would any parent not take advantage of See HEARING, Page 2
As the start of school approaches, OKCPS still struggling with staffing By Sara Schlecht Student Intern Students will return to classrooms when Oklahoma City Public Schools begin Aug. 12. But, as this date nears, the district is looking to fill remaining teaching positions. “We have a couple of key areas of need,” Deputy Superintendent Jason Brown said. Among the specific needs of the district are special education teachers and fifth and sixthgrade teachers. Brown also said OKCPS, like all school districts in
Oklahoma, would like to recruit more high-quality teachers. Emergency certification is not granted to special education teachers, so those must be certified teachers, Superintendent Sean McDaniel said. The district had 250 emergency certified teachers last year. For this year, the district is “on par” with where it was last year, having 248 emergency certified instructors. McDaniel said he was not suggesting this to be a good thing. “We’re 96 percent
staffed, from a teacher standpoint,” McDaniel said. “In a big district like this, four percent is a lot.” The district is still in need of 95 teachers, he said. On average, this is about one or two teachers per school, although some might be completely staffed while others need even more. “We would like to think we could land certified teachers for those positions, but we might need to lean on emergency certified (teachers) for some of those positions,” See OKCPS, Page 3