Giving Praise to the Enid Public School System

The local newspaper printed the state report cards for Oklahoma state public secondary education schools. Many people outside of Oklahoma may be unaware that Enid is the hub for northwestern Oklahoma, and that there are multiple public school systems in what bigger cities would call "suburbs" of Enid.

For example, there is the excellent Chisholm School District in North Enid, Pioneer School district in southwest Enid, Waukomis School District five miles south on Highway 81, and a handful of other school districts just outside the city limits of Enid, including Drummond, Garber, and Cimarron. There are also some stellar private Christian schools, including Oklahoma Bible Academy and Emmanuel Christian School, two of the finest Christian schools not just in our state, but in this region of the United States.

Enid is definitely not a one school district city.

That said, I want to praise Enid Public Schools. Schools, like churches, will always have their detractors. I'm not one of them.

There are few public school districts in the entire state of Oklahoma that experience the challenges that the Enid Public Schools system faces.

Nearly 5,000 Pacific Islanders live in Garfield County, over 3,000 of them Marshallese from the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Enid is the county seat of government for Garfield County. The city of Enid, Oklahoma has the highest percentage of Pacific Island people, per capita, than any other city in the United States. Emmanuel Enid even has a Pastor to Pacific Islanders (Yohanes Arwakon) who is in Majuro, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, to learn the language, make contacts with government officials, and get as much knowledge as he can on how we can help our Pacific Island friends acclimate to American culture and help those who live in Garfield County develop their community standard of living.

When the United States government conducted nuclear testing in the Pacific during the 1940s and 1950s, we destroyed the livelihood of many Pacific island cultures. Specifically, the Marshallese people were devastated by nuclear fallout.

In what can only be considered "government atonement" for the devastation caused in the Pacific, the United States government allows the Marshallese, Chuukese, and other indigenous Pacific Island people groups affected by U.S. nuclear testing to freely move from their homes in the Pacific to the United States without a visa. They can also work in America, join the American military, and be considered permanent residents of America without all the official U.S. government approvals required by every other immigrant who desires to come to America. The Marshallese and Chuukese have chosen three places in the United States to live: Portland, Oregon; Springdale, Arkansas, and Enid, Oklahoma.

Once again, Enid has the highest percentage of Pacific Islanders per capita of any city in the United States.

Though the Marshallese, Chuukese, and other Pacific Island cultures are given free access to enter America and work, they are barred from benefits, including medical insurance, welfare, and other government subsidies that even some illegal immigrants obtain.

It's a catch-22.  America says, "Come and enjoy our country. Pay your taxes. Fight for our military. Oh, by the way, no benefits for you."

The Pacific Islander families in Enid can't afford private education. Many of them can't afford nice homes in the suburbs of Enid. Though there are some Marshallese in all school districts in and around End, the vast majority of the 5000 Pacific Islanders in Garfield County are affiliated with Enid Public Schools.

When one looks at the "State Grade" for Enid High School, one will see that EHS received an overall grade of "C." 

That's a miracle.

Drill down a little further and you'll see why that grade wasn't the "A" or "B" the school deserves.

GRADUATION - "D"
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY - "D"
CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM - "F"

I know enough about school grades that if a student gets two "D's" and one "F" out of a possible six grades, the student would be ecstatic over a "C" grade.

Listen carefully. I don't blame our Pacific Island friends for the "C" grade of the Enid Public School System. Not at all.

I'm saying that a final grade never tells the entire story.

I'm thrilled with the progress of Enid Public Schools and challenge every Enid citizen to "step up to the plate" and help.

Volunteer Tutoring of Pacific Island Children

The Pacific Island Culture is different than American culture. Nobody wears a watch. It's called "Island Time." Meetings start two hours late and it's considered proper. In America, that's called "Chronic Absenteeism." It takes seven years to become fluent in the American language because English is a very difficult language to learn. "Proficiency" takes time - well into college-age years, so Pacific Islanders will never be as English proficient as American kids of privilege. In addition, Pacific Islanders have low expectations regarding jobs. There's no need to "graduate" and go to "college" if one needs to make money to help pay the family bills through manual labor.

Kudos to Dr. Darrel Floyd, Superintendent of Enid Public Schools, the administrators,  the teachers, and all who help make Enid Public Schools a great school system.

Have you driven around Enid lately and seen the progress in infrastructure to our Enid Public schools? I've been in Enid for nearly three decades, and we have been making unbelievable strides in upgrading and expanding our educational facilities these last five years.

Building the Pacific Island Ministry Center, Enid, Oklahoma

The church I pastor is also doing our part to help our Pacific Island friends. In addition to supporting a pastor and his family who minister directly to Pacific Islanders, we're building a Pacific Island Community Center in partnership with Forgotten Ministries. We are teaching those from the Pacific Islands English every week through a ministry called "English as a Second Language" (led by Monda Lowen). We also pull in all the Pacific Island children we can to tutor them every Monday, helping them with their homework. Many of us are talking to the state government officials to possibly get Pacific Islanders including in state medical insurance programs which will help our local hospitals. We are working with local colleges and universities to increase graduation rates of Pacific Island high school by offering scholarship incentives for a college education. When we get our Pacific Island Ministry Center finished, we'll be offering job training and career days to allow local businesses to help Pacific Islanders in career advancement.

It's the least we can do for our Pacific Island friends to help them acclimate to American cultural expectations.

The point of this post is to encourage you to realize that what is happening at Enid Public Schools is extraordinary.


And it's due to great leadership.