April Grace joins race for State Superintendent

Believe it or not, but election season will be on us before we know it. State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister is term-limited and thus her position will be an open seat in next year's election. The first two candidates to throw their hats in the ring are both Republicans, including Shawnee Superintendent April Grace (you can read more from NonDoc on both here). The other declared candidate is John Cox, who was the Democratic nominee for State Superintendent in 2014 and 2018.

Dr. April Grace Announces Run for State Superintendent 

Tuesday, July 6, 2021 — Having raised over $100,000.00 with over 350  individual donors, Dr. April Grace, who is currently serving as the Shawnee Superintendent of  Public Schools, announces her run for Oklahoma State Superintendent. Grace has been part of  the education community for over 30 years. She has been a classroom teacher, building  administrator, assistant superintendent, and superintendent.  

“I have always believed it was my job to serve the students and families in my school  community in a way that allows every single student to find success. I look forward to the  opportunity to take my experiences and use them in serving the more than seven hundred  thousand students and their families across the great state of Oklahoma. We always face  challenges, and challenges are no stranger to me. In Shawnee we opened our schools 5 days a  week in the fall of last year by providing four different options to our families. While it was  challenging, I am proud to say we closed school more days due to weather than to COVID."  

"While we have made strides within the Oklahoma education system to overcome challenges, we  still have room to improve. To have a prepared workforce we must have an educated workforce.  As State Superintendent I will work to ensure our families’ voices are heard and our children’s  educational needs are met. Understanding that critical race theory has no place in our PK-12  classrooms, I will ensure strong unbiased curriculum standards for our students and work to keep  educators focused on meeting the needs of students and teaching our standards. I look forward to  traveling throughout Oklahoma in the upcoming months and hearing from the people of our great  state,” said Dr. April Grace.